Here is tonight's recap, done like I have the last few. I apologize in advance for the final two quarters as it gets a little..."weird". ENJOY! Starters... -Adelman is still trying to figure out his small forward rotations and most importantly, who will be the starter at that three-spot. Sunday in Boston it was Derrick Williams, tonight it will be rookie Robbie Hummel and tomorrow in Detroit, it's sounding as though it will be someone else, as well. -Wolves are going with the regular four with Hummel: Rubio, Martin, Love & Pekovic. -The Sixers are going with rookie Michael Carter-Williams, James Anderson, Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes. Other Pre-Game Notes... -This is Philadelphia's last preseason game of the fall and it will be Minnesota's second to last, as they travel to Detroit tomorrow night to take on the Pistons. -The Wolves are in need of a starting small forward and (as @JerryZgoda noted on Twitter) they face two forwards that are available via trade: Evan Turner and Thaddeus Young. I'll be quite interested to see who makes the team and who starts at small forward vs. the Magic in a week in Minnesota's regular season opener. -Just prior to tipoff they were showing close-up faces of each of the Sixers' starters and only one of them (Thad Young) looked happy to be there. First Quarter... -Hummel is matching up with the Sixers' leading scorer in the preseason: Evan Turner. Hummel's first one-on-one vs. him (Turner on O), Hummel comes through with nice footwork and gets in his face for the missed 17-footer. About two minutes later, the same good D and another missed mid-range jumper for Turner. -Rubio finding Love early in this one, Love with 5 of Minny's 7pts with just over 3 minutes gone in the first quarter. 15 seconds later, Love drains another triple to give him 8 on the night. -James Anderson is the hot hand for the Sixers early, he's got 8 of their 12 (including two threes). -Another good defensive play for Hummel as he draws the charge on Turner. If Hummel were to make the team, he'd be a solid role player for the Wolves. I don't know that he could really be a starter, there's no way he can guard the LeBrons, Durants or Carmelos...but who can...? -The Sixers lead 14-10 with 6:30 to play in the quarter. -Love still the only Wolf to make a field goal, the other two points of Minnesota's 10 came on a pair of Pekovic free throws. Gotta get Martin & Pekovic contributing more. -A beautiful high-low feed from Pek to Love for the one-handed jam. You know that's what Adelman likes to see. -Royce White checks in now. I hope Pek puts him on a poster. -Kevin Martin nails a triple and that's the first non-Love field goal for Minnesota. Sixers lead 16-17, 4:30 to go in the quarter. -There's another Kevin Love three and he's now got 14 first quarter points! Still 4 minutes to play! Rubio with the steal and finds Martin for the lay-in. The Wolves are on an 11-2 run that forces a Sixer timeout and gives Minny a two-point advantage. -Wolves bring in Ronny Turiaf for Pek out of the timeout. Muhammad gets in a minute later as well, for Hummel. Adelman definitely wanting to get a good look at these small forward possibilities in this one. We'll see if he can mesh with Love & Rubio. Shabazz's first shot is an airball triple. -Rubio has four first quarter steals! Clearing taking advantage of matching up with the rookie point guard. -A game break near the end of the quarter sends Love & Rubio to the bench, Barea and Dante join the others in the final two minutes of the quarter. -Royce White goes coast-to-coast for the jam...I still don't like him. My biggest qualm? Either shut up and play or shut up, go away and don't play. Either way, just shut up! -The Wolves end the quarter with an Alexey Shved triple, Minnesota leads 30-26 after the first quarter. Minnesota also forced Philly into 8 turnovers. Second Quarter... -Wolves going with the subs to begin the second quarter (Barea, Shved, Muhammad, Cunningham and Turiaf). -Wolves are raining triples, this time Barea (now 6 total as a team) in the first 14 minutes of this one. -Michael Carter-Williams. Seems like a good kid, who will get a lot of run in Philly this season, but pick a last name already! Don't make me write Michael Carter-Williams or Carter-Williams every time! -New head coach Brett Brown gets called for the technical foul after he ran out on to the court following a play in which he felt the Wolves should have been called out-of-bounds. Minnesota hits the technical free throw. -WHOO! Barea going to work offensively in this one: hitting threes, driving the lane and hitting step back jumpers. It's Good J.J. tonight. -Wolves lead 43-31 with 7:30 to go in the first half. -Wolves battling for the offensive rebounds and after a second and third chance, Muhammad hits a putback. -Ronny Turiaf already with 10 REBOUNDS in this one! He heads to the bench with 6:30 to go in the quarter and Pek returns. Turiaf had those 10 boards in just over 9 minutes of action. -Barea hits another shot and he's now up to 15 points tonight! Wolves lead 50-35. -Wolves go back to the starting unit (Shabazz instead of Martin) for the final six minutes of this one. Martin joins the other starters with 4:30 to play in the quarter. -Another three, this one for Martin. Isn't it nice to watch a Wolves team that can actually hit threes? Yes, yes it is! On the ensuing possession, Kevin Love hits one. -For those that remember the game in Philadelphia vs. the Sixers last year, it's clear that these Wolves love the Wells Fargo Center. -Robbie Hummel has been decent on defense, but he can't hit a shot tonight. Has had plenty of open looks that haven't found bottom. -Pekovic and Orton get tangled up in the paint. Orton hooked Pek's arm and Pek shoved him in the back. Refs call a foul and Orton will shoot two free throws. -Rubio with yet another steal, this one on Darius Morris. Giving these young Sixers guards fits. -Hummel finally gets a shot to find bottom as Rubio finds him for the jam. -Timberwolves lead 64-50 after the first half. Halftime Notes... -Kevin Love led the charge for the Wolves. He finishes the first half with 19pts on 7-15 FG, 4-6 3PT, 1-2 FT as well as 6 rebounds. Barea came off the bench and in 8 minutes has 15pts on 4-6 FG, 2-3 3PT, 5-6 FT and 1ast. Martin has 10 points and 2ast, he's shooting 3-6 FG, 2-4 3PT and 2-2 FT. Ronny Turiaf came off the bench and in 10 minutes has 2pts, 10reb and 1stl. -The Sixers were led by their starting shooting guard. James Anderson has 13pts, 3reb, 1ast, 5-6 FG, 2-3 3PT in 14 minutes. -The Wolves took the big lead with their three-point shooting. Minnesota shooting 9-of-16 from deep as a team (56.3%). The Sixers are just 3-of-10 (30%). The Wolves, however are shooting just 38% from the field (19-for-50), while Philly is shooting 18-for-45 (40%). The Sixers are also leading in blocks 0-7, fast break points 9-20 and points in the paint 16-30. The Wolves have been winning the turnover battle as they've forced 11 turnovers and only coughed it up 5 times themslves. Rubio had 5 first half steals to go along with 2pts, 5reb & 5ast. Third Quarter... -Adelman going with a different unit to start the third. Starters Kevin Martin and Robbie Hummel are joined by Turiaf, Cunningham and Barea. -J.J. not cooling down at all as he knocks down a 20-footer to give him 17 on the night. That, however was sandwiched in between two bad defensive plays. The first where he quit on a play and gave Carter-Williams an easy transition dunk and the next an over-the-back call. Of course on the offensive end following that, he hits a floater to give him 19. I'll take this good, with those bads though. -This second unit for the Wolves (that started this quarter) is having no problems vs. these Sixer starters. Philadelphia is going to be BAD this season! -Ronny Turiaf getting under the skin of Carter-Williams. Slams over the rookie down low and then they get a little tangled up on a screen on the following offensive possession. He probably told him to chose a last name! -I like Ronny Turiaf probably 1,000,000x better than Greg Stiemsma, give or take a 1,000,000. -Robbie Hummel, who's supposed to be known for his shooting touch continues to struggle from the mid-range as he bricks another. -Barea hits his 3rd triple and now has 22 on the night and that's the 12th Minnesota bomb. -Gorgui Dieng enters the game for Ronny Turiaf, he joins Barea, Cunningham, Shved and Hummel. Looks like it's going to be be subs for the remainder of this one. Should see a lot of Bareea and his second unit guys as well as the fringe and deep reserve players. -As I type that Derrick Williams checks in for the first time this night and A.J. Price enters (for JJ) as well. Dante Cunningham got ejected after a pair of technicals, letting Williams see some time tonight. Said something the refs didn't much appreciate. -Gorgui Dieng has white shoes. Very white shoes. Just thought you'd like to know! -These refs continue to chat at the scorers table in this one. Do they not realize that the Wolves are blowing out the Sixers, this is the preseason and no one cares! -A brief sidebar: Philadelphia's Tony Wroten apparently also got ejected after a couple of technicals at some point midway through this third quarter. -Oh, the meeting at the scorers table between refs was about another technical foul (on the Sixers). -Now there's some confusion as it sounds as though Wroten was supposed to be ejected and not Cunningham, though Dante definitely went to the locker room. Again, it's preseason, so who really cares. Gives some of the young guys a bit more run, I suppose. -Was watching some stout perimeter defense by a Wolves swingman in this one and I though, DANG, Muhammad is playing some pretty good D. Then I realized it wasn't #15, but #12: Othyus Jeffers. Suddenly made a lot of sense. -Wolves end the third quarter with A.J. Price knocking down a buzzer beating three, TWolves lead the Sixers 96-78 aftter three. Despite not playing Rubio, Love or Rubio in that quarter (and Philly playing mostly starters) the Wolves still outscored the Sixers 32-28. Wolves have scored 30 points or more in every quarter. Fourth Quarter... -The Wolves start the final quarter with A.J. Price, Shabazz Muhammad, Othyus Jeffers, Derrick Williams & Gorgui Dieng. -I'm keeping track of the quarter-by-quarter scorers for this game and I REALLY hope that Brett Brown doesn't clear his bench, cause I don't have much more room in this notebook. The Sixers do have a 20-man preseason roster! That's the concern! Again, just thought you might like to know. -Watching this game, I think there's really only one Sixers player that I really like and that's forward Thaddeus Young. I really wish he was playing for a better team. I would definitely trade Derrick Wiliams to get him here. I know he began his NBA career almost exclusively as a small forward, I think he could fill that role for the Wolves. Definitely a better perimeter defender, compared to D-Will. -Haven't seen any Corey Brewer this evening. Not sure what that's about, maybe Adelman knows he'll be a big part of the small forward rotation and wants to get a better look at the other guys in competition for minutes there. Give Brew a night off. Will probably see extended time for him tomorrow in Detroit. -The Wells Fargo Center court has to be getting wet out there! Oh...why? Cause the Wolves are RAINING THREES! ...Do...do you get it? Okay, good. That one was another triple for A.J. Price. -This unit (mentioned above) that the Wolves are going with are playing some pretty good defense. Not giving up anything easy and protecting the rim. -Hollis Thompson knocks down a pair of free throws for the Sixers. He's a former Oklahoma City Thunder. Not sure how/why I know that. Also not sure if/why you'd care. -HAHAHA! Gorgui Dieng gets rejected at one end by Spencer Hawes. Then, Dieng runs the length of the floor and rejects Hawes who thinks he has the easy lay in. I like Gorgui! -Lorenzo Brown now into the game. He's certainly the one player I know won't make the final roster. I would add Chris Johnson to that list if not for the guaranteed money, but I don't think that will save him, either. -This Sixers squad is going to be BAD. Like historically bad. Like Charlotte Bobcats two years ago bad. Like the Sixers team that won just 9 games in the 70's bad. Bad. And not when bad is good, but when bad is bad. -Chris Johnson is also now in the game. I officially ran out of notebook space....so that's just great. -I can't wait till the regular season, I don't enjoy watching these D-Leaguers jack up shots. Just as I type that, former Gopher Rodney Williams hammers through the dunk of the night. So...I stand corrected. -I tell ya, Johnson really making his case...to be cut. A foul on one end, a terrible pass on the other, an airball from the mid-range. BLAH! -Now my iPad is almost dead! This game needs to end right meow. 2:10 to go, Wolves lead 119-97. -This Sixer crowd really wants Philadelphia to hit that 100-point mark, for whatever kind of Taco or Klondike bar they get. Let's hold 'em to 97! NO TACO FOR YOU! -Orton hits a pair of free throws and it's now 123-99 with 1:20 to go. -BLAH! The Sixers bury a three and it's Big Macs for ALL! The crowd was more pumped for Big Macs then they have been this entire game. I guess I would be too. -That's all she wrote, the Wolves walk away with the 125-102 win, move to 4-2 on the preseason. The Wolves got great production from J.J. Barea and Kevin Love, both of whom played limited minutes. Barea played just 17 minutes off the bench and dumped in 22 points. Love played just 16 minutes (all in the first half) and he nailed 4-of-6 from deep, scored 19 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.
There wasn't a single Philadelphia player who posted a positive +/- in this one. Rough night, one of what will be many for the Sixers this year. The Wolves shot 46.3% from the field and 51.7% from deep. The Wolves nailed 15 of 27 from three, more than doubling Philadelphia's totals in the same number of attempts. The Wolves lost the battle in the paint (32-50) and on the break (14-30). Philly shot the ball 100 times in this one, but only connected on 35 of those. Rough, rough night for Philly. That's all for now, the Wolves will be back in action tomorrow night for their preseason finale vs. the Pistons in Detroit. Thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES!
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Cody D. AndersonA Wolves fan bringing you Gameday Recaps all season long! 2014-15 Game ArchivesGameday Archives
December 2015
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