Minnesota Sports Forum

Fun game to watch. But except for a couple minute stretch... did anybody really think the Wolves would win? I think there's a significant disparity between the Elite teams and the Wolves. One that might keep this team hovering at about .500 instead of getting enough wins for the playoffs.

A few things:

1. The NBA is predictable sometimes. The Wolves are one of the L's worst 4th Q teams. The Spurs are one of the best. The Spurs won the quarter 37 - 21.
2. I dig the Spurs. I dislike the Heat. Why didn't Manu Ginobili play like that in the Finals. Good gawd... he was fucking fantastic.
3. Wolves bench: 4 - 14 fg. Spurs bench: 21 - 36 fg.
And people still wonder why the Spurs are able to chalk up 50 - 60 wins EVERY year...
4. Defense. Meh. No rim protection is a very bad thing for this team. But you all know that already.
5. Kevin Love shot 8 - 9 on 3s. And it wasn't enough.
6. Pekovic seems to be getting 18/10 just by stepping on the court lately. That's nice to be able to count on. But, he is losing the ball because of poor handles/bumps/fouls in critical spots too.

Should have had about 6 FTs down the stretch where Pek or Love would get fouled and yet some how there was no foul call. The Tony Parker push-off was bullshit. You blow the whistle ten times out of ten there if you're a ref, but how fortunate for the Spurs that the refs looked away from the game for the last two minutes of game time. Even before that there were some "questionable" calls that I didn't agree with. The Ginobili and-1 being one of them.

We competed all night long so that's something to be happy about. Those of you that are downplaying this game for the Wolves by saying we were in it just because of Love, well, big fucking deal. You feed the hot hand no matter who it is: Martin, Pek, Barea, Love. He played like the star he is tonight. Can't take away from the Wolves because he played like that. That's just stupid.

Spurs bench killed our bench. That's where the difference was throughout the whole game. Still have faith that Turiaf and Bud will be of huge help to us.

The Spurs, possibly the best team in the league, were very good tonight yet the Wolves had them on the ropes after 3 quarters. Give Manu and Tony credit, they made every shot they threw up in the 4th.

The refs did hurt us tho. The push off on Rubio was blatant and gave Parker a huge advantage. The Love rebound where Duncan gave him an forearm to the head was a foul--otherwise Love gets that board. And Pek was fouled several times during the game with no call. This has become a trend with him and I honestly think the Wolves should send tape to the league office. Just because he is strong enough to absorb more punishment than the average player does not mean the contact isn't a foul--it's still affecting his shot.

Some other thoughts:

Shved finally almost had a decent game. I say almost because hew was torched by Ginobili on D. But at least he hit a couple shots.

Nice to see Rubio hit 3 straight mid-range jumpers at one point and look confident doing so. I also liked his take to the hoop against Parker even though it didn't go in. And finally the big 3 pointer he took that went in and out was also a good looking shot--he shot it with confidence and he reacted like he thought he had made it.

Martin needs to snap out of his funk.

Our bench...uhg...another night where the starters got the job done and the bench failed. Dante was especially bad and was responsible for possibly the biggest play in the game: the Spurs were coming on in the 4th but the Wolves had pushed it back up to a seven point lead, and had gotten a stop. Dante grabbed the board and I think Brewer was leaking out ahead of the pack and Dante threw an ill-advised pass, turned it over and moments later Parker hit a 3. Then the next possession Parker hit an and 1 and I knew we were done.

Overall a pretty strong performance though, and now the question is do the Wolves build on that performance and win a couple very winnable road games, or is there an aftershock from blowing this one and they revert back to the bad wolves that have shown up too many times this season?

I hate to say it, but I predict they will come out flat against Memphis. Hope to be proven wrong.