Streak-busting game report

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I'm a Minnesota guy through and through, but let me start by saying something nice about Los Angeles. There is no more fun place to watch a pro basketball game than Staples Center, and especially when the Lakers are playing. I was a T-wolves season ticket holder for 12 years, and the only time the atmosphere approached that at Staples was during the 2004 playoffs. It was a seller's market outside tonight with not many tickets in play (Wolves have become a "draw"), so it was 8-7 Lakers with 4 minutes gone by the time I was able to buy a ticket and get to my seat, and the joint was rockin'. Then, the Wolves started rockin'! In the next 8 minutes, they outscored the Lakers 40-15 in the most amazing display of one-sided basketball I have seen in a long time.

There were so many positives during that 8 minutes that decided the game, that I don't know where to start. Here's what I saw:

1) Rubio was absolutely flawless. There was nobody on the Laker's roster that could keep Ricky in front of them, and as the defense collapsed on him he was able to find a wide-open teammate over and over.

2) LA is a terrible defensive club. Apparently D'Antoni didn't get the memo that Love and Martin could shoot, because his defense left one of them open at all times. And they didn't disappoint, hitting 7 out of 16 3-pointers for the game

3) I can't say enough about how disruptive Brewer and Rubio are on defense. I was surprised when I got home and saw that they ONLY had 9 steals between them...I thought it was more like 15. Corey was close to a steal at least another 5 times. Their anticipation is astounding, and it's easy to see why the Wolves create the most turnovers in the league.

4) Two things we have been asking for on this board came to fruition tonight. First, we have suggested that at least one Kevin be on the court at all times, and Adelman made sure that this happened, at least until halfway through the third quarter. Secondly, we were hoping that Ricky could help out more on the defensive boards to allow Brewer to sneak out on the break. Clearly, Ricky has been reading our forum, because he rebounded well tonight!

5) Pek should give half of his salary to Rubio. Pek's 14-10 is misleading, because I really don't think he played very well. Ricky works hard to put Pek in a position to succeed, and a center with any touch at all would be easily scoring 20 every night. But Pek continues to look awful around the basket. I actually thought he was outplayed tonight by Kaman when they were both on the court, and that's saying a lot.

Anyway, it's great that the streak is over and even better that we did it in such a convincing fashion. Toward the end of the first quarter I heard something I have never heard at a Lakers' game at Staples...fams booing. That's how unique this game was.

Okay, everything I have reported above you all were able to see on TV. Let me add a few items that I saw that were likely off your screens.

1) Turiaf is a huge asset for this team, even on the injured list. He is totally involved in the game, and you can see the players really get a kick out of him when he gives them a big hug after a good play. Great teammate!

2) I got a chance to watch certain players shooting at halftime, and two stood out for me. Robbie Hummel has an incredibly smooth stroke, and was hitting almost all of his practice threes. His shot didn't look at all like it has in his brief appearances on the court. I think he has the potential to be a 3-point threat for us, but he needs to stop rushing his shot in games. The other guy I focused on at halftime was Rubio. Ricky is left unguarded frequently in games, but still has been missing most of his wide open threes. I have maintained that defenses give him so much room, that he is left with nothing more than a long free throw, and should be able to hit 40-50% of them. Sure enough, at halftime he sank 7 out of the 8 3-point set shots he tried. He was also 2 for 2 on the his two threes during the game. If Ricky can make this shot consistently, our offense becomes virtually unstoppable.

3) Kevin Martin looks young. He mentioned in pre-season that he felt young, and was looking forward to a bid season. I agree. He is in constant motion on offense (not so much on defense) and looks more like 20 than 30 out there. Let's hope he can stay healthy.

4) I got a chance to observe team chemistry on the bench. I recognize that winning makes everything better, but the starters, JJ and Cunningham seem to really have a great rapport. Hummel, Shved and Dieng are loners and hardly ever talk to anyone other than the equipment boys. And Williams is the class clown. He clearly has a very engaging personality and is very popular on the team, but I suspect that Adelman would prefer to see a more serious demeanor.
But the guy I focused most of my attention on was Shabazz. I watched him be totally disengaged from his teammates last year at UCLA, and was surprised to see how much he interacted with his Wolves teammates...not the Shabazz I remember. He was also usually the first guy off the bench to congratulate the starters at timeouts, and unlike Williams, paid attention to Adelman during timeouts. One game is a small sample size, but it seems he is adjusting well to not being the alpha dog for the first time. I hope that is his usual bench behavior, because it will help earn him some court time.

I'll be back at Staples tomorrow for game 2. We generally play the Clippers much tougher than the Lakers here, but we're also going to have some tired legs. Hopefully we won't have a lot of 3-point attempts clanging off the front rims like we did in Cleveland. Let's sweep in LA!

[worldK]

Appreciate your report Lst. Look forward four your clipper game report tom.

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

Great effortreport and very nice insights......thanks for the report!

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

Great effortreport and very nice insights......thanks for the report!

[Lipoli390]

Great report, Long! Thanks. A big win tonight. Tomorrow night will be tough with tired legs against a much better team. But maybe we'll get lucky and steal one.

[Eitan]

Great report Long. Thank you for the very interesting insights.

[60WinTim]

Outstanding report, [s]LST[/s] Long! (I really don't like LST, because it sounds like LSD, and even though you're in LA now and an old fart like me, it just isn't good. So I'll stick with "Long" for now...)

I enjoy paying attention to accuracy in warmups as well. Garnett was a terrific warmup shooter, which translated to games. Great to hear Rubio (and Hummel) are shooting well in warmups. It will eventually translate to the game (Rubio's free throw shooting is also an indicator it will get there). Did you happen to notice Shved's warmup shooting?

And yes, Pek was pretty bad, especially in the first half, where his scoring struggles affected his entire game. But I thought he played through it in the 2nd half and was more effective.

Other than a brief appearance by Shved in the first half, Adelman relied on a 7-man rotation. The return of Bud and Turiaf will give him a 9-man rotation. Flip was kind of ripping on D-Will's motor again last Friday. Not very encouraging...

[Coolbreeze44]

LST, any chance you remember Rick Mount playing for Purdue? I never saw him but my Dad said he was the best practice shooter he ever saw. He said he never missed.

Thanks for the report, look forward to hearing from you again after tonight's game.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Long, Great report. How did you end up in LA!? It seems culturally like the opposite of Minnesota, and by all indications, it appears that you have a long history as a Minnesota resident and avid sports fan.

[60WinTim]