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Written by SG
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Sunday, 28 February 2010 18:52 |
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Minnesota Timberwolves basketball player Al Jefferson was arrested and booked into jail early this morning for allegedly driving drunk, according to jail records.
Jefferson was arrested by the State Patrol at 1:08 a.m., and was brought to the Hennepin County Jail shorty after 2 a.m., according to the State Patrol and jail records. He was released at 3:19 a.m.
Jefferson was arrested on a charge of fourth degree driving while impaired, said State Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske.
Jefferson initially was pulled over for speeding as he left downtown Minneapolis, heading west on 394. He was clocked going 56 mph in a 40-mph zone, Roeske said.
The trooper also observed the vehicle drifting to left and the driver's side tires going onto the fog line, Roeske said. Then the vehicle changed to the center lane without signaling. The car was stopped on 394 near Dunwoody Blvd.
Roeske said a field sobriety test led to Jefferson's arrest.
Jefferson, 25, was arrested by the Minnesota State Patrol and booked into Hennepin County Jail on suspicion of fourth-degree driving while impaired about 2:15 a.m. according to Hennepin County jail records. He was released about an hour later.
A court appearance has been scheduled for 8:30 a.m. April 23.
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Written by College Wolf
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Sunday, 28 February 2010 04:29 |
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I recently got in touch with Seth Johnston from Bust a Bucket for tomorrow night's tilt at Target Center. As you all know, the Blazers are a good team and exciting to watch. The Wolves on the other hand, suck balls are not. They've been hammered with injuries, but of course they'll probably win. We don't matchup well against them, and we traded them Brandon Roy no longer have Randy Foye.
Anyways, I digress. Make sure to check out BaB, it's really awesome. I'm not even kidding, it's really a great site. Spend more than five minutes there and you'll see that its clearly and easily one of the best Blazers sites on the net, if not THE best. No hyperbole fellas, it's that good.
Click below the fold to check out what Bust a Bucket had to say in response to my annoying questions about the state of the TWolves, as well as what's going on these days with the Blazers. Good stuff, NBA fans!
Check out my responses to Seth's questions over at Bust a Bucket, by clicking HERE.
Please click "Read More" to continue...
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Written by SG
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Sunday, 28 February 2010 04:03 |
Up next: a March schedule that batters Minnesota with 13 of their next 14 games against playoff contenders, a gantlet of opponents that are a combined 139 games above .500 entering Saturday. Yes, February could be remembered as the good times.
"I told them it will be a challenge for them, but to take this opportunity to learn about themselves," Rambis said. "The teams we are facing will be intense, committed."
He added that the Wolves then need to use that to their advantage for the rest of the year, rather than wasting away the season: "Look at it as our playoff environment."
He's seen a lot of losing teams quit a month early, but Rambis said he senses none of that here. Neither do the players.
Rambis, deciding that his thin bench needed some extra punch, shifted Love from the starting lineup to coming off the bench a little more than a month ago.
My initial thoughts about the move was Rambis decided that he couldn't maximize the talent of Love and Al Jefferson, who play a similar type of game, with both players on the court at the same time. But Love's numbers - averaging a double double - made it look like a curious move.
I saw Love during All-Star Weekend in Dallas, and I asked him about the change. He wasn't happy and said he was surprised. But he played the good soldier, said all the right things and accepted the decision.
STAR TRIBUNE'S STAR OF THE WEEK
Darko Milicic, center: The oft-discarded big man made his way to Minnesota, his fifth team, threw on a Wolves jersey and put up a respectable eight-point, eight-rebound night Sunday. He followed that up with a three-block effort in the victory over Miami.
D'Antoni pulled the plug on Darko in mid-November and feels Darko shut it down from there instead of fighting to get back in. D'Antoni said Milicic was the one who came to him in December and asked to be deactivated if he was not going to play.
In December, Milicic told The Post he could "practice like bleeping Michael Jordan'' and it wouldn't have mattered.
D'Antoni cracked this morning, "Yeah he was. What is Michael? About 59?.''
The Wolves locker room has a marker board on which the game's matchup assignments are scribbled every night. It also includes such motivational messages as "Must take the game to them!"
It does not have a place for press clippings.
"We don't have a bulletin board or anything like that," Wolves guard Corey Brewer said. "That's not the way Kurt motivates. In college [at Florida] my coaches would do that. They'd have all kinds of stuff up. They'd let you know when another team's coach says something."
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Written by SG
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Saturday, 27 February 2010 23:57 |
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Wolves record: 14-47
Nicholas Batum scored a career high 31 points, a mere 23 points over his per game average, as Portland defeated Minnesota 110-91. LaMarcus Aldridge added 21 points and Rudy Fernandez added 18 off the bench in the winning effort.
Portland opened up a comfortable lead in the second quarter with a 13-2 run. Portland only shot 33 percent in the quarter, but their defense was stifling as they held Minnesota to 4-for-17 shooting in the quarter. They led 47-33 at half. Minnesota's 10 second-quarter points is a season low for them.
But it was in the third quarter that Portland really asserted themselves. They scored 36 in the quarter, 22 of which came from Batum.
The Wolves limited star shooting guard Brandon Roy to seven points and Andre Miller scored four points at the point guard spot. Off the bench, Ramon Sessions was aggressive in the second half, drilling 11 of his 13 points. Rookie Jonny Flynn dished out a team-high seven assists and Kevin Love added six boards but zero rebounds on the offensive glass.
On a side note, Darko Milicic continues to add a defensive dimension to Minnesota's frontline. The former No. 2 overall pick swatted three shots on Saturday night for the third time in five games in a Wolves uniform.
"I told our team after the ball game that 'use the rest of the season as a learning opportunity, because we're going to be playing a lot of teams that are in playoff position, so they're going to come out and play really hard and really well. So, we're going to have to step up and play better and learn from this experience," Rambis said.
Ramon Sessions scored 13 points for Minnesota, and Corey Brewer and Kevin Love each had 10. Jefferson also had 11 rebounds for his 28th double-double.
Minnesota has lost nine of its past 10 since winning four straight and doesn't face a team with a losing record until mid-March.
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Written by SG
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Saturday, 27 February 2010 06:00 |
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Game previews for tonight's game against Portland:
Darko Milicic played 25 minutes and had six points and nine rebounds in his fourth game as a Timberwolf.
It's a long way to this summer, but here's one thing to keep in mind should the Wolves ultimately decide he can be a part of their future: Economic problems in Europe, in particular Greece and Spain, have hit their teams hard, and the Wolves could have the advantage in the language that speaks loudest: money.
Rambis has worked his team hard this season, rarely giving them a day off. But he gave them Thursday off -- the day between pairs of back-to-back games -- and might give them Sunday off as well to rest from consecutive games against the Thunder and Portland.
Worst five-man units
-21.70, Timberwolves
Jonny Flynn, Corey Brewer, Ryan Gomes, Al Jefferson, Ryan Hollins
15 - Minnesota Timberwolves - The Wolves made a minor deal prior to the deadline acquiring Darko Milicic from the New York Knicks for the expiring contract of Brian Cardinal. Milicic, while clearly not in great physical shape, has actually looked decent in his few appearances with the team. However, Minnesota's lack of wings that can create their own shots and poor transition defense will likely ensure the Wolves finish with the worst record in the conference.
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Written by SG
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Saturday, 27 February 2010 05:41 |
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Wolves record: 14-46
Box Score
Oklahoma City led by as many as 25 points and never trailed. Despite its poor record, Minnesota has been in most of their games lately.
Forward Kevin Love led Minnesota with 19 points and eight rebounds. Al Jefferson contributed 12, while Ryan Gomes and Jonny Flynn added 10 apiece.
The Timberwolves have now lost eight of their last nine games and head back home to host Portland Saturday night.
From the Associated Press:
Durant reached 25 points for the 30th time in 31 games. His streak was stopped at 29 games by San Antonio on Wednesday night, the longest such streak since Michael Jordan scored at least 25 in 40 straight games in the 1986-87 season.
Kevin Love led the Timberwolves with 19 points and eight rebounds. He has led Minnesota in scoring each of the past four games while coming off the bench.
"He struggled and resisted a little bit coming off the bench, but for our team, it gives us better opportunities with both of our units," said Wolves coach Kurt Rambis, who moved Love into a reserve role last month. "Once he got himself into a comfort area in playing off the bench, his numbers just climbed right back up again."
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Written by SG
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Friday, 26 February 2010 00:03 |
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Click here for the forum's thread for tonight's game at OKC
Game previews:
The Wolves have won only 14 of 59 games this season, and while their attendance is up over last year's anemic figures, the team expects to lose close to $25 million, and some of the minority owners would like to sell the part of the team they own. However, owner Glen Taylor said he doesn't have any thoughts of either selling or moving the team, and he is confident that the present management will eventually have the Wolves competing with the best teams in the NBA.
"Nope, I'm too competitive to give up," said Taylor, who also is in deep red ink operating the WNBA's Lynx but believes that professional women's basketball should get its opportunity.
Taylor confirms that the Wolves will be part of teams in the NBA that will lose a total of $400 million or more this season.
"You can't force him nowhere," said Wolves guard Corey Brewer, whose equally long and skinny body at least gives him a fighting chance to defend Durant when the two teams meet Friday night for the second time in five days. "He can score from anywhere."
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Written by SG
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Thursday, 25 February 2010 07:11 |
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Corey Brewer of the Timberwolves ranks third in the NBA after hitting a three-pointer for the 23rd consecutive game Wednesday. Aaron Brooks of Houston (29) and Denver's Chauncey Billups (25) have longer current streaks. Jason Kidd of Dallas also is at 23 games.
Flynn, starting as a rookie for the NBA's Timberwolves, said recently that his decision to leave sparked the Orange. He said the returning players knew they were being written off and it made them work even harder during the offseason.
People are saying they're better off without last year's stars. Boeheim says it was fairly easy to replace Harris and Devendorf. But come on. They'd be even better if Flynn had stayed in school.
"We'd be hard to beat," Boeheim said. "We're hard to beat now."
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Written by SG
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Thursday, 25 February 2010 06:17 |
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Wolves record: 14-45
Minnesota trailed 50-42 at halftime with just one less rebound than the Hawks, but after Atlanta pushed the lead to 77-61 on Evans' three-point play with 2:05 left in the third quarter, the visitors got busy.
Atlanta native Damien Wilkins, whose brother Dominique is a color radio announcer for the Hawks franchise for which he once starred, started the fourth quarter off with a steal and scored eight of his 15 points off the bench in a 10-0 Minnesota run that cut Atlanta's lead to 78-76.
Wilkins' three-point play with 10:14 to go, on a possession that began with him blocking a Horford shot at the other end, might've prompted a Woodson timeout but for the fact he'd just called one 17 seconds earlier.
After Johnson missed a shot for Atlanta, Kevin Love grabbed one of his 12 rebounds, and soon the Wolves were shooting for the lead.
Rookie Wayne Ellington missed a 3-pointer, though, and Bibby grabbed the rebound.
"We couldn't find a way to score and we were getting good looks," Wolves coach Kurt Rambis said. "I thought our defense was pretty good for most of the game. That's what really carried us, but as usual for us as a ballclub, we were inconsistent. We were inconsistent with our effort, inconsistent with our defense, inconsistent with our offense."
Jefferson took little satisfaction in playing a competitive game against Atlanta after losing by 25 in Minneapolis on Dec. 22. The Timberwolves have dropped eight straight in the series.
"At the end of the day we still lost the game, so I can't be too excited about whether we lost to them by 20 or we lost to them by six," Jefferson said. "We still lost."
• Corey Brewer made two more three pointers on Wednesday. The first one, midway through the third quarter, extended his franchise record streak of consecutive games with a three to 23. His streak is the NBA's third-longest current one behind Houston's Aaron Brooks (29) and Denver's Chauncey Billups (25). Brewer is tied with Dallas' Jason Kidd at 23 straight games.
• A tired body and back-to-back games apparently finally caught up with Milicic. He played 11 minutes after getting 19 and 24 in his first two games and had no points, two rebounds and three personal fouls.
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Written by Jon Marthaler
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Wednesday, 24 February 2010 08:02 |
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Ladies and gentlemen: Darko has landed.
He hadn't played in an NBA game since November upon arriving, but the Wolves - suddenly in possession of one of the more infamous #2 picks in any NBA Draft - seem set on making him a big part of the rotation. He played 19 minutes Sunday and 25 last night, including almost the entire fourth quarter on Tuesday. (Al Jefferson, meanwhile, played barely one minute in the final period of that game.)
He's made it clear that he wants to go home after the season, but that didn't stop him from being an immediate hit with the home fans. Maybe it was just the excitement of something new, maybe it was his astonishing plus-minus Sunday (+35, the best for a Timberwolf in five years), but by the fourth quarter, Wolves fans were chanting "WE WANT DARKO."
Honestly, though, if he would deign to stay, the Wolves could really use him. For one thing, he is immediately the team's best interior defender. I am tired of watching Al Jefferson rotate defensively with all of the enthusiasm of a college student rolling out of bed. Despite being way out of game shape, Darko gives effort defensively, blocks shots, protects the rim, rotates, and runs at open shooters to disrupt them. Al mainly plays matador and hangs out under the rim, waiting for a possible rebound. Kevin Love works hard but does have size issues; Ryan Hollins is athletic, but that's about it; but Darko plays defense like you'd expect an NBA big man to play defense.
I'm impressed by his professionalism, too. He didn't want to be traded here, he wants to go home, he's out of shape - but he's giving maximum effort and running the floor. I don't know if that would be true for a lot of players in the same position.
The scouting reports say he's got some athleticism, can run the floor, and can shoot a little for a 7'1"guy - and let's remember, he's still only 24 years old, a year younger than Hollins (for example). One can understand how the Pistons were seduced by his potential, and if the reports are right, he might be a pretty good fit in the up-tempo/triangle offense that Kurt Rambis wants to run.
So: I know this is probably just a short-lived experience for all involved. I know that he's flamed out in several places already. I know he's probably soon long gone. But for now - I think I'm on the side of Sunday night's fans: WE WANT DARKO. |
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