With just over six seconds to play the Timberwolves had the ball and were coming out of a timeout down just two points. They inbounded to Kevin Martin who had a look at a three-pointer, but instead drove to the left elbow and put up a contested 17-footer. It didn't fall, but Nikola Pekovic corralled the rebound and it rolled off the rim, Kevin Love was able to get his hands on that miss and he tried to just tip it in as he didn't know how much time was on the clock and tried to get it off too quick. The ball hung on the rim before falling out as time expired and the Clippers got lucky with a 107-109 win. It wasn't all on Kevin Love... One big complaint about tonight's game was most certainly the officiating. It was uneven and their were a lot of missed calls and just WRONG calls. Blake Griffin & Chris Paul got away with some pretty obvious flops (if Paul isn't fined for at least one of them, the suits in the NBA are just wrong!). Referee Joey Crawford (who TWolves play-by-play man Jim Pete likes) continues to try to be the center of attention. Some think he just has a big personality and makes the game more colorful. In my opinion a good referee is one you don't even notice and you can't help but catch Crawford's antics and terrible calls. Kevin Love said himself in a post-game interview that the Wolves weren't getting the calls, but they battled through them and gave themselves a chance at the end. That they certainly did. The Wolves found themselves down 89-100 with 5:13 to play, but went on a 10-1 run over the following two minutes to cut it to 99-101 before Paul hit an 11-foot mid-range jumper out of a Clippers timeout. A big part of that 10-1 run was Adelman's call to go to the "Hack-A-" strategy. It's something we've seen against Dwight Howard, Omer Asik, DeAndre Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, etc. Basically making coaches pay for keeping their poor free throw shooters on the court down the stretch. DeAndre Jordan missed four-straight free throws over that stretch and then Clippers coach Doc Rivers inserted former TWolf Ryan Hollins who the Wolves still fouled (he went 1-of-2). It wasn't just the Hack-a-Jordan/Hollins strategy, but also some stingy defense that also forced two turnovers for run-out fast break buckets from (who else) Brewer & Martin. The Wolves gave themselves a chance at the end and despite the loss, you can continue to take solace in the fact that there isn't a whole lot of quit in this Timberwolves squad--they've definitely showed that in more than one game this season and tonight was most certainly another example. In year's past if the Wolves found themselves down by double digits with under 4-5 minutes to go in the fourth, they'd roll over and die. We haven't seen that this year and with Rubio, Love & Martin the clear leaders on this team...I don't think you will! There were three keys I talked about in the preview for this one. The first was the fact that the Wolves needed to get Nikola Pekovic going. I honestly didn't think it would happen tonight against one of the NBA's best interior defenders, but Pek had, undoubtedly his best game of the season against DeAndre Jordan & the Clippers. He finished with 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting and with his late offensive rebound he also finished with 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. I knew it was a matter of time before Peković broke out of his slump and contributed, now the key will be building off of it on Wednesday vs. the Cavaliers. The second key was the fact that the Wolves HAD to get something from J.J. Barea and that bench unit. J.J. responded to my plea with 3 points on 1-of-8 shooting. Every time the Clippers went on a run and pushed the lead to double digits J.J. was on the floor leading the team. He's looked REALLY, REALLY bad this season. I don't have as much confidence in him as I did with Pek & his struggles. J.J. is a very hot/cold player. One night he'll give you 20 efficient points and 7 assists--just does everything right and then the following night he hits one shot for a couple points and his inabilities on the defensive end shine bright (Darren Collison shined the light on J.J.'s bad D tonight). I've always said that J.J. Barea is a decent defender and I think the better word to describe his D is pesky. He's a pesky defender, he draws those offensive fouls and he gets under opponents' skins. The third was Defense leading to Offense. I knew coming in that both of these teams are offensive juggernauts capable of scoring 120+ any given night and both teams are also very good at turning turnovers and missed shots into quick layups and easy buckets at the other end. The key would be whichever team's defense could get the stops. In truth, it was stretches of that kind of play for each team. For four or five possessions the Wolves would look out of sorts on the offensive end and their missed shots and turnovers led to run-outs for easy dunks and layups for the Clippers. Then, a couple minutes later the tables would turn and it would be Kevin Love chucking one of his now famous outlet passes or Rubio running the break with Martin & Brewer flanking him on either side, which would end in easy baskets. Let's take a look at tonight's box score... There are just a few points I want to make and then I'll let you dissect the box score anyway you please...
Some other Misc. Notes...
That's all for now. The Timberwolves will return to Minneapolis tomorrow, they'll take on the Cleveland Cavaliers back at the Target Center on Wednesday as they look to avenge the one-point loss they suffered to them a week ago (stay tuned for a preview of that game), until then, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES!
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The 5-2 Timberwolves are looking for a win over the Clippers tonight and with it they'll have won six of their first eight games which would be the best start for Minnesota in the past 12 years--the previous best being the 9-1 start in 2001-02. They'll be going against a Clippers team that they've lost five-straight games to, with the last win coming on March 5, 2012. That wasn't the game where Love hit the last second three for the win (that one came on January 20th). The Wolves still had Darko Milicic & Michael Beasley on the roster and they both (surprisingly) were keys in that win, but the Wolves were still led by Kevin Love who had 39pts & 17reb. The Wolves won that one 95-94. The Clippers had lost two-straight games--both of them in Florida (vs. Orlando and Miami) before winning their most recent game vs. the Rockets in Houston, 107-94. Chris Paul has been good this season, but he's struggled finding his shot in the past two games. Over that time he's totaled 25 points on 8-for-24 shooting. Despite that Chris Paul has a double-double in all seven games this season. The Timberwolves' hot start can be attributed to Kevin Love, Kevin Martin and Corey Brewer. They've been absolutely terrific, the Wolves need the other guys to step up. Ricky Rubio did so last night with his second career triple-double. However, it's really no secret that Minnesota's bench has been awful and Nikola Peković has struggled early in the season. I'm not too concerned about Pek, I know he'll turn things around and start shooting higher percentages and finishing off those easy looks, however the bench is more concerning. The Wolves will get a boost from Chase Budinger and Ronny Turiaf when they return from injury, but the concern is right now. The Wolves need J.J. Barea to step up. I've said it a number of times and it still holds true. He hasn't been the offensive weapon that the Wolves need off the bench. The Wolves will be without Budinger (knee) and Turiaf (elbow). Derrick Williams sat out Friday's game vs. the Mavericks with back spasms and before last night's game vs. the Lakers, he said that he wasn't quite 100%, but he'd be ready to go...but the Wolves didn't need him, they were able to sit him and he played just 3 minutes at the end of the night. The Clippers are without their third-string point guard Maalik Wayns. He underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, he's listed as 'out indefinitely'. Swingman Matt Barnes missed the Clips' most recent game with a calf strain and he's questionable for tonight's game. Let's take a look at the probable starters for this one... Minnesota TimberwolvesLos Angeles ClippersThe Timberwolves will need to look to exploit their mismatches at the wings and get Kevin Martin and Corey Brewer going early. It should be a good battle in the paint against two of the NBA's premier power forwards. I'd love for Nikola Peković to get going, but I don't know that it will be tonight vs. the Clippers and DeAndre Jordan--one of the NBA's better frontcourt defenders.
Like the Timberwolves, the Clippers have a lot of offensive firepower and it may come down to which team will be able get the stops. Tipoff is a late 9:30pmCT start from STAPLES Center, enjoy the game and expect a gameday recap sometime Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! The Wolves got off to a decent start in this one. I'm sorry, let me rephrase that...The Wolves got off to an incredible start in this one. Minnesota scored 47 points in the first quarter which set a new franchise record for most points in any quarter. Those 47 points were just three points shy of tying the NBA-record of 50 points. The "Kevins" Show hit Hollywood and as the first quarter wound down with the Wolves up 24 points and that's when we heard the boo birds flutter down from the rafters at the STAPLES Center. There truly is no better sound to hear in an opposing arena, than the home fans booing their team after a terrible quarter. The "Kevins" combined to score 34 points in the first quarter (18 for Love & 16 for K-Mart). Minnesota shot 76.2% from the field (16-21), 77.8% from deep (7-9) and 80% from the line (8-10) in the first quarter. Ricky Rubio also had 7 of his assists in that first quarter! The Wolves took their foot off the gas in the second quarter. They certainly got complacent with the lead and just didn't play as hard on either end of the floor. The Lakers outscored the Wolves 20-25, but with how poorly the Wolves shot (9-26 in the second quarter--34.6%) they should have been able to cut into that lead more than they did. At halftime the Wolves were shooting 53.2% from the field, they led in fast break points 15-7 and points in the paint 24-20. Love had 20 points & 11 rebounds in the first half and that is the ninth time in his career that he's posted 20 & 10 in a half. Martin added 19pts on 8-of-15 shooting. It looked as though Adelman was going to play his starters for seven or eight minutes in the third quarter and then turn it over to his bench as the Wolves should've secured a large enough lead to get guys like Gorgui Dieng, Shabazz Muhammad & Robbie Hummel on the floor. Instead, Minnesota allowed the Lakers to go on a 23-8 run to end the quarter and a once 29-point lead was cut to just 14 points after three quarters. That also forced Adelman to play his starters more in the final quarter (though it did seem like he stayed with them a bit too long. It wasn't until the final three minutes that he finally pulled his starters and guys like A.J. Price & Derrick Williams entered the game to close this one out. Ricky Rubio especially seemed as though he was on the court for far too long, with the outcome no longer in doubt. Though, with that extra time Rubio did take advantage and secured his second career triple double of his career. Nonetheless, the Wolves walked away with the victory and they FINALLY snapped that nasty losing streak to the Lakers. The Wolves move to 5-2 on the year and they'll be back in action tomorrow night vs. the Clippers, hopefully Adelman's decision to keep his starters in and playing Brewer & Rubio 38 as well as 37 for Love won't come back to haunt them tomorrow night. Let's take a look at tonight's box score... Ricky Rubio certainly had the stat line of the night. His 12/10/14/5 is just the second player in franchise history that a player has posted a 10-point/10-rebound/10-assist/5-steal game. The other is (of course) Kevin Garnett. Rubio's 14 assists also ties a career-high.
The Timberwolves 19-9 fast break advantage and the fact that they shot a season-high 48.9% from the field and 50% from deep were keys to the victory in this one. Had the Wolves put up those 47 points in the first quarter and then went on to lose, there would have been big problems. The Wolves scored 47 points in the first quarter and the Lakers scored 48 points in the first half. The Timberwolves are undoubtedly one of the NBA's premier offensive teams, there really is no doubt after tonight's outing. I think one of the best parts about tonight's game was following the game on Twitter and seeing everyone's reactions--particularly some of the people that cover the NBA nationally. People are beginning to take notice and the #WolvesNation bandwagon is gaining more membership! The Wolves are back in action tomorrow night vs. the Clippers at the STAPLES Center. The Timberwolves are in Los Angeles the next couple days. On Sunday, the Timberwolves will play the Lakers and on Monday they'll face the Clippers--both of those games will be played at the STAPLES Center. The big headline heading into tonight's game vs. the Lakers is the lengthy losing streak. We're all aware of it, we talked about it multiple times last season, but the Wolves were unable to snap the skid then. The Wolves have lost 22-straight games to the Lakers. Minnesota's last win over the Lakers came on March 6, 2007 when the Wolves won in double overtime: 117-107. The Wolves have also lost 13-straight contests at the STAPLES Center vs. the Lakers. In those twenty-two straight losses, the Timberwolves have allowed the Lakers to score an average of 107.8 a game. The franchise for the Lakers is Kobe Bryant. Kobe played in 21 of those 22 wins and averaged 27.9 points per game over that period. The Lakers, of course will be without Kobe as he continues to recover from the achilles injury that ended his season at the end of 2012-13. That is good news for the Wolves, though in this young season, it's clear that you can't overlook this Lakers squad. The Lakers have had an up-and-down young season though there's no denying there is some good talent on this roster. I don't think it's enough talent to secure a playoff spot this season, but they'll be competitive on a nightly basis--more so than I thought they'd be before the season began. The Lakers obviously lost Dwight Howard to the Rockets and also amnestied Metta World Peace (who later signed with the Knicks). That left them with only three of their starters from a season ago AND one of them may not return until the New Year. With no Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol is the starting center again. Despite what anyone wants to tell you (especially Laker fans), this Los Angeles team isn't very good. They're a pretty good offensive team and can definitely catch some teams off guard this season, but they're ultimately a group of players that the front office signed on a minimum deals for just a year or two because they knew with no Kobe Bryant and them losing Dwight Howard, there was absolutely no way they could have the type of success they've enjoyed in year's past. When you lose the NBA's best center and your biggest free agent acquisitions are Chris Kaman, Nick Young, Wesley Johnson, Jordan Farmar, Shawne Williams & Xavier Henry...you know it's going to be a long season in Tinsel Town. Like the Wolves, the Lakers will be known for their offense, however they have a lot of streaky offensive players on their roster and beyond Jordan Hill they really don't have a player who's known more for their defensive capabilities than their offensive abilities. The Wolves are definitely an offensive-oriented team, but you know with Rick Adelman at the helm and guys like Corey Brewer, Ronny Turiaf, Gorgui Dieng & Dante Cunningham; there will be some defense played. Whereas a Mike D'Antoni run squad isn't going to be known for playing much D at all (the Lakers are allowing 105.6 points per game--27th in the NBA...Minnesota is 19th allowing 100.5) and instead, if they are beating teams it will be those 120-115 type games. The Wolves will have plenty of those themselves, but they will hold some opponents under 85 this season, too (held OKC to 81 in their second game of the season). The Lakers are 3-4 on the year, 2-1 at home and 2-4 vs. the Western Conference. They'll be looking to avoid a fifth-straight loss in their last seven games after falling to the Pelicans in their previous outing. The Wolves are 4-2 on the year, 1-1 on the road and 2-1 vs. the West. They're coming off a win over the Mavericks in which the "Kevins" scored 32 apiece for a combined 64 points--they'll look to build on that tonight at STAPLES Center. The Lakers have no Kobe Bryant. In their last game they were also without their starting point guard (Steve Nash). The Lakers' last game was a second game in a back-to-back set and with Nash's back acting up, they don't want to risk losing another one of their main guys. He should play in this one. The Wolves will be without Chase Budinger (knee) and Ronny Turiaf (elbow). Derrick Williams missed Friday's win over the Mavericks with back spasms. I haven't heard anything definitive, but my guess is that he will be available to play tonight. Let's take a look at the probable starters for this one... Minnesota TimberwolvesLos Angeles LakersHas 'Ol Father Time finally caught up to Mr. Nash? Those stats are rough for the former MVP! Less than 8 points and barely 5 assists a game?! It makes sense though when you realize that the Lakers' leading scorer through their first seven games is reserve Jodie Meeks who is averaging just over 12 points per game. The other veteran who's supposed to be helping hold down the fort until the cavalry (Kobe) returns is Pau Gasol. Pau is averaging a team-high 10.7 rebounds a game, but is scoring just 12 a night.
When you look at the Lakers' box score, you see a lot of weird things. The first is that Mike D'Antoni can't decide on his starting lineup. Jodie Meeks has started, so has Xavier Henry and Chris Kaman. So, the starting lineup you see above probably won't be the one he trots out there. It just seems (matchup-wise) to make the most sense to me as the group D'Antoni would go with tonight. You're not giving up a lot starting two point guards, Corey Brewer isn't a huge offensive threat (though he has looked good the past few games) so Nick Young shouldn't be shown up too bad. Shawne Williams is a little more versatile a big man as opposed to Jordan Hill or Chris Kaman. Williams' three-point shooting will force Kevin Love to come out from the paint on defense and not allowing him to swallow up every available board. Another weird thing you notice when you glance at a Lakers box score from this season is D'Antoni's rotations. I mean, Wes Johnson is seeing close to 25 minutes a game (and we all know he can't play). D'Antoni plays a lot of swingmen (Henry, Meeks, Young, Johnson, etc) extended minutes. I don't think it's a good thing to continue to shuffle your starting lineup unless you've lost a number of games in a row and there's clearly something wrong or if you must because of injuries to key players. D'Antoni has continuously shuffled his starting lineup this season and I'm not sure how he expects them to build any chemistry with one another if he continues to do that. You'd think after 4 or 5 games of the preseason he'd have his rotations set, but the Lakers have played seven REGULAR season games and he's still shuffling the deck--I think that could cost the Lakers some games this season. I apologize if I seem to be pointing out every single flaw with the Lakers this season (I haven't pointed out EVERY flaw...but I could...) but it's the first time in a while that the Lakers have so many areas open to criticism and the smugness and entitlement of that franchise and their fans for so long has left me a little bitter--especially being a diehard Wolves fan who hasn't seen postseason basketball in the Twin Cities for nearly a decade. I'll stop now, but just know I didn't really want to :) The keys tonight will be defense and bench production. This is a Lakers team that won't play great D, so if we can get some stops and turn D to O, we should snap this lengthy skid to LAL. If J.J. Barea doesn't have a breakout 20-point outing sometime in the next week, I may lose it! I'm REALLY tired of the Wolves' starters turning in great quarters offensively only to have leads squandered when Barea & Co. take the court. Tipoff is a late start: 8:30pmCT, stay tuned after the final horn for the recap on HOWL, GO WOLVES! For the second time this season, Kevin Martin & Love combined for 64 points to secure a win for the Minnesota Timberwolves. They scored 32 apiece and Kevin Love nearly nabbed his first career triple-double. Love finished with 32 points, 15 rebounds & 8assists. The Timberwolves got an important win over a conference rival--a team they'll likely be competing with for one of those final couple seeds out West. The Timberwolves were without Chase Budinger (knee), Ronny Turiaf (elbow) AND Derrick Williams who was a late scratch with back spasms. With Derrick out that opened up playing time for rookie Robbie Hummel. Hummel saw a few seconds at the end of the first quarter and started the second quarter with Barea, Shved, Cunningham & Peković. Hummel scored his first NBA career points on a long two-pointer in that second quarter. Robbie played a total of 11 minutes in this one. The Timberwolves jumped out to an early 21-11 lead in this one, but the Mavericks went on a 13-7 run to finish the quarter down just 4; 28-24. Kevin Love had 9 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists in the first quarter and he actually had his five assists with 3:30 to play in that first quarter! He'd finish with just three more total on the night as well as 6 more rebounds, but also 23 points. With the subs in to start the second quarter, the Wolves' offense went stagnant once again. Peković was in with that second unit and he provided most of the scoring when they were on the floor together, but J.J. Barea really looked BAD tonight. Not just in the second quarter, but throughout this one, he had a number of open shots (wide open threes) that he couldn't knock down. The Wolves desperately need production from this second unit and there really hasn't been a game this season where that has been the case! Barea finished with just 5 points on 2-of-8 shooting in 16 minutes. In my gameday preview I talked about matchups and how we could potentially see Corey Brewer on Monta Ellis in this one, though it likely wouldn't be right away considering that would likely leave Kevin Martin to guard the Mavs' leading rebounder: Shawn Marion. We didn't see that to begin the game, however we did see it in that third quarter and like Corey guarding Durant & Melo earlier in the season--he played some good defense on Dallas' leading scorer. Ellis definitely had a a rough go finishing with 23 points on 24 shot attempts. Delving further into Monta Ellis and his stat line and role on this team, I'm very surprised that when Ellis was struggling throughout this one they didn't look to their best player more (Dirk Nowitzki). Dirk finished with just 14 points and took only 11 shots. I'm sure that is something that the Mavs and Rick Carlisle will likely look into as the season wears on. With the bench struggling, Rick Adelman decided to mix up his rotations a bit more (especially without Derrick Williams). He never went to a full bench unit and instead mixed in starters--especially in the second half where I don't think Alexey Shved even saw the court (and rightfully so, because he's been bad this season). It ultimately made the fact that the bench only mustered 14 points look not as bad as they did. Some of J.J.'s struggles early in this season could be that when he is on the court, leading the bench unit, he's the only viable offensive weapon on the court and defenses realize that. The Timberwolves hit the century mark with just under five minutes to go. The Timberwolves haven't lost this season when they've scored more than 100 points. That held true tonight as the Wolves walked away with the 8-point win (it would have been more without former Wolf Wayne Ellington scoring all 6 of his points in the final seconds on back-to-back triples from the left corner). The Timberwolves reportedly had a long film session and a tough practice yesterday that certainly seemed to pay dividends in this one. It was just a three-point game with 3:33 to play after Monta Ellis hit a layup to make it 105-102 Timberwolves. The teams exchanged empty possessions, however out of a timeout by Dallas, Kevin Love nailed a triple with 2:12 to go to make this a six-point lead. Love would score again on the next possession after he corralled a defensive rebound, however it was that three-pointer that was the dagger in this one. The two Kevins & Peković closed out this one in the fourth quarter--Martin had 12 points, Love added 5 and Pek dumped in 6 as the Wolves outscored the Mavericks 31-27 in the fourth for the 8-point W. Let's take a look at tonight's box score... Kevin Martin started the game 3-for-10 from the field, but from there went 7-for-9 to finish with those 32 points. This is the second time this season that Love & Martin have each scored 30+ in a game, this is also Love's third 30+ point game of the season. This was also Love's second 30/15/5 game of the year, while the rest of the League has NONE (that from @TWolves_PR). Love's 8 assists were also one off his career-high of 9 (set back on 12/30/09 vs. Utah).
Dallas' best player tonight was Jose Calderon. He hit six three-pointers en-route to 21 points, while also being the facilitator he's known for with his 7 assists. Maybe they should shy away from both Dirk & Monta and look to Jose more! :) He did have a nice game against his fellow countryman (Rubio). The Wolves had a good shooting night as they went shot above 45%. However, the big difference was in free throws. Minnesota shot twice as many free throws as Dallas and made 16 more total. Tonight was also just the second time this season that the Wolves have out-rebounded their opponent. MISC. Notes: Corey Brewer & Dante Cunningham were sporting red, white & blue headbands in honor of Veteran's Day (I assume) this coming Monday.......This was Rick Carlisle's 400th game as the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks......The Wolves were rumored to be interested in rookie Israeli guard Gal Mekel this summer and I can see why, he looked good out there and definitely outplayed former Mav J.J. Barea when they matched up against one another.........When asked about having two 30-point scorers, Adelman quipped, "It Helps"....... That's all for now, the Wolves will be back in action on Sunday. They'll travel to Los Angeles tomorrow to face the Lakers on Sunday and then the Clippers on Monday. Both of those games will of course be played at STAPLES Center. Until then, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! Tonight the Wolves will face the Dallas Maverick at the Target Center. The Wolves have dropped two-straight games and are looking to get back on track after winning their first three games on the year. Minnesota is 3-2 on the year, 2-1 at home and 1-1 vs. Western Conference foes. Dallas is also 3-2 on the year, 0-2 on the road and 2-2 vs. the Western Conference. The Timberwolves split the season series vs. the Mavericks a year ago. The Wolves won the first two meetings and Dallas the last two. They also split the games at home and on the road. Despite that, these are two very different teams meeting this season. Both have undergone some changes in the offseason. The Wolves have two new starters in the mix (Brewer & Martin) while also adding three rookies (Shabazz, Dieng & Hummel) and signing a free agent big man (Turiaf). The Mavericks have three new starters (Calderon, Ellis, Dalembert), added three rookie guards (Ricky Ledo, Shane Larkin & Gal Mekel), while also signing free agent reserves (former Wolf Wayne Ellington, guard Devin Harris & big man DeJuan Blair). There's no doubt that each team has gotten better this offseason and there's little doubt that the both of these teams (barring injuries) will be battling for a 5-8 seed in the Western Conference this spring. The Mavericks were without Dirk Nowitzki for a good portion of last season and that kind of doomed them early as even when he did return, it took him a while to get back to his dominant former self. The Mavericks had some injuries to key players that hurt them and the Timberwolves had the worst injury-plagued season I've ever heard about--especially concerning it involved Minnesota's best players (Rubio, Love, Roy as well as Pek & AK47 missing 20 games apiece). Both teams will be looking to keep their superstars healthy and if that's the case, we should see each team returning to the postseason: the Mavericks after a year off and the Timberwolves who have taken nine years off... Let's take a look at the probable starters for this one... Minnesota TimberwolvesDallas MavericksThe Dallas Mavericks have a new leading scorer in Monta Ellis. Dirk Nowitzki has been fine playing 'second fiddle', but against Kevin Love, Dirk may need to assert himself a bit more tonight. Ellis is the first Maverick (not named Dirk Nowitzki) to lead the team in scoring. The last time Nowitzki wasn't the team's leading scorer was during the 1999-2000 season (when Michael Finley led the team).
I like the Nowitzki--Ellis tandem and for the first time in a VERY long time the Wolves have an excellent tandem of their own: the Kevins--which has been quite effective through the first few games of the season. Love has struggled a bit the past couple games shooting the ball (especially from deep), but Martin has looked stellar through four of the five games (excluding his 9-point outing vs. his former team the OKC Thunder. I'll be interested to see the defensive matchups in this one. It's clear that Rubio will guard Calderon, Love vs. Dirk & Pek vs. Dalembert. However, it'll be interesting to see if Adelman puts his best defender (Brewer) on the Mavericks' leading scorer (Ellis). That would of course leave Kevin Martin to guard Shawn Marion (Dallas' leading rebounder) and that doesn't seem like a good matchup. The Timberwolves' last game was a 93-106 loss to the Golden State Warriors. The Mavericks' last game was a 93-107 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Wolves will be without Ronny Turiaf (elbow) and Chase Budinger (knee). Updates on the both of them can be found under the Team Report--Injury Report section. The Mavericks will be without rookie Shane Larkin (ankle), he practiced for the first time on Monday and he hopes to make his NBA debut within a couple weeks. Devin Harris (toe) hopes to return in December and big man Brandan Wright (fractured shoulder) has no timetable as of yet. Swingman Vince Carter is suspended for one game and won't play tonight because he swung an elbow at the head of OKC's Steven Adams and made contact. The Wolves have to contain Dirk & Ellis in this one. You've got to make Monta a jump shooter and not let him drive to the lane for easy buckets. Kevin Love will have his hands full with Dirk and now that I think of it, we could potentially see Corey Brewer on Dirk and Love on Marion. It's not likely to begin the game, but we could see it at some point--especially if Dirk gets off to a hot start. The Wolves also DESPERATELY need production from their second unit. There's really no reason that a bench unit led by J.J. Barea & Derrick Williams can't do more offensively. Each time Adelman turned to his bench this season, the offense looks completely out of sorts. The bench has yet to score 30 or more points in a game this season. Their lowest point came on Wednesday when the bench mustered just 10 points, 3 of which came in the final minute when the game was out of reach. The bench has scored just 108 points and is averaging 21.6 through five games. The bench will certainly get better when Budinger & Turiaf return, but this could be a lingering problem for the Wolves. I've been surprised that Barea hasn't had a 20-point game yet this season, he's definitely known to have those great breakout performances off the bench. Barea's season-high is 11 points and his most recent outing was his worst of the year: 5pts vs. the Warriors. This one will tip at 7pmCT, enjoy the game and GO WOLVES! Well, it appears the honeymoon is over. Two-straight losses and this one most certainly worse than the last. The Wolves had their opportunities, but they weren't able to sustain anything offensively as they looked disjointed and out of wack all night long. The Wolves were able to keep it close through three quarters. Stephen Curry injured his foot and was in an out all night, before retiring to the locker room with a bone bruise in his foot to end his night. That didn't matter much though. With no Curry throughout the third quarter and for the entire fourth quarter, his backcourt partner Klay Thompson took over and sealed the deal. Klay scored 19 of his 30 points in the final quarter. That was also 19 of Golden State's 27 fourth quarter points to waltz away with the victory. The Wolves let Klay beat them on a number of mid-range jumpers and three-point bombs. As Minnesota went down by double digits, they didn't seem to have much fight in them. As such, they collected the loss, their second-straight. There's no question that Minnesota's offense is one of the best in the NBA, but when they can't execute it, they have to rely on their defense and that's not something we want to happen, evident in tonight's contest. The Wolves' offense did have stretches where they played well and that usually came when Andrew Bogut was on the bench in foul trouble. Bogut did foul out and had 4 in the first half. Let's take a look at tonight's box score... The Warriors offense got going in the second half and a lot of that was thanks to their defense. Their points off turnovers sparked a number of fast break buckets. The Wolves actually forced more turnovers, but the Warriors outscored the Wolves 10-26 in points off turnovers.
Initial thoughts were that this Timberwolves squad was going to be an excellent rebounding team, but that really hasn't been the case early in the season. Tonight was more of the same as they were out-rebounded once again, a +9. One of Minnesota's big problems is their bench. The offense goes to shambles when they take Love & Martin off the floor. There's no reason that a second unit headlined by Derrick Williams & J.J. Barea shouldn't be able to put more than 10 points on the board. The Warriors' bench scored 27 on the night and had 17 of those in the first half. Minnesota shooting 37.8% from the field & 25% from deep further compounded the problems. It was just an ugly game for the Wolves, through and through. That's all for now, the Wolves will be back in action on Friday night when they'll take on Dirk Nowitzki & the Dallas Mavericks. Until then, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! The Minnesota Timberwolves will have their big first test of the 2013-14 regular season as they take on the Golden State Warriors at the Target Center on Wednesday night. The Wolves have lost six-straight games to the Golden State Warriors, which includes 0-4 vs. GSW last season. The Wolves haven't beaten the Warriors at the Target Center since February 27, 2011 when they snuck away with a three-point victory (126-123). The Wolves have lost four-straight to Golden State in Minneapolis at the Target Center. Since 2010-11 the Wolves are 2-9 vs. Golden State and since 2004-05 Golden State has won 22 of 32 games vs. Minnesota. In the six-straight losses to Golden State the Wolves are scoring just 92.2 points per game while allowing 99.5. The last time the Wolves didn't lose the season series was in 2008-09 when they went 2-2 and the last time they won the season series was in 2004-05 when the Wolves went 2-1. Both of these teams are 3-1 this season. Minnesota's lone loss came on Monday when they lost to the Cavaliers, despite having a chance to win it at the buzzer. The Warriors have won their last two games, but in their second game of the season they lost to the L.A. Clippers, 115-126. The Wolves are 2-0 at home and the Warriors are 1-1 on the road. This is just the second Western Conference team the Wolves have faced this season, they handed the Thunder a loss in their second game of the season. The Timberwolves have the sixth-best offense (105.3 pts per game), they have the 9th-best rebounding totals (44.8), eighth in assists (23.0) and the eleventh-best defense (97.3). The Warriors have the second-best offense (112.0), they're tied with the Wolves at ninth in rebounding (44.8), first in assists (29.0) and they're ranked eighteenth in defense with 99.3 points allowed per game. This is a new Minnesota Timberwolves squad with some new faces (Martin & Brewer namely), but the Golden State Warriors added a bit of firepower to their roster themselves. They signed swingman Andre Iguodala to a four-year deal. Because of that, they were unable to re-sign their key reserves: Jarrett Jack & Carl Landry. They replaced them with guard Toney Douglas and big men Marreese Speights and vet Jermaine O'Neal. The Warriors will be without second-year center Festus Ezeli who underwent knee surgery that will keep him out until at least January/February. Fellow second-year player Harrison Barnes (foot) has not yet played this season either. He is traveling with the team and he was expected to practice on Tuesday. It remains to be seen if he'll play on Wednesday, but if he does he'll be Golden State's sixth man behind starters Iguodala & Klay Thompson. The Wolves will be without Chase Budinger as he continues to rehab from knee surgery. Ronny Turiaf is also out for this one with that fractured elbow. Let's take a look at tonight's probable starters...
The Timberwolves' defense will get their biggest test of the season. The Wolves let Kyrie Irving and C.J. Miles walk all over them in the second and third quarters of their loss to the Cavaliers on Monday.
The Warriors have three 20-point scorers and a versatile swingman in Iguodala. All are capable of dropping 30 points on any given night. The most likely scenario is that we'll have a 'Shootout'. A back-and-forth, very little defense, high-scoring affair. A "Race to 130" kind of a game. Both teams are capable of playing 'decent' defense, but it's likely that it'll be all O and no D in this one. The biggest concern will be the three-point shooting from Curry, Thompson and Iguodala. Curry & Thompson are two of the best three-point shooters in the game and Ricky Rubio, Kevin Martin and Corey Brewer HAVE to chase them off the line and force them into the paint to meet the big bodies of Kevin Love & Nikola Peković. Of course, neither of Minnesota's starting big men are known for their rim protection, but they need to figure out some sort of defensive scheme that will keep this from being big nights for all involved. That's all for now, this one will tip at 7pmCT from the Target Center. GO WOLVES! The Minnesota Timberwolves had a rough outing. In many aspects tonight's Timberwolves team mirrored the Knicks team they faced last night: they dug themselves a big hole with some poor play on both ends of the court only to get themselves back into the game in the final five minutes of the game thanks to a large run. Unlike last night's Knicks, the Wolves were able to pull within just one point and actually had a chance to win it with under ten seconds to play. The Wolves went on a 17-2 run in the final 4:30 to pull within just one point. With 15 seconds left to play Kyrie Irving missed a stepback jumper, Kevin Martin corralled the defensive rebound and got the ball to J.J. who raced the ball up the court and then with just over 11 seconds to play, Rick Adelman called a timeout. A lot of people (on Twitter) were upset with Adelman calling the timeout considering the Cavaliers' defense wasn't set and they could've attacked for a quick bucket and the lead. There were a few games in which the Wolves had the ball with a chance to win the game in the final seconds and Adelman didn't call a timeout and from my recollections, the majority of those games didn't end well. With 11 seconds to go J.J. drove the lane, but nearly lost the basketball, but he was able to tip it out to Kevin Love who got a clean look at a three that couldn't find bottom. Jarrett Jack jumped on the rebound as the buzzer sounded on Minnesota's first loss of the season. I say Kevin Love had a clean look at the bucket, however in the final few minutes of this game he was hit in the face twice by the Cavaliers' big men, the first of which had to of poked his eye. So, we'll say he had an open look, but maybe not a "clean/clear" look. I'm not trying to make a lame excuse and I hope the Wolves don't make any either. The fact of the matter is that they played some terrible basketball through the first three quarters. There are however some positives to take away from this game. The biggest of which is how these Timberwolves didn't quit like they have so many times the past couple seasons and they battled back and gave themselves a chance to win. They showed some incredible heart and despite the first loss of the season, there are some major positives you can take away from Minnesota's fourth quarter play in this one. Hopefully they'll use this as a learning experience and come out strong Wednesday vs. the Warriors at the Target Center. The Wolves got down in this one letting Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, C.J. Miles, Anderson Varejo and Tristan Thompson score at will--putting up very little resistance against a Cavaliers team that isn't and won't be known for their defense this season. The Wolves probably just faced one of the better defensive teams in the League (likely a Top 10 this season). So the offensive struggles are somewhat understandable, but the Wolves need to improve their team defense. Some of Minnesota's best offensive possession have come of a defensive stop. Defense leading to offense is the best kind of offense! Let's take a look at tonight's box score... The Minnesota Timberwolves 36.2% from the field definitely hurt them. That number was worse before the Wolves went on that big fourth quarter run, while they let the Cavaliers shot 45.9% and that number was obviously higher before the Wolves went on that run. Another big thing that hurt Minnesota was their three-point shooting. Kevin Martin was the only one to hit a three-pointer. He hit all five of Minnesota's threes and went 5-for-8 on the night while the rest of the team went a combined 0-for-20. The biggest culprits being Love's 0-for-7, Barea & Brewer's 0-for-4's & Rubio's 0-for-3.
The Wolves are a much better three-point shooting team than what they showed tonight, unfortunately they just regressed to their ways of 2012-13, when they were the worst three-point shooting team in the League. Some of that was Cleveland's defense, but on a lot of those threes, guys had open looks and just couldn't knock them down. Ricky Rubio did a solid job defensively picking up 5 steals in this one, however he did allow a lot of open looks for Kyrie Irving early in this one. While the Wolves went on their run, Rubio was on the bench and it was J.J. Barea running the point and defending Kyrie Irving. Barea actually didn't look half bad defensively and he got some stops on Irving that were crucial down the stretch--while also getting some help defense from his teammates as it looked as though Kyrie was trying to play some "hero ball" in this one. Though, who else was going to take the "clutch" shots for Cleveland? The Timberwolves got some production from their bench, but it wasn't nearly enough. Minnesota's second unit looks like a rotation that is REALLY missing Chase Budinger. The Wolves have some talented guys in their second unit, but J.J. Barea & Derrick Williams are the only real offensive threats. Unfortunately they're both pretty inconsistent when it comes to production offensively. Getting Chase back will help, but that second unit needs to find their identity because there's no way the Wolves can go 82 games with Love, Rubio, Pek & Martin all averaging 38+ minutes a game! That's all for now, stay tuned for a gameday preview of TWolves vs. Warriors. That one is coming up at the Target Center on Wednesday night, until then, thanks for reading & GO WOLVES! The Minnesota Timberwolves play their first back-to-back games of the season. They're coming off of a 109-100 win over the Knicks in New York. That snapped a four-game losing streak to the Knicks. Tonight the Wolves are in Cleveland to end this two-game road trip vs. the Cavaliers. The Cavs are a team with a lot of potential and talent. They let go of head coach Byron Scott this summer and brought back Mike Brown, the same Mike Brown who was fired after seven games with the Lakers a season ago. Brown has exchanged Kobe, Gasol & Howard for Irving, Varejo and Bynum. The Cavaliers have started the season 1-2. They won their home opener, but then went on a two-game road trip, each of which ended with a loss. The most recent coming on Saturday night vs. the Pacers in Indiana. They lost that one 74-89 as Paul George and Lance Stephenson combined for 43 points. Stephenson scored 10 of 14 points in a 14-4 run midway through the fourth quarter that closed the door on the Cavs for the W. The Cavs were led by 17 from Dion Waiters, 15 for Irving and 14 for Varejo. The Cavaliers not only made a coaching change, but they also brought in some new players. The Cavaliers have four rookies on the team: Anthony Bennett, Sergey Karasev, Carrick Felix and Matthew Delladova. They also signed reserve guard Jarrett Jack away from Golden State, forward Earl Clark from the L.A. Lakers and Andrew Bynum away from Philadelphia. Andrew Bynum did not play at all a season ago, but with the Cavaliers this year he played the first two games of the regular season before sitting out the loss to the Pacers on Saturday. With a couple days rest since his last game, it seems likely that he'll play in this one, though as of early Monday morning--I haven't heard anything. Rookie Carrick Felix however is "out indefinitely" with a groin injury. The injury-plagued Timberwolves are without Chase Budinger (knee) and Ronny Turiaf (elbow), but through the first three games they haven't lost any of their key players (Love, Rubio, Martin, Pek, etc). Let's take a look at the likely starting lineups for this one...
I'm really looking forward to the Kyrie Irving--Ricky Rubio matchup at point guard. Irving is undoubtedly a Top 5 point guard in this League and Ricky Rubio is an incredible playmaker with some very underrated defense. I'm really looking forward to this showdown.
I also have Dion Waiters & Anderson Varejo on my fantasy team (along with Kevin Love & Corey Brewer). Hoping for some big games from them, but not too big... The Cavaliers are averaging just 85.3 points per game. Not all that surprising considering their only real offensive weapons are in the backcourt: Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters and Jarrett Jack. Anderson Varejo is still working back to 100% from his season-ending injury last year. He was averaging over 14 points & 14 rebounds before his season ended early and he clearly isn't back to that form, quite yet. The Cavaliers have to young power forwards on the roster in Thompson & Bennett that, like most young players are known for their inconsistent play. The Timberwolves need to come out strong in this one as they've done in their first three games, averaging over 37 points per game in the first quarter! However, there still needs to be effort throughout in this one, on both ends of the floor. Part of Minnesota's lapses after quarter number one seem to be the play from the bench. They need to get guys like J.J. Barea, Alexey Shved and Derrick Williams going. J.J. in particular is averaging just 9.3 points per game through the first three games and they could use a bit more production (points or assists) for him when he comes on the floor to run the second unit or even when he shares the backcourt with Rubio. This one tips at 6pmCT, enjoy the game, we'll have the full gameday recap following the final horn. Thanks for reading & GO WOLVES! |
Cody D. AndersonA Wolves fan bringing you Gameday Recaps all season long! 2014-15 Game ArchivesGameday Archives
December 2015
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