Minnesota Sports Forum

This one will be relatively short. For most of my impressions you should I'll refer you to Cam's post in the game thread.
Cam captured most of my thoughts on the game, especially the individual performances of Ricky, Bennett and Brewer. I'll add a few more random observations.

1. The crowd was great -- both bigger and more energetic than the home-opener crowd on Thursday night. This game was a lot of fun although the outcome was tough to swallow.

2. The of officiating was embarrassingly bad and unacceptably one-sided. As cam pointed out, Ricky was getting hammered all night. He has to start getting some calls. It's clear that part of every opponent's game plan is to rough up Ricky. No other PG in the League is forced to endure the beating Ricky takes without getting calls. Three calls in succession at the end of the game snatched this one away from the Wolves. First was the call that fouled Ricky out of the game. That call happened right in front of me. It was just two guys going for the ball and no call was justified there. The call tool Ricky out of the game and left us with JJ #2 (Mo Williams) running the point, which was clearly decisive given how great Ricky was playing and how utterly horrible ball-hog Mo played. Second was the no-call on Butler's travel. Third was the foul call on Wiggins that led to the winning free throws. Admittedly the call was justified, but Butler did jump into Wiggins and a no call was certainly justified at that point in the game.

3. Speaking of Mo Williams, I think we saw last night why he has worm out his welcome with so many different teams. He is JJ with a better jump shot and a less effective dribble drive game. He cost us the game last night every bit as much as Corey and Budinger. I like him as a SG off the bench, but we can't rely on him as our main back up PG.

4. Ricky showed great leadership last night. He was constantly talking to and encouraging the younger players. Twice in the 4th he called his teammate to him for a short huddle. As part of his leadership last night, I loved his fire and intensity both on the court and on the bench. Even after he fouled out, he was totally into the game on the bench. After Martin hit what should have been the game-winning shot, Ricky leaped off the bench, ran out to Martin and gave him a big hug. Then Ricky walked back to the bench repeatedly pumping his fist. It was great!

5. You can see the cream starting to rise watching Ricky, Wiggins and Bennett. That's the future of this franchise and it looks bright. Martin, Thad and Pek will be the three key vets along with Ricky who will keep this team competitive this season and help the young guys develop. Brewer and Budinger will see their roles flat line or diminish.

Overall, a great game and terrific effort by aspirated young Wolves team.

It must have been a fun night at TC, lip, albeit it a frustrating finish. I couldn't agree more on the "foul" that took Ricky out of the game...he was part of a group that simultaneously went for a loose ball, and he didn't jump into anyone to get it. It was in no way a foul. I don't agree with your conclusion on the Wiggins foul on Butler though...that one is going to be called 9 times out of ten. And while most of us on this board thought Butler traveled, Kevin Lynch concluded after the game that he did not. I still think he did, but maybe that's because I wanted him too.

Your comments on Mo are right on. I said in a thread earlier this week that there would be nights that we would turn on him, because that has been his history, and last night was one of those nights. He drove Portland fans batty last year with his up and down nights. His JJ-dribbling last night was maddening and he was not making his shot, but in all fairness he did make a nice pass to KMart for his big shot with 3 seconds left. Mo's going to be a roller coaster all year.

I noticed everything you mentioned about Ricky, and really liked what I saw. I honestly didn't know that he had it in him, but his on-court huddles really showed me something. This is his team, and his teammates seem ready to let him lead. And his dance onto the court to celebrate with Martin after his three was pure joy to watch.

We could, no should, be 2-1 right now, and with games against the Bulls and Griz in there, we have been better than I would have expected. This team has character and budding talent, and it's going to be great fun to watch them grow.

I think both the Ricky and AW plays were fouls, but Ricky's fifth against Heinrich who was falling down out of control in the lane certainly wasn't. I have always hated the "jumping into a player" foul, but Sam Cassell made a career out of it.

Kevin Lynch couldn't find his ass with both hands. That was a travel two times over. He took his two steps and didn't even have to hit the ground before it should have been called. Then he slides both feet across the court, which is another travel. I am not surprised, because the wolves were required to be mugged before getting a call, while every little rub foul seemed to be called against them.

We need to get a Steimsma type back on this team. Hummel did a pretty good job of delivering some hard blows when he was in, but we need to have a more physical presence on the floor at all times. Speaking of Hummel, I have been a huge critic, but he deserves to get some love after his performance last night. He came in and gave the wolves exactly what they needed with Thad out. He was physical on the boards and setting screens, and just made some good decisions.

Brewer looked like the same player that we had here in his first stint, and Bud makes me question why he is still on the team if there is interest elsewhere. He airballed (by about two feet) a wide open three. I know Flip has some system in practice to determine 3pt shooters, but a lot of players can't ever translate practice to game situations. Bennett is knocking down 20 footers regularly, but yet isn't taking any 3's. That seems like a big waste.

sjm34 wrote:

We need to get a Steimsma type back on this team. Hummel did a pretty good job of delivering some hard blows when he was in, but we need to have a more physical presence on the floor at all times.
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Shabazz is the closest thing we have to a physical presence on this squad. Guys get extremely frustrated trying to guard Bazz and he goes after boards like crazy. He just needs to play smart like he did in the first game. Didn't look good the last few games. I hope getting minimal minutes doesn't cause him to force the issue when he gets burn in the future.

So who do we blame now for the Wolves late game struggles now that Adelman and Love aren't here to pick on?

alexftbl8181 wrote:So who do we blame now for the Wolves late game struggles now that Adelman and Love aren't here to pick on?

What struggles, looks like they played pretty well to me. They were down 14 at half, and finished the third and fourth quarters strong.

sjm34 wrote:

alexftbl8181 wrote:So who do we blame now for the Wolves late game struggles now that Adelman and Love aren't here to pick on?

What struggles, looks like they played pretty well to me. They were down 14 at half, and finished the third and fourth quarters strong.

They lost the game, that struggle

They didn't struggle, they just lost the game. Martin hit what should have been the game winning shot.

alexftbl8181 wrote:

sjm34 wrote:

alexftbl8181 wrote:So who do we blame now for the Wolves late game struggles now that Adelman and Love aren't here to pick on?

What struggles, looks like they played pretty well to me. They were down 14 at half, and finished the third and fourth quarters strong.

They lost the game, that struggle

Yeah, in the NBA every game ends with a loser.

Last year this was a veteran team that was expected to make the playoffs and couldn't close out winnable games. In fact, not only could they not close them out, the fear was palpable. This season with a bunch of young players on the floor, not just the bench, a number of new veterans, a new coach, and only three games in they've made a game of it against two playoff teams and were in position to win both. These are the types of game you expect a young team to lose against good veteran teams, especially early in the season.

So, why don't you get back to us with that question in January!

"We need to get a Steimsma type back on this team. Hummel did a pretty good job of delivering some hard blows when he was in, but we need to have a more physical presence on the floor at all times. Speaking of Hummel, I have been a huge critic, but he deserves to get some love after his performance last night. He came in and gave the wolves exactly what they needed with Thad out. He was physical on the boards and setting screens, and just made some good decisions."



Turiof should return soon