Minnesota Sports Forum

As always Lip, a very good report.

However, I was expecting a little more on the second unit, particularly with the infusion of Turiaf and Budinger finally making their presence felt as they alluded to in the STRIB. Is this the glimmer we have been hoping for? Something that can help tip the balance in our favor in close games? It would be nice.

Additionally, you mention that it was a positive that Brewer took so few shots. Do you see him moving out of the starting lineup soon? Or do we have enough scorers on the first unit and we can continue to rely on him for defense and energy?

AbeVigodaLive wrote:So, the Wolves blow a team out to get to .500. Then, they choke a close game away. Then, they blow a team out to get to .500. Then, they choke a game away. Then, they blow a team out...

This cycle will be broken at some point, right?

As I wrote about last week, the Wolves are a ridiculously goofy team, being the very best at some things... and the very worst at others... as the stats tell us.

On a related note, they lead the league in losses by 4 points or less (10) and in wins by 20 points or more (8).

The cycle is getting to be absurd, abe, and is likely to continue tomorrow against the Spurs. I think it's a major reason that the positive comments about the Wolves' play tonight are fairly reserved, even though they played close to a perfect game. I think most of us are feeling "yeah, but...". It's dangerous to go all in with this team, because they keep pulling the chair away every time we think it's okay to sit.

That said, the Wolves played a beautiful game, and Lip hit most of the cogent points. The ball movement was superb and led to a number of easy buckets and 54.5% shooting (47% on threes), and as Jim Pete pointed out a number of times, Charlotte is a very solid defensive club.

Kevin Martin looked like the guy we watched in the first ten games of the season, and we are a much better team when he wants the ball. Lip has pointed out his invisibility in recent weeks, and it's been puzzling to me too. Tonight he looked like he had young legs, and really wanted the ball. I don't know what was different tonight. It makes me wonder if the knee issue that surfaced a few weeks ago has been bothering him, and felt better tonight. Whatever it is, I hope it continues.

And what can you say about Pek. He was sensational both on offense and defense. The issues we have all pointed out with Pek, missing easy shots and poor hands, were not there tonight. And perhaps nobody ran the court as aggressively as he did, and he was rewarded with easy buckets. Rubio's stats were ho-hum, but he really makes scoring easy for Pek when both are on their game like tonight...I was surprised Ricky was only credited with 6 assists. And defensively he flat out took Jefferson, perhaps the best low post center in the game, out of his comfort zone...Big Al looked like he didn't want to be out there.

It was great to see the bench outscore the opponent tonight, but what was even more fun is the way they did it. Turiaf and Bud have provided even more energy to the reserves then I was anticipating, and along with the new-found energy from Shved, it was almost more fun to watch the reserves tonight than the starters. In recent weeks I have picked up my guitar when the bench came in...just too painful to watch. Tonight I watched the reserves closely, and liked what I saw. They are not naturally blessed offensively, but they have the potential to wreak havoc defensively and they showed it tonight with 3 steals and three blocks.

But, then there's the elephant in the room...the team chemistry. Lip nailed it, and it was even obvious on TV. JJ and Love put out a huge effort to show us that all was good, sitting next to each other with fake smiles plastered on their faces. Some of the good will was legitimate...it's easy to smile when you blow a team out...but I sensed the tension was still there. I suspect Flip is spending a lot of time on the phone gauging interest in Barea.

Now on to San Antonio, where we can only hope for another Mexican escalator fire. I actually think they will play well and tease us again with another close loss. There's no shame in losing in San Antonio, but the reinforcement of the inability to get over .500 will be painful to take.

TheSP wrote:

Mstermisty wrote:I think the "publicly" part of it came out of the horrendous loss they just took, the horrendous game he just played, and the horrendous games we have lost in the last few weeks. So he boiled over at the fact that two players were sulking down at the end of the bench. I like it.

The public call has to be used with prudence. Having just played that card less than a week prior is bordering on stupid. Combined further with the fact that Love was as responsible for the Suns loss as anybody and it shows a lack a self awareness. As I said in another thread, if Love had said after the Suns loss "It's on me, I didn't produce and was just plain horrible in the first half." and then proceeded to talk about togetherness then fine. My issue with Love as a leader is I've never seen him show any humility, I've never seen him give an honest, non-cliched quote in which he took the blame for a loss outright. If you don't have the humility to apply that "tough love" to yourself it's going to ring hollow when you get in the habit of dishing it out.

I still see Love as a phenomenally talented, yet immature player who feels some sense of entitlement. I love his game but really don't like the person and can understand why his teammates may well feel the same way.

Bingo...my thoughts exactly. Love is such an incredible player, a legitimate MVP candidate if the team was winning, but god is he tough to like.

I actually think our guys will pull out a win in San Antonio. On my pick 'em list a while ago, I had this as a loss, but with how things have shaped up and national media hype is way down on them, this seems like a game they could get. Let's not forget how we played them last time. Should have been a Wolves win. I think they get it done now that our bench is healthy.

Camden wrote:I actually think our guys will pull out a win in San Antonio. On my pick 'em list a while ago, I had this as a loss, but with how things have shaped up and national media hype is way down on them, this seems like a game they could get. Let's not forget how we played them last time. Should have been a Wolves win. I think they get it done now that our bench is healthy.

That would be huge, cam, and the Spurs have had a couple bad losses at home recently. A win in San Antonio would go a long way to bringing up my optimism level. But I think our W-L pattern continues, and we lose a close one and fall below .500 again.

longstrangetrip wrote:

But, then there's the elephant in the room...the team chemistry. Lip nailed it, and it was even obvious on TV. JJ and Love put out a huge effort to show us that all was good, sitting next to each other with fake smiles plastered on their faces. Some of the good will was legitimate...it's easy to smile when you blow a team out...but I sensed the tension was still there. I suspect Flip is spending a lot of time on the phone gauging interest in Barea.

No highly function team ha ever existed without significant conflict. JJ knows that, because he has been in a winning team before........Love will figure it out......and it sounds like Adelman is ensuring that Love figures it out.

So, I view this as a good thing.

Flip is not going to trade JJ, Flip has seen winners also.

Stat oddity:
DC had a strange line last night: 6 points, 6 boards, 6 assists -- to 6 different teammates.

markkbu wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

But, then there's the elephant in the room...the team chemistry. Lip nailed it, and it was even obvious on TV. JJ and Love put out a huge effort to show us that all was good, sitting next to each other with fake smiles plastered on their faces. Some of the good will was legitimate...it's easy to smile when you blow a team out...but I sensed the tension was still there. I suspect Flip is spending a lot of time on the phone gauging interest in Barea.

No highly function team ha ever existed without significant conflict. JJ knows that, because he has been in a winning team before........Love will figure it out......and it sounds like Adelman is ensuring that Love figures it out.

So, I view this as a good thing.

Flip is not going to trade JJ, Flip has seen winners also.

It's interesting how Barea is a winner because of the timing of 2 good games in the NBA Finals...

He was probably the worst player on the court in the first 4 games of that series. And he deserves credit for turning around an otherwise disastrous series.

But it shows the line between "winner" and "loser" can be an ever-moving one.

Ya.....weird how playing a significant role in winning an NBA championship can impact the perception of being a "winner" or "loser"......sort of bizarre.

markkbu wrote:Ya.....weird how playing a significant role in winning an NBA championship can impact the perception of being a "winner" or "loser"......sort of bizarre.

He played a pretty large role in losing the other games for them. Gunners are going to get hot at some point, and he was lucky enough to get hot during a time that his team needed it. He hasn't played at that level since.