Minnesota Sports Forum

I would sit both Love and Ricky if they have any issues at all. We can't sacrifice more games going forward to gut out one game that is an unlikely win. If we had a real bench we could still go in there and compete, but we all know that isn't likely to happen.

Can't give Love enough props on his D on the final play. How many bigs are going to stop Curry in that situation. Good help from Martin as well. It seems as if Love is the only player on our team that seems to understand the difference betweening shading a player, and playing Ole defense. Kevin gave Curry just enough room to roll to the middle where the help was coming from.

Brewer's D on that last play showed little effort. He didn't even try to get around the moving pick set by Barnes. Liked having Luc on the floor for that last play. Maybe Rick has been watching how other coaches do it, late in games.

What happened to the emphasis on screening players not sticking their legs out? Both Love and Ricky were tripped by exactly that, with Love rolling his ankle on the play. Both Joey Crawford and Palmer should hang up their shoes. How do you miss Ronny's goaltend, or Barnes with four steps under the hoop? How does Pek get mugged on at least five occasions without ever getting a FT in the game?

Nice win. Would have been a shame if we had lost it due to our poor FT shooting though. It seems like it is contagious with this team. Either they all shoot well or can't hit the broad side of a barn.

I really hope the Wolves dig deep tonight and keep this winning streak alive. Of course, it is only one game but winning tonight will help undo some of the crappy losses from before. Now isn't the time to go back on a .500 pace.

I agree, sjm, that Ricky and Love should sit tonight if they aren't 100%. I would even extend the argument that sitting them gives us a better chance of winning tonight, and cite last night's Kings/Pacers game as an example. Did anyone think Sac-town had any chance against Indiana with Cousins and Gay both out? But they led the entire game, only to lose in overtime. The talent level is basically so even in the NBA that often a game comes down to who wants it more and works harder. It had to be difficult for Indy to get up for the game once they learned that the Kings' two stars weren't playing, and that resulted in a flat performance. Conversely, the reserves who replaced Cousins and Gay (well, not Williams :) ) played with a chip on their shoulders and almost pulled out a victory.

I would also offer up as an example the Gophers game last week against the Badgers. I had just settled into my table at a local sports bar when our best player, Andre Hollins, went down with an ankle injury. My knee jerk reaction was to give up and find something else to do. Instead, I ordered dinner and thoroughly enjoyed a Gopher win as other players stepped up and Wisconsin played flat.

If Love doesn't play, LMA is no longer as fired up for the game, and maybe we have a chance to steal one. As I said before, some coaches (Pop, for example) consistently show a better understanding of playing for the season rather than just one game, and those coaches generally end up on top.

The formula for this game was no different than most of our other close losses:

- We were outshot from the field, but made up for it through winning the possession and free throw battle.

- We relinquished a 5-point lead late in the 4th quarter.

- Pek missed a bunny late and Love missed a 3-pointer. Had either gone in, it probably would not have come down to the final 8 seconds.

It basically came down to a 50/50 situation and we finally won the god damn coin flip. The refs totally screwed up on the charge call against Iggy. Normally we're the ones on the wrong side of those calls late in games. It's about freakin' time someone else got screwed. One of our guys actually hit a clutch shot (Martin). And one of the opponents finally missed a last second attempt.

Except for may be the execution of the last play that got Martin the open jumper, I didn't see anything new here except that we got the benefit of the bounce, the call, lady luck, or whatever else you want to call it.

But don't get me wrong. It was a HUGE win for this team's psyche and it is without a doubt the signature win we've all been looking for. Now we need more of them.....

Q12543 wrote:The formula for this game was no different than most of our other close losses:

- We were outshot from the field, but made up for it through winning the possession and free throw battle.

- We relinquished a 5-point lead late in the 4th quarter.

- Pek missed a bunny late and Love missed a 3-pointer. Had either gone in, it probably would not have come down to the final 8 seconds.

It basically came down to a 50/50 situation and we finally won the god damn coin flip. The refs totally screwed up on the charge call against Iggy. Normally we're the ones on the wrong side of those calls late in games. It's about freakin' time someone else got screwed. One of our guys actually hit a clutch shot (Martin). And one of the opponents finally missed a last second attempt.

Except for may be the execution of the last play that got Martin the open jumper, I didn't see anything new here except that we got the benefit of the bounce, the call, lady luck, or whatever else you want to call it.

But don't get me wrong. It was a HUGE win for this team's psyche and it is without a doubt the signature win we've all been looking for. Now we need more of them.....

I think you may be downplaying the importance of how we closed out the game last night, q. You're right that several things happened that made us cringe (the Pek and Love plays you cited, plus a Rubio turnover). but then we executed down the stretch in a fashion heretofore unseen this season. I noticed several things on our winning shot that just haven't been present, most significantly a perfectly executed play facilitated by Love's unselfish pass out of a double team plus the mere fact that our best shooter (Martin) really wanted the ball for the last shot. And defensively, Love's effort in hassling Curry plus what I think possibly might have been an intentional design to force the ball to a miserably slumping Barnes for a long 2, significantly increased our chances of winning this game.

I don't know if this success will carry over, but it can't hurt. When a team has lost 11 close games in a row, it's natural for them to be thinking subconsciously that it's going to happen again. Similarly, when good things happen in the closing seconds, it builds an expectation that it will recur. Maybe not tonight, but we may get another close game situation in Chicago Monday to build on this success.

LST, Perhaps I am downplaying it, but this game could have just as easily gone in the loss column. Harrison Barnes had a wide open look - a much better look I might add than Gerald Green had when he beat us. Harrison Barnes might be struggling, but you never want to give a guy a totally wide open shot without any contest whatsoever. Nevertheless, I'll take it. It's about freakin' time we ended up on the right end of the coin flip. Let's hope our confidence just keeps growing from here.