Egads! Another Eastern Conference powerhouse to deal with tonight! And an angry one, as well, coming off a loss against the Sixers. Former Wolves assistant and non-Wolves head coach hiree Tom Thibodeau is probably ready for vengeance. maybe not. Some brief thoughts, per usual:

1. Is Derrick Rose not shockingly underrated? The guy has lead his team to the 2nd best record in the NBA! Very quietly as well, amidst the Heat and Melo drama. This guy deserves the MVP award, and I think he will get it, along with the recognition he deserves.

LeBron does not. Speaking of LeBron, this guy just keeps getting worse and worse, skipping player-intros in Cleveland for alleged urinary reasons (BS), and just continuing to be an all-out clown. I'm happy for Cleveland after last night.

2. Don't expect the Wolves to win tonight or Friday, they are in full-out tank mode now resting Kevin Love for penile reasons. He may play tonight it seems.

3. A spirited forum discussion generated the other day on why Duke, such a college powerhouse, has only really produced 1 superstar player (Grant Hill early on). Surely guys like Boozer, Brand and others have made impacts, but 1 star. As the draft approaches, does this concern you with Kyrie Irving as a potential Wolves draft pick? Furthermore, how odd is it the # of former Dukie NBA careers that have been cut short by injury? Hurley, J Williams, Hill, Boozer to an extent, Brand, Maggette. There are others. Is a curse afoot?

One would expect a Love apologist such as myself to say "haha I told you so! (re: Anthony Randolph)" but I wont:

1. Foul trouble killed his momentum in the 1st half.
2. With a quick thought-through of the NBA landscape, I cannot think of a more difficult matchup for him than KG. Especially since the crowd was blatantly cheering for Garnett and the Celtics on a pathetic level throughout the game. Kind of a lot of pressure. He was probably shocked at what was going on.

I'm not concerned about his future.

Beasley had a relatively nice game. He got a lot of key rebounds/tip outs and hit some great shots...amidst some questionable ones. Nice to see him step it up a bit.. Took him 28 shots, but he was the only one producing on offense outside of Tolliver.

More on point #2 above. Look, I get the diehard KG fans, forum posters here, ya know, people who follow the team, who would go to the game and cheer for Garnett... die hards. NBA fans. But never in attending all of the marquee games over the past 3 years have I been more ashamed of the Target Center crowd tonight. it was absolutely pathetic. Look, again, I get some want Garnett to do well. I get the Wolves suck. I get it if a small faction of fans want to do it in a raise-the-middle-finger gesture to Kahn, Rambis, Taylor and the rest of the 600 First Avenue boobs. But, just wow. It was absolutely insane. The crowd went nuts when Boston regained the lead...on our home floor. There were Ray Allen jerseys, Rondo jerseys all over. I couldn't believe it.

Has this EVER happened in any other sports situation? That the GENERAL, CASUAL, and NON-DIEHARD fan would go to a game and root for the other team in such pathetic fashion that they had to run a skit on the jumbotron on how idiotic bandwagon fans are? Minnesotans truly are bandwagon fans. We don't deserve another Garnett after that display of poor form.

Just a shame.....inexcusable really, that the general fan who doesn't know what is going on wears a Celtics jersey to a home Timberwolves game. Those people aren't die hards. Those people exemplify the fair-weathered nature that is parasitic to our sports franchises. Why is this the case? Is there no pride here? Even with 17 wins you can't want and hope a shorthanded squad will take the cake? 

Ugh. And with LeBron coming on Friday I can't imagine things getting any better. 

Kind of different, but what if Packer fans cheered for Favre in a Vikings jersey, and the whole team to boot? Wouldn't anyone from Green Bay doing that be ridiculed? Sure, they won the bowl, but not last year. Of course, this is different, but not all that much when it boils down to the general principle.

Just a thought....

The team has today off but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be watching basketball with the Wolves in mind. For the most part the top prospects in the 2011 draft are having a very solid tournament.  

Sadly when two prospects collide one has to go. Derrick Williams won round one against Kyrie Irving in spectacular fashion. Williams managed to channel his inner Blake Griffin or 60 minutes of game time. He was clearly a top 5 guy going into this week. At this minute he seems to be top 3. Williams shooting seems to put him in solid shape to be a SF in the pros if he has the ball handling to match it.  

I would go on and on about Sullinger right here but he is dead set on staying in school. He was very very passionate in yesterday's game. It was impressive to see. If he can get in better shape he'll be in the top 3 next year.

Onto the guards.  Kemba Walker has played like a champ for 3 weeks now.  The way UConn has used him at off guard I wonder if Kahn had the idea of playing a smaller scoring guard with Rubio was right. He just had the wrong guy. Kemba seems to be everything

Only one day after the Wolves took the Mav's to the wire, we are back at it again against another elite team in OKC. Good times.

1. How about Anthony Randolph last night? What a performance. Now let's not get too out of whack here, but a very small part of me saw the team Kahnbis perhaps originally envisioned, and why they felt Love didn't fit in it. Of course, it is only a single game and what not, and teams sometimes play better with their stars out of the lineup, but it was still interesting. His post moves were magical. To deny his NBA ability would be a crime.... and this certainly isn't the only big game AR has had in his career. Let's see how he deals with Serge Ibaka tonight.

2. Last night following the Mavs game Michael Beasley retweeted an interesting message about his coach. His Twitter account has since been deleted. I don't blame Mike one bit. One of Rambis' myriad of epic fails is putting players in uncomfortable positions despite their strenghts, perhaps one of the biggest potential flops of a leader. It could be that Mike not having the freedom he needs is a reason for his decline of late. Maybe it's the losing. Either way, he needs to step it up in OKC tonight.

3. it was rumored during the all-star break that the OKC crew recuited Love to join the squad. This is a reasonable concern. Hypothetically, if it came to that, what would you accept in sign and trade as an ideal package?

Well, the Wolves have had 4 days of rest since that one game where the Kings built a 30 point lead in about 3 minutes of game time. The one where Pekovic and DeMarcus cousins got into a fabulous shoving match. The one where Jonny Flynn turned it over three times in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. 

Well, the going is not pretty the rest of the way. With tonight's game being followed up by OKC and Boston, the Wolves are going to have a tough time sneaking out a win these last few weeks. First up on the list in what may be Rambis' farewell tour: Brian Cardinal, Corey Brewer and the Dallas Mavericks. The last time these two teams met, Brian Cardinal hit four three pointers. It was the first time he had scored in double figures since April of 2009 and it was his highest point total since January 2007 (he tied it once since). His highest point total in four years.

Oh, and Kevin Love is going to miss the next two games at least. Beasley is also a gametime decision tonight. On to some thought points:

1. With Cousins getting tossed in the 3rd quarter on Sunday, team Wes Johnson received a merit or two. What I found most odd about this was that Luke Ridnour, who blatantly instigated the shoving match, did not receive a technical foul, but other players receive techs for smiling at the ref or some other odd type of serious infraction on a daily basis. Late last year I wrote this. Now, I am all for calling technicals for whining, a la Kobe and crew, but I am not supportive of calling techs for having a basic human reaction to a foul call. While this Cousins situation was more than that, certain things develop from competitive situations, and forcing grown men to bottle emotions like teenagers takes a lot of intensity out of games. Furthermore, when certain players can display emotion ( Kobe), while others cannot (Beasley), it makes for an even more frustrating situation from the player POV. Thoughts on how the strict technical rules have changed the game?

2. Back to Dallas, how will this team fare without Kevin Love? I am predicting we get outrebounded by at least 15. Some fans clamor on our forums that they would rather have a defensive presence or wouldn't mind trading Love. He isn't the problem and I think we will see this immediately tonight. On a plus side these two games are a great opportunity for Beasley to step in and gain some momentum to close out the season. We need it from him.

 3. Since many will be watching March Madness instead of  a Dallas-infused beating, how fares the brackets? I might as well burn mine at this point.

The battle for King Crap of Turd Island commences on this gloomy, rainy day in Minneapolis. Why anyone in their right minds would choose to watch this game over some epic NCAA games is beyond me. With that said, I will probably watch. Some people are just addicted to destruction after all, I guess. Some brief bullets of thought, per usual:

1. After Andrew Bynum's thuggish behavior resulted in a Michael Beasley injury, Kurt Rambis found it prudent to defend his former team (surprise, surprise). I mean, what is he thinking, doing this? Are we overreacting? Is it reasonable to assume he didn't see the video? Even if he did, is this acceptable? Oi....

Phil Jackson also recently offered this interesting tidbit.

"The purpose seemed to be right, the words were said that we're going to build a championship," Jackson said. "I remember the commercials during the game last year. Wasn't it about how to build a championship with the general manager [David Kahn] and the whole bit? Then there's nothing spent. They still have a payroll that doesn't reflect the idea of going after a championship."

To think this isn't on behalf of his friend and former assistant is pretty naive. Jackson certainly has a point, though.

UPDATE: Rambis on the Wolves/Kings preegame confirmed he had not seen the Bynum foul video at the time he made the initial comments.  He has changed his stance on it, or so he says, and added Bynum got in touch with Beasley to apologize.  Hanneman also mentioned something about a technical foul conspiracy on Ron Artest? This is news to me....

2. Again, this may be the 4th consecutive game preview I mention this, but what in the world is this team going to do with Anthony Randolph? Ironically, Kahn states he got him to deal with the Bynums and Gasols of the world, and he nets a DNP-CD against the Lake-show. What gives in this situation?

3. How are people feeling about the DMC vs. Wes argument at this point? I still belong to the camp that until Cousins starts kidnapping kids and smoking copious amounts of marijuana, his issues are fixable. The base intention is nothing more than competitiveness and a desire to win games. This is a far cry from criminal behavior. I like Wes as a player, especially when he is not in the middle of one of his 5-game vanishing acts, but Cousins is the better and more impactful basketball player and it is not even close. I have a feeling it will stay that way.

4. As the Wolves fight for that elusive 20-win total, facing a poor draft, a lockout, another year of no Rubio, and many other dire implications, what does this team need to do moving forward to get back into the mix? Think realistic, because cleaning house might not be what happens. In fact, when reading Phil Jacksons quote above, it is difficult for me to not feel for Rhombus a little bit here. Then he goes out and defends his former team and all sympathy is lost.

5. Lastly, if rumors of the Kings moving to Anaheim are true, what does this do for Los Angeles basketball? 3 teams in one metro area? Pretty hefty 

Tonight the Wolves head to Oakland for a rematch against the Warriors. The last time these 2 teams met, Kevin Love had an absurd performance of 37 points and 23 rebounds on 13 shot attempts. It is performances like these that make me baffled as to why anyone would ever want to trade Love. 

The Wolves are coming off of 2 blowout wins against Indy and Utah which should have our confidence high. Oracle arena, however, is a tough venue and the Wolves will have their work cut out for them. Some brief burning questions for a Sunday evening:

1. Can the Wolves ride their momentum and get their 3rd straight, continue their improvement versus last season?

2. Can we contend the perimeter in Oakland this evening?

3. On Friday, Anthony Randolph received 6 minutes due to the blowout situation. How in the world is he going to fit in with the roster? We need to create space for him in a bad way.

4. Rumors surfaced that Rambis was going to be ousted this offseason. Kelvin Sampson is rumored to be a front runner. This sounds like agent-fueled nonsense to me. Numerous players came to Rambis' defense this morning in the Star Tribune. This seemed odd, but important. Why would the Wolves oust Rambis in favor of this guy in particular? Seems fishy/odd. Then again, this is a Kahn decision we are talking about here...

Tonight Big Al makes his return in a very winnable game against a Utah team very much in transition. An odd time to go through such drastic deconstruction, it is difficult to say what the future holds for Utah. They are still very much a veteran team. It should be an interesting offseason for them, as it will be the Wolves.The usual slew of random questions to think about if you have the privilege of watching tonight's doozy:

1. How is Ty Corbin as a coach for Utah? I think the saddest thing about the Sloan situation was its abruptness. He didn't get a farewell tour or nearly the respectful, heralded exit he deserved. Furthermore, one would think that order of operations may have been a worthwhile consideration for the Jazz. Maybe if Sloan stuck it out past the trade deadline he would still be on the sidelines?

2. Wes Johnson. Has he recovered from his illness? I called him out the other day for having an inconsistent season. He has had two poor games in a row now, but clearly illness is an acceptable alibi. The accusation is unjust until he gets a game or two off the mend.

3. Michael Beasley allegedly was kicked out of the West End movie theatre. Oddly, the article title calls out Mike, but him and multiple teammates were thrown out for absurd behavior. I find it unfair the article specifically calls out Mike. Very poor journalism.

4. The Wolves played a game against a dreadful team the other night, and have a decent schedule the rest of the way. What do you think the final record will be? How much of an improvement will the team net versus last year? Is this enough to justify holding onto Rambis?

TWB would like to congratulate Kevin Love on breaking the post-merger record for consecutive double-doubles.  With his 16 point, 21 rebound performance against Indiana, Love stepped past Moses Malone and now stands alone in the history books.  (Well unless you count Wilt Chamberlain's 200+ streak pre-merger.  But seriously, pre-merger = lame.)  I know Love has taken some heat on this site, some fair, some not, but regardless of what you think of the guy, there's no denying that he stands at the epicenter of anything that could be considered remotely uplifting during yet another brutal loss-filled season.  He made headlines earlier in the year with his 31-31 in November.  Then he became the first Wolves player in the post-Garnett era to represent the team in the All-Star Game.  Now his 52-game double-double streak has once again given Wolves fans something to smile about, and something to continue to look forward to as he extends the streak even further.   Hey, when you're 16-50 and your last playoff run was seven years ago, it's all about the little things.  Here's a howl-out to Kevin Love for giving us a reason to keep watching!

Some randomness...

What's with Timberwolves named Kevin and breaking Moses Malone's historic distinctions?   Kevin Garnett was the first player to come to the NBA directly from high school since Moses Malone.   Kevin Love was the first player to record 51 straight double-doubles since Moses Malone.  Do you think that if we got Moses Malone to come to Target Center and sacrifice a live chicken at center court, we could finally remove the bad ju-ju from this franchise?

52 double-doubles...  Twin Cities...   Is it just me or is Kevin Love's streak the perfect storm for a Wrigley's Double-Mint Gum campaign?  Kevin, I sincerely hope you'll give me a small cut of the profits when you shoot the commercial. 

Two extremely important and very serious stories have developed in the last 24 hours.

First and absolutely foremost without question: Planters/Nabisco Cheez Balls (now called Cheez Mania) snacks have resurfaced in limited distribution (I assume) at Target stores. These gems have been gone for years and go down in history along with Baked Sour Cream and Cheddar Lays w/ French Onion Dip and Flamin Hot Cheetos (Jalapeno Cheddar if in dire straits, or puffcorn if near death) as the greatest salty snack of all time. Why they were discontinued remains to be seen and said decision may go down as the biggest fail in recent United States history. In fact, a petition exists with over 16,000 signatures (which we can go ahead and round up to 4.3 million for the sake of discussion) to bring back the snack. Initial signs of a resurface caught my eye when Target introduced a Market Pantry private label-branded tub of the cheese balls for a hefty price. I bit. They were nothing like the Planters/Kraft/Nabisco balls of yesteryear. Dry and stale in texture. Weak flavor profile. The cheese tasted like cheddar ramen from freshman year of college, made in the dorm bathroom sink. You know, the flavor you ate when all of the chicken, beef and pesto ones ran out and you had to eat to survive? Not good. Panic ensued. Alas, an afternoon jaunt to the Minnetonka-Ridgedale Target to pick up lunch items yielded the shocking, double-take discovery of the snack; now merchandised in the front-of-store $1.00 section end-cap in a 2.75 oz size. They were opened immediately (after arriving back at work, of course).

It had been probably (I don’t know exactly) 10 years or more since something as incredible as Cheez Balls existed/happened/were forefront on our minds.

Secondarily, and also not coincidentally, not since October 18th, 1979 has a player done what Kevin Love may very well do against the Pacers tonight in extending his streak of consecutive double-doubles to 52 games in a row. Nearly 32 years, over three times that of the approximate discontinuation of Cheez Balls. Moses Malone’s streak of 51 games, now tied by Love, ended on that day. At this time, Cheese Ballz  may very well have been in full force. Afros were all the rage, Love wasn’t even born, Darrell “Kurt” Rhombus was playing in the NBA. A long time ago, indeed. A breakdown of the record and such can be found here. Congratulations Mr. Love for getting this far. Assuming you play tonight,, I think we can all put down the 15-win record and the anti-Kahnbis sentiment if only for an evening. It is too bad you have to break 30year old records to get us to end the self-loathing. 

Opinion on Love’s streak seems a bit divided, but generally favorable. Many fans alike are happy about the streak, but others rip on it because of our ‘modest’ win total. Many Wolves fans do not seem to be too irrational on the realities of his streak as it pertains to our record. We are not, in fact, from Portland, New York and Toronto which is only a good thing for any reader, human in general. A recent article tells a more negative story with these kinds of statistical anomalies. And I do agree: stats are misleading. Furthermore, stats and figures can also be spun in just about any direction to form your argument for better or worse. However, this is not the topic at hand. In this situation, my simple stance is: enjoy something positive. The other night against Dallas, watching on TV, it was enjoyable seeing Kevin get a standing ovation from the home crowd. It was a nice moment amidst the Wolves-fandom reality of consistently wading chest high through a sewage lagoon. It was just another sign that, deep down, this city wants a quality basketball product and would support it if not for the nincompoops in the front office.  During the Garnett years, Target Center was jammed to the brim. This could happen again easily with a few more roster moves and the addition of a guy named Ricky Rubio. Here’s looking at you Mr. Kahn to provide such a product. I wish the faith were stronger and that, well, you weren’t totally full of baloney, but let’s not worry about such trivialities right now.

Also relevant is that, with a victory, the Wolves will improve their record over last year (16 wins). This would be a nice win in many ways for our favorite team.

Other thought points for tonight’s game and beyond:

1.       Josh McRoberts was nearly traded for OJ Mayo at the trade deadline. Is there something we are missing or is he as blatantly mediocre as he seems? Why would Memphis trade OJ for him? Why on earth didn’t we get in on this?

2.       Can Jonny Flynn continue his streak of relatively competent play? Will he try another unnecessary, eye-roll-worthy, between-the-legs pass amidst the stretch of decent play?

3.       What will the Wolves do about the frontcourt rotation with AR showing he can produce, Pek improving, Tolliver providing energy…and a lifeless Darko still getting the starting job? Think to Darko’s very late 1^st half foul trouble vs. Dallas and a 2^nd half “injury”. Without these incidences, highly skilled and immediate fan favorite Anthony Randolph likely wouldn’t have even played despite a stretch of pretty impressive ball over the weekend. This is a large long-term problem, with over $30 million committed to the aforementioned; and a major question mark moving forward with this team. We have to extend AR, but have little room for him and it is obvious. Does anyone else get an eerie feeling Darko may head back overseas after this season despite his contract? Wouldn’t surprise me.

4.       Mikey Beasley has had a rough patch of late and put up a pretty ugly 20 points against Dallas. Can he snap out of it and ride his momentum into the offseason? He showed so much promise early on this year but concerns have developed of late. Just a slump or something more? Regardless, this clip always makes me forgive any bad play he makes, especially imagining how Rhombus or Kahn would react to seeing him act like that.

5.       Wes had a rough outing against Dallas after a series of games that somewhat irrationally moved several fans on to the Wes bandwagon. The thing is Wes has had similar stretches of terrific play, followed by a 4-5 game vanishing act, all season long. This is not new. In fact, check out his game logs if you don’t believe me.

Just rambling. Anyhow, I hope everyone (hopefully) enjoys a T-Wolf becoming part of the record books tonight. Maybe we can drop the cynicism for a Minnesota minute here and hope for the best, and maybe not once again expect the worst. (Fine, we’ll probably lose when Rambis draws up a crunch time play for Lazar Hayward).

Lastly, if anyone wants to attend the game for cheap tonight to potentially witness a bit of history in person, tickets were reduced to $4.20 for Uppers and $42 for lowers  (get it? 42?) to catch the historic night. I may just try to sneak over there myself. I know we are a losing team, but being there for Love’s 31-31 game was something I will never forget. I would encourage all to be there if they can to have the memory and experience the imminent ovation. No, the Wolves ticket peeps did not ask me to do this, I promise.