Minnesota Sports Forum

What an incredible night! I just wish I could bottle the feeling at Target Center tonight, take it home and drink from it whenever I'm starting to feel down or cynical. It felt like game 7 against the Kings back in 2004, but more emotional. If you're a Wolves fan you couldn't be in the arena tonight during the intros without getting goose bumps or a bit teary-eyed.

It actually started before the player intros. It started as the Wolves took the court for their pre-game shoot-around. The crowd, not yet at full capacity, stood as the players walked onto the floor. That is rare in and of itself. But then something happened I've never seen before, even back during that magical 2004 season. The crowd kept standing throughout the entire shoot-around. When the PA announcer asked us to all rise for the national anthem we were already standing. Again, I've never seen that before in the hundreds of games I've been to.

i suppose I should offer a few words about the game. The KG effect was in full effect tonight. Yes, you could see that effect evident in the supercharged capacity crowd. And you could see it in the energy of the players. But let me say this: the Big Ticket still has game! That first block on Nene made a statement. Then another block and a clinic all game long on how you play individual and team defense. Then on the offensive end, one great pick after another mixed in with some tremendous passes. He's not the superstar level player he was 10 years ago at age 28. But I'll still take him over half the PFs in the League for his play alone.

But of course, KG's value tonight went well beyond the contributions he made through his play on the court. There can be no doubt that he led, he taught and he inspired his teammates. There were so many examples I can't begin to convey even a fraction of his contributions tonight. There was a first quarter time out after we fell way behind. KG sat on the bench next to Pek who was sitting next to Wiggins. KG then stood up and bent down in front of Pek, delivering emphatically what looked like an inspirational teaching session. I use the word "teaching" because it was clear that KG wasn't just pumping Pek up but was also explaining things as he moved his hands to illustrate positioning, situations or technique on the court. KG then moved in front of Wiggins and delivered a similar animated inspirational teaching session. I can tell you that KG had the full attention of each player. By the way, those two guys played a lot better after their sessions with KG. In addition, there was the time KG called his teammates over to him for a short huddle as we were beginning to pull ahead for the first time in the 3rd quarter, probably telling them to keep their focus and not let up. Apparently, it worked. KG was vocal and animated with his teammates throughout the game on the court and on the bench. I don't know if you could see this on TV, but I saw KG at one point grab the white board from Flip and apparently diagram a play or illustrate something he wanted his teammates to see.

Sorry to go on so long with these KG details, but it was such a big part of the night. And guess what. It produced results. The results were a 20-point win and the Wolves best defensive performance of the season by far as we held the Wizards to 77 points on 38% shooting. There you have the objective evidence of the KG effect.

But it wouldn't be fair to ignore some of the impressive performances by some of the other guys out there playing with the Big Ticket. Kevin Martin was obviously stellar on the offensive end with 28 points, creating and hitting some tough critical shots. Yet, Martin also played well on the defensive end. Wiggins was Wiggins, scoring 19 points and showing flashes of pure brilliance. After starting the game with that frustrating passivity we sometimes see from him, he turned it on in the second half and produced like the star we know he can be.

But I want to shine the spotlight on the impressive play of a few players who might be too easily overlooked tonight.

The first is Zach LaVine. He was absolutely incredible on the defensive end, completely and I mean completely shutting down Sessions and John Wall. Honestly, Wall could not get past LaVine. As hard as he tried, he just couldn't. The combined defense of Ricky and Zach held Wall to 20% shooting and resulted in Wall turning the ball over 4 times. We know Ricky's a good defender and he defended Wall well tonight, but I can tell you that Wall had an even tougher time against Zach then he did against Ricky. On the offensive end, Zach did a really nice job protecting the ball and running the team.

The other guy who deserves some spotlight is Payne. Yes, he needs to work on his shot-selection and play smarter on the offensive end. But the guy has attitude. He plays hard and he plays tough. He can rebound and block shots. I think I might need a towel soon to wipe the egg from my face when it comes to my reaction to Flip's deal for Mr. Payne.

Finally, you have to give credit to Pek. He played extremely hard tonight and gave everything he had on both ends. He still frustrated me with missed bunnies tonight, but his 13 boards and overall play were huge for the team tonight.

I'll end this report where it began -- with KG. I'll leave you with an image of the Wolves bench the last couple minutes of the game. With a win firmly in hand, the scrubs were on the floor for the Wolves with the starters and main rotation players on the bench. And along the Wolves bench was an old familiar sight from years past. It was KG standing, shouting and pumping his fist in support of his teammates as they battled on the court in a game that was effectively over. But he wasn't standing alone. Standing right next to him with his right arm extended in the air was a a 19 year old from Canada named Andrew Wiggins. The image says it all.

Great stuff Lip. Best report in a while.

All of a sudden it seems like a really REALLY good time to be a Wolves fan!

Tonight the old boss (KG) met the new Boss (Wiggs). In between those two there was the filler known as Kevin Love.

Lets add another top draft pick next season, get Bazz healthy, and go to work! Hells yes!

What the hell happened to Washington? Lip... you see anything from their bench?

2 - 10 in their last 12? We all know Wittman is a lousy coach. Maybe he's just being exposed? I dig Wall but he looked terrible. Rubio has made him look terrible at Target Center before.

An ugly game of sorts. Two teams who couldn't shoot (sans Martin). But an inspired effort by the Wolves. On television, it looked like Garnett went out of his way with the "mentoring" on the bench. Between that and the inspired crowd and a dispassionate Wizards team, it seemed to work wonders yesterday. Almost every time they showed Garnett on the bench, he was animated and seemingly explaining something to somebody.

But with 25 - 30 minutes on the bench each game... can he keep that up? And will his teammates want him to? Let's see if GR3 and L. Brown are stuck sitting next to him in a couple of weeks as Pek, Rubio and Wiggins all hide out from the pep talks?

It's good to see optimism surrounding the club though.

Nice reports Lip, lst, cool. I'm getting misty reading all this gushing over kg! Funny how our attitudes change so quickly when our boy finally comes home again.

Thanks, Lip.

I'll also add that Gary Neal knows what he's doing out there. Flip finally has his mix of veterans and youth. Plus he has his "championship leader", KG, to show them how it's done.

Really fun to read your report, Lip...it let me relive that incredible night! Yeah, how odd to see a full house standing throughout the entire pre-game shoot around. It gave Zach a forum to show off a little, even though most eyes were trained on KG. The crowd was really fun, albeit not without a healthy number of rubes. A guy behind me tapped me on the shoulder before the game and told me KG was going off for 30 in the game, and I realized he was serious. I chuckled and said, I'll be happy with 6 points and great defense, and he frowned at me...but he was happy after the game!

Payne is fun to watch. but he is going to get much better. At MSU, he was a reliable, hard-working defender with a tendency to make big shots. And a jaw-dropping athlete, especially for a guy that long (check out his dunk in the NCAA dunk contest). We've seen the athleticism (his vertical explosiveness is remindful of Muhammad) and effort, but he needs to (and I think will) tighten up his game. Pek had to play more than he should last night because Flip needed to give Gorgui some minutes at PF, probably because he was concerned about Payne's 5 turnovers. Adreian protected the ball well in college, and as he relaxes and lets the game come to him, he will also in the pros. He's the kind of guy you want on your team, and I think he will pair up well with KG at PF until AB comes back.

Lip, thanks for pointing out Zach's work on Wall. While I noticed Zach's excellent footwork in keeping his man in front of him in the second half, I didn't concentrate on who he was guarding. I think I was still thinking about the couple times Sessions beat him badly off the dribble in the first half, and I was assuming he was still guarding him. There's no question that this was Zach's best game in a long time.

Your title mentions Wittman, and Abe brought him up too. While I recognize how well the Wizards have been playing this year, I don't know why anyone would want to play for this guy. He has the sourest look on his face most of the game, and it usually seems trained on his own team rather than the refs. This losing string the Wizards are on makes me wonder if he has lost the team...I wouldn't be surprised.

Finally, I want to talk about Robbie and Shabazz. I turned my binoculars on them a couple times during the game (not sure where AB was), and I felt bad for them. Both of them are basketball junkies who want to be part of a winning team, and I could tell it was eating up both of them to be un street clothes. At least Robbie will get some chance this season to be part of what we are building here.

Now, if anyone can provide a transcript of the classic KG pre-4th quarter exhortation to the crowd, I would appreciate it. I've been listening to it now for 20 years (with a big gap the last few years) and I still can't translate it. Help please!

Great game. Certainly great game to be at.

Got there early and watched Neal and Rubio put up shots. Rubio is really struggling. I hope he makes it to the end of the season injury free and decides he needs to focus on his shot this offseason and works with the coach on it. Neal is a much better natural shooter and it shows, put JR Smith would put him to shame. Neal is nice to have here though. He made a difference tonight and is a better player for this team then Mo Williams.

I won't rehash has what Lip said, but will add what I saw. I sat behind a players bench a few rows and spent about half my time watching KG on the bench as I did watching the game. I am not sure if I missed it, but I didn't see AB anywhere. Anyone else notice that? KG already has a great connection with the bigs. Pek/Payne seem to be very focused on what he says. LaVine and him really talked a lot. I think LaVine is going to blossom in this environment. Rubio and him really started to click as the game went on and the dialogue on the bench shows how they will lead this team to new heights. Wiggins and Dieng certainly listened, but I didn't see the dialogue as much as the players I mentioned. Shabazz was really interesting to watch. He seems focused when the huddle happens, but is very disconnected from the team and seemed to have this nervous tick. It really sucks he got hurt. I think he expresses via playing.

Coolest part for me was watching my daughter get selected during the shoot around to give the ref's the game ball. She was really excited to be down on the court with the players right before the game. Pretty proud moment for me.

Game moment that stuck with me. It was near the end when we had already won the game. LaVine drove into traffic went up for the shot and everyone went up with him, but everyone else landed as he hung in the air for his open shot. It was just a glimpse of what he is capable of.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:What the hell happened to Washington? Lip... you see anything from their bench?

2 - 10 in their last 12? We all know Wittman is a lousy coach. Maybe he's just being exposed? I dig Wall but he looked terrible. Rubio has made him look terrible at Target Center before.

An ugly game of sorts. Two teams who couldn't shoot (sans Martin). But an inspired effort by the Wolves. On television, it looked like Garnett went out of his way with the "mentoring" on the bench. Between that and the inspired crowd and a dispassionate Wizards team, it seemed to work wonders yesterday. Almost every time they showed Garnett on the bench, he was animated and seemingly explaining something to somebody.

But with 25 - 30 minutes on the bench each game... can he keep that up? And will his teammates want him to? Let's see if GR3 and L. Brown are stuck sitting next to him in a couple of weeks as Pek, Rubio and Wiggins all hide out from the pep talks?

It's good to see optimism surrounding the club though.

Heh, I thought the same thing Abe. I think KG was amped up and he was in 6th gear in every respect possible - his play on the court, his engagement with the crowd, and his "mentoring" of team mates.

But yeah, hopefully he can settle down a bit. Pek has been around the block long enough not to have KG in his ear every second of the game. That could get old quickly. Payne, Bennett, and Dieng have a ton more to learn from him than Pek, but even they will tune him out if he's non-stop in their ear, even if it is all in good faith.

That being said, great team defenses all do one thing really well: COMMUNICATE! KG seems to be over-communicating on the court and on the bench, which hopefully sets the tone for the rest of the team going forward. Then perhaps he can take it down a notch.

longstrangetrip wrote:
Finally, I want to talk about Robbie and Shabazz. I turned my binoculars on them a couple times during the game (not sure where AB was), and I felt bad for them.

I didn't see AB either. That is really disappointing.