Game Report - Wolves v. Bobcats

[Lipoli390]

Crowd was pretty small and very quiet tonight, especially for a Friday night. Any energy tonight came strictly from the players because none of it came from the crowd.

The good news is that the Wolves won. And it was another one of those blowout wins the Wolves have gotten with some frequency this season against teams with clearly inferior talent. It was also another win following one of their many close losses. The Wolves are actually 8-2 following their 10 of 10 losses in games decided by less than 4 points. So it's hard to get excited about tonight's win. At the moment we have no reason to believe it is anything other than a continuation of the same pattern we've seen all season -- the same pattern that will keep this team out of the playoffs if its continues. And now it's on to San Antonio where the Spurs will look to keep the Wolves in their familiar pattern.

As for the game, I see three key ingredients to tonight's win beyond the fact that Charlotte is a really bad team: 1) the stellar play of Pekovic; 2) excellent ball-movement; and 3) significantly better play from the bench than we've generally seen this season. A word about each ingredient:

1. Pekovic -- He is still ramping up and hitting his stride. Defend him with similarly unathletic, short-armed defender like Big Al, and Pekovic will almost always dominate you on the offensive end and hold his own against you defensively. That's what we saw tonight. But Pek also showcased tonight his surprisingly full-court speed, stamina and effort running the floor repeatedly, which led to tip-ins on missed layups. He really is a $12 million per year player in the NBA, provided you have the right blend of players around him. I still say this team can be a playoff team and compete in the playoffs with Pek and Love playing together if we had a better second unit and a win player who could effectively create his own shot. But kudos to Pek for 26 points on 10-14 shooting, 6 boards, 2 steals and 3 assists in 27 minutes.

2. Ball Movement -- Much better movement without the ball tonight -- something that's been sorely lacking so far this season. That player movement helped Ricky set up his teammates and got the Wolves some relatively easy buckets. I got the sense that Love's comments and the fire-storm that followed may have contributed to tonight's better ball movement. I'm just speculating, but that was my gut feeling.

3. The bench really stepped up tonight, combining for 43 points and 26 boards. That was a breakthrough for this team.

I'll add a few more points.

1. Martin did what he's supposed to do -- he got open, called for the ball and hit shots. Ricky's box score isn't impressive, but played a terrific floor game. It was fun watching him hit cutting teammates on for easy shots. Also nice to see Brewer take only 3 shots.

2. Budinger looked fluid and seemed to have a spring in his step with no sign of any lingering knee issues. He shot well overall going 4-9 from the field overall. But his three-point shooting wasn't there for him tonight. He seemed to lack the strength to get the ball to the rim from behind the arc. But I generally liked what I saw from him.

3. The players -- especially JJ -- made an obvious and sometimes strained effort to pull for one another. But I didn't sense or see any strong bond between these guys. So we'll see...

[TAFKASP]

After the game they showed JJ approaching Tolliver and the look on JJ's face was one of misery. I could be completely reading it wrong, but what I thought was JJ is carrying some serious anger right now towards Love and spending the night having to pretend to be rah rah pissed him off. Again, I could be wrong but it looked to me like JJ would rather be almost anyplace but on a team with Love.

[Lipoli390]

SP -- I got the same feeling at the game.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

If there is a serious rift between Love and JJ, then it seals the deal: JJ has to go. Even more so now that Shved is actually showing a pulse. Gotta admit I left Shved for dead about a month ago, but all of a sudden he looks much more aggressive, even creating things on the defensive end. And he's the better passer by a long-shot.

Just to play devil's advocate tho, JJ did some nice things tonight, and maybe he can flourish with an infusion of Turiaf and Bud in the 2nd unit. But overall maybe he needs to go.

[TAFKASP]

SP -- I got the same feeling at the game.

Honestly I don't blame him. While Love was right he shouldn't have been pouting at the end of the game it is equally wrong for Love to have gone public. Especially after calling out the bench just a few games prior. IMO it shows a complete lack of respect to do so again in such proximity to your last unfortunate incident of verbal diarrhea. As much as Love bring to the table he is still a part of this teams problem.

[TAFKASP]

If there is a serious rift between Love and JJ, then it seals the deal: JJ has to go. Even more so now that Shved is actually showing a pulse. Gotta admit I left Shved for dead about a month ago, but all of a sudden he looks much more aggressive, even creating things on the defensive end. And he's the better passer by a long-shot.

Just to play devil's advocate tho, JJ did some nice things tonight, and maybe he can flourish with an infusion of Turiaf and Bud in the 2nd unit. But overall maybe he needs to go.

Maybe JJ and Love's personalities are like oil and water, they just cannot mix. I still think it was weak on Love's part to throw them under the bus publicly again so soon.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

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.

[TAFKASP]

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.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

I disagree. And I'm someone who thought Love was very immature in past years.

He should feel a sense of entitlement. The dude is an amazing player. And he's trying to create something here. His frustration is boiling over. He let loose and pretty much said: all hands on deck because it's time to go to war. Everybody needs to be in the huddle. We have blown too many games.

[AbeVigodaLive]

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).