Howlin' T-Wolf

Kevin Love and the other 'bigs' were just too much for the Mavs to handle

The first victory? Sure, it may have been as flukey as they get. I mean, a team as bad as the Wolves were last year upsetting the World Champs never comes with favorable odds.

But tonight was a statement.

Undermanned even worse than last game, the Wolves came into Dallas and found their rhythm at the end of the second quarter and into the second half to defeat the Mavericks, 105-90.

By no means do I truly believe that the Mavs are chumps but they were beaten badly by a badly beaten up Wolves lineup. Thanks to the our array of ‘bigs’ (Nikola Pekovic contributed 13 points, Derrick Williams added 10 and Darko Milicic had a block party, posting seven) the Wolves were able play physical underneath despite injuries all over the place. Remember back on Monday when the Wolves played the Rockets with only nine players? Well the same happened tonight, only worse. Although Wes Johnson made his return from illness — rumor has it that he was still struggling even — but the Wolves were without Luke Ridnour, meaning the bulk of backcourt duty had to come from Ricky Rubio and Wayne Ellington alone.

But, boy, did they respond well. I made the excuse on Monday that too many minutes for these young players is going against all pros of having a youthful squad — fresh legs, hyperactivity, hustle — but they proved me wrong tonight. Rubio responded his woeful night against the Rockets with a great outing last night against the comparable counterpart Jason Kidd. The poor shooting performances are starting to catch up with him and it shows in the box score but his playmaking isn’t tarnished. Rubio dished out 12 assists in 46 minutes of play last night. Furthermore, half of those assists set up the Wolves for big three-pointers, where they shot 9-21 (Kevin Love hit four of those six dimes from deep).

It was Ellington, though, who really came through in the clutch to push this game out of reach. Having to handle a bulk of the minutes at two, Ellington wasn’t phased by moving to the point while Rubio got his short-lived rest in the third quarter. Ellington was attacking the paint and, although they weren’t all falling, he continued to shoot knowing it was his only option. Eventually he hit a dead-away three that helped pushed the threshold even further.

As terrific as the backcourt adapted to the injuries, though, it was Love’s night. Such a fairy tale pressed for a beautiful ending, right? After signing his new, shiny contract, Love trotted out onto the court and led the Wolves with his sixth 30+ point – 10+ rebound performance of the year (In case you were wondering, the next closest player has only one game with those kinds of numbers). Love continues to work in such an efficient manner, going 9-16 from the field — 4-6 from three-point land — and 9-10 from the free throw line. To much dismay over Twitter yesterday, Love’s new deal wasn’t exactly what everyone was hoping for. After all, he’s playing like a max player but wasn’t given the deal to match. I’ll try my best to explain why it was a good deal for everyone involved later on today.

Overall, last night’s victory meant a lot to this team. It was another big road win — the last coming against the Clippers in L.A. — despite Dirk Nowitzki not being in the lineup. Dallas got rings, but the Wolves got the win, and an impressive one at that.

Next up is is the San Antonio Spurs at home on Friday at 7 pm. A little birdie says Martell Webster may suit up and even play. Just have to wait and see. Until then, get some rest, Ricky, you reeeaaaallly need it.

Dallas Mavericks (11-7) vs Minnesota Timberwolves (7-10)

This is still a Picture of the Year candidate to me.

Last game: Minnesota: L, 107-92 vs Houston, Dallas: 97-83 vs Phoenix

Minnesota rallied in the third quarter to tie the game against Houston on Monday, but then hit a brick wall with an injury depleted roster, as Houston put the Wolves away with a flurry of fast breaks and three pointers. Kevin Love was completely dominant, scoring 39 points on supremely efficient 13-19 shooting from the field to go with 12 rebounds, but Ricky Rubio had the type of game that reminds the viewer that he is still adjusting to the NBA game, as he turned the ball over five times, all at very inopportune moments.

Dallas, without Dirk, edged the Suns on Monday, as Shawn Marion (!!!) caught fire from deep, hitting four 3-pointers, and scoring 29 points for the Mavericks, who have won 4 in a row, two in a row without Dirk.

The Key Questions

#1. What difference will injuries make in this game?

Rick Adelman, after Monday’s loss:

I have three guards and no small forward. We tried to adjust, but you’re putting people out of position…We just didn’t have enough answers.

Not exactly a boost of confidence. JJ Barea and Michael Beasley will both miss tonight’s game as well, and I can’t find confirmation anywhere that Wes will return, although one hopes he’d be feeling a bit better today.

The good news for Minnesota, of course, is that they still have their best player, the newly extended Kevin Love (much more on that coming from Jonah later today). The same can’t be said for Dallas, who will be missing Dirk Nowitzki for the fourth consecutive game.

#2. What should we make of Minnesota’s first win against Dallas?

Literally nothing. The Wolves beat a Dallas team that wasn’t mentally ready for the season to start yet. They did it in Minnesota in front of a jazzed crowd, with Beasley and Barea both contributing significantly. And, on the other hand, Dallas had Dirk.

Tonight’s game could go either way, but don’t expect Minnesota to win just because they beat Dallas earlier this season, and don’t expect Dallas to lose just because Dirk is out. Dallas has been excellent at home this season (7-2), and they have been hot lately. This team is more than just Dirk.

#3. How worried should we be about Rubio’s 5 turnover performance against Houston?

For my money? Not worried at all. We have been spoiled watching Rubio play like a point guard well beyond his years so far this season. He has made smart decisions, especially (oddly) shooting the ball, and he has led Minnesota to seven wins so far.

But we can’t expect a point guard experiencing his first year of NBA basketball to be perfect. Rubio is going to make mistakes, he’s going to have bad games, and we are going to have to suffer through them with him. That’s the trade off of getting a flashy player like Rubio. On his off nights, just remember this. It will help with the pain.

The Key Matchups

We saw a preview of Jason Kidd vs Ricky Rubio earlier this year, but now Rubio is in the starting lineup. Of course, he was essentially playing starter’s minutes before, but now he’s playing EXTRA starter’s minutes. So. There’s that.

Elsewhere, Shawn Marion has been playing very well in Dirk’s absence. On Wes Johnson’s DraftExpress profile, it lists his best case scenario as a Shawn Marion-type player. They will probably get some minutes tonight guarding each other, if Wes is back in the lineup. If not, Derrick Williams played a serviceable, if not amazing, game in his first start against Houston, and he’s certainly strong enough to fight Marion off in the post. Whether or not he can get out and defend the three point line against Marion may remain to be seen.

Remember when we were all crowing about how deep Minnesota’s bench ran? That was nice. Now we see Minnesota’s bench going just nine deep. Against Houston, every starter played over 30 minutes save Darko, and Love played over 40, while Wayne Ellington played 34 off the bench. No wonder Wayne needed a cryogenic bath.

The Outlook

I’m hesitant to be too optimistic, since the Wolves are exhausted and undermanned, but it’s tough to be too down about playing the Mavericks when Dirk Nowitzki will spend the evening suited up like Barney Stinson. But it’s a road game against the defending champs. Don’t expect anything easy.

Game starts at 7:30 on Fox Sports North.

Despite leaked reports last night, Love signed a four year extension with the Timberwolves this afternoon.

Via ESPN:

The Minnesota Timberwolves and star forward Kevin Love have at last reached terms on a contract extension, according to sources close to the situation, beating Wednesday’s midnight ET deadline.

To do so, Minnesota had to grant Love a player option in the final year of a four-year deal worth in excess of $60 million, sources said.

Much more analysis will be available once details are released, so stay tuned.

Jonny Flynn doesn't miss Minnesota.

Ok, so “beef with Rubio” might be sensationalizing a wee bit. But Jonny Flynn definitely doesn’t appreciate the way that Minnesota’s fans turned on him during his time with the team, and after reading what he has to say, it’s a little hard to blame him.

From The Pioneer Press:

Jonny Flynn…said he was disappointed with fan criticism when he was with Minnesota last season and the speculation about Ricky Rubio joining the team.

I let (the Rubio talk) get to me too much,” Flynn said. “Everybody was always talking about Ricky coming here. My two years here was like five years to me.

Flynn said he “tried to stay a professional” about the situation.

“I remember all of that,” Flynn said of the criticism. “It felt like we were playing 82 road games last year when your own crowd was on you. What did I do to deserve that? I never spoke bad about Minnesota or the organization.”

Flynn makes a pretty convincing case. Minnesota’s fans turned on him quickly during his sophomore season when he was struggling to come back from an injury. As he struggled, it was probably natural for fans to pine a little bit for someone else to come along and save the team, but in doing so, it wouldn’t be hard to infer that they helped wreck Flynn’s confidence. Young point guards have to make huge adjustments coming into the league, and it’s incredibly important for any young player to have confidence. Flynn was never given that chance.

Of course, one of the things Flynn failed to mention is that his struggles were probably more due to the system he played in than a lack of fan support. We all knew that Rambis’ triangle offense was a godawful abject failure, but it’s possible it may have ruined the career of Flynn, who never got comfortable shackled within it and consequently lost a lot of playing time.

As someone who has been cheering for Flynn for a couple of years, it definitely stings a little to see that he feels the fans treated him this badly. It also stings to see him badly buried on the depth chart in Houston, barely even getting garbage-time minutes.

I, for one, truly hope he finds a role somewhere in the NBA, far away from Kurt Rambis. Good luck, Jonny.

We assumed he was celebrating, but now we are reading it as "what the hell is happening?!"

So let’s sort through this mess as best we can, with the knowledge that it could very well be entirely different by the time you are reading this Wednesday morning.

The Pioneer Press reported Tuesday that Love and the Timberwolves had agreed to a contract extension of 4 years and $62 million. ESPN, presumably basing their information off the same report, ran a story as well. Kevin Love was staying in Minnesota! Yay! Smiley face!

Then ESPN ran a report that said discussions were “ongoing” and that no agreement had yet been reached. Sad face.

Also, Love himself tweeted a snarky comment about the current state of affairs, with a nice little zinger for internet journalists as well: “If you read it on the internet it must be true right? #sarcasm.” Sarcasm?! PANIC FACE!

Now TwinCities.com has an updated post, as of 12:55 CST on Wednesday, saying that Love IS going to sign the extension today, and that David Kahn has flown down to Dallas to complete the paperwork. Happy…sad…confused….what face?

Fortunately, we here at Howlin’ T-Wolf can exclusively report that Kevin Love is definitely a basketball player who has definitely played the past few seasons for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and we’d really like him to continue to do so.

Whatever is happening, it’s definitely probably not nothing, and we will keep you updated throughout the day.

The ghost of Kevin McHale steps out onto the Target Center hardwood

And, perhaps, one more step backwards.

Despite Kevin Love’s valiant efforts, the Wolves were straight thwarted by Rick Adelman’s former team — who just happened to be led by Timberwolves’ fans greatest enemy — and lost by 15, 107-92.

The Wolves continue to dig themselves into deep holes to start off games. Tonight the Wolves couldn’t get the ball to fall through the net in the first quarter and found themselves down by nine at the end of the first. And the only reason the Wolves were even that close was because of Love.

Honestly, Love was the only player who attempted redemption after the last pitiful performance against the Utah Jazz, where he went just 5-21 from the field — 1-7 from three-point land — and only grabbed eight rebounds (Which just so happened to end his consecutive double-double streak). But tonight, Love came out guns-a-blazin’ and continued his hot first quarter start throughout rest of the night. He finished with a whopping 39 points on 13-19 shooting — 5-5 from three-point land.

The evil that prowled the opposing sideline that is Kevin McHale said during pregame that he hoped Love didn’t go off for that huge game/stat line that he’s accustomed to against them. Well, he did, and it still didn’t help. This is how bad the Wolves lost tonight: Take away 15 of Love’s 39 points, equaling his season average, and the Wolves would lose by 30 tonight. 30 points.

The Wolves did attempt to close the gap in the third quarter and eventually took a slight lead mid-quarter, thanks to the regular Rubio-to-Love three bomb. And in that stretch, the Wolves’ defense started to perk up yet again. It’s a recurring theme through the season, trail big early, fight back late and hope they can do enough on both ends to pull out the win. But it wasn’t enough tonight. The Wolves made mental errors all over the court in the fourth quarter – unnecessary skip passes that found their way into the stands, dropped balls, missed lay ups — and the Rockets cashed in on the opportunities. Literally, the Wolves handed the game to the Rockets on a silver platter lined with gold. It was a sad, disappointing sight.

Not only did the Wolves lose big tonight but it made it that much worse losing to the “Land of Timberwolves’ Misfits.” Houston’s organization is lined with ex-Timberwolves from the coaching staff — the aforementioned McHale as well as “Former head-coach-to-be” J.B. Bickerstaff — to the roster, where Jonny Flynn lies (Literally, he doesn’t play). And the ties between Minnesota and Houston go beyond that, after multiple trades in the past few seasons but I digress. Again, this lost made it extra disappointing losing big to the Rockets but consider the very obvious silver lining: the injuries.

Specifically in the last two losses, the Wolves have suffered from a lack of supporting cast to supplement Love and Ricky Rubio; Luke Ridnour and Wayne Ellington can only do so much, especially offensively (Speaking of, Ellington had been on such a hot start in the last few games, he came out and laid an egg, 2-11 from the field). The Wolves were without six players tonight; five to injuries (Malcolm Lee, Michael Beasley, Brad Miller, J.J. Barea and Martell Webster) and one to sickness (Wes Johnson). Adelman had just nine players to rotate in and out of, what I believe, was a matchup between two evenly skilled teams. The rotations were odd and the minutes weren’t equally divided, and for good reason. Love played 42 minutes, Ridnour played 36 and, in his first start as a rookie, Derrick Williams was in for 37 minutes of burn time. Even Rubio, who clearly had a troublesome outing, played 38 minutes. The luxury of a deep bench is the ability to swap in fresh legs for seasoned ones that aren’t performing. As tough as it is, Rubio needed to sit this one out and would’ve benefited from Barea being healthy. Same goes for Williams, who could’ve used breathers in place of Beasley.

Rubio and Love, specifically, visibly need some rest and they’re only going to get it once this team is fully healthy. And once the injured are healed, the bench goes on for days, giving those starters some much needed breathers. Young teams thrive on having more energy and fresh legs — we saw that especially early on this season with Rubio and co. coming off the bench — but when they’re working as hard as they are and playing as many minutes as veterans around the league, things start to fall apart, as we’ve seen in the last two tilts.

Eventually this team will heal up and it’ll practically be a new season. Here’s to believing in that idea.

Next up, the Timberwolves travel to Dallas to play the Dirk-less Mavs. Could be a special chance to steal one on the road… If the starters are feeling fresh and up to the challenge because no one, except for maybe Johnson, will be returning to action.

Houston Rockets (9-7) vs Minnesota Timberwolves (7-9)

Last game: Minnesota: L, 108-98 vs Utah, Houston: W, 105-102 vs San Antonio

Jonny Flynn should feel right at home sitting on the bench in his return to the Target Center tonight.

A clearly fatigued Minnesota team lost to the surprising Jazz Saturday night, breaking the Timberwolves three game winning streak. Kevin Love settled for entirely too many jumpers shooting just 5-21 from the field. Utah’s interior size torched Minnesota, as the starting big men Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson combined for 44 points.

The Rockets rallied late against San Antonio on Saturday, going on a 26-18 run to end the game and beat the Spurs 105-102 in Houston. The Rockets improved to 9-7 on the year, but are just 2-6 on the road.

Jonny Flynn and Kevin McHale both make their returns to the Target Center tonight.

The Key Questions

#1. Is this the new Wes Johnson?

In the first 13 games of the season, Wes attempted two free throws. Go ahead, re-read it. Then check my math. It’s the truth. In the past three games, Wes has attempted 8. Not mind numbing numbers by any means, but certainly an improvement. He has also looked more comfortable shooting the ball, shooting 11-18 from the field and 4-7 from three point range.

Listen, I’ve done my fair share of Wes bashing here on Howlin’ T-Wolf, but even I would never deny this: Wes’ athleticism is excellent and his shot is a thing of beauty when it’s falling. If he can continue to show signs of improvement like he has over the past few games, I’ll be very encouraged.

#2. Which is stronger: the Rockets six game winning streak or their bad road record?

As mentioned before, the Rockets are just 2-6 on the road. Part of that stems from their difficult road schedule, and their relatively easy home games. On the road, Houston has faced the Clippers, Grizzlies, Thunder, Spurs, and Magic. At home, they have been matched up against the Pistons, Kings, Hornets, and the struggling Trailblazers.

Of course, the Wolves have challenged teams like the Heat, beat Dallas at home, beat the Clippers on the road, and lost to teams like Toronto, so are the Timberwolves going to be another road test for the Rockets, or an opportunity to improve that 2-6 mark? It’s hard to say.

#3. Oh Barea, where art thou?

JJ Barea is out for yet ANOTHER week with a sprained ankle, as is Beasley with his sprained foot. Rubio has been doing an excellent job creating open shots for his teammates to kickstart an occasionally stagnant offense, and Wayne Ellington continues to make a solid case for himself for minutes. But at some point, the Wolves are going to need a player (or two) who can create for himself, and the two most capable shot creators on this team are both nursing sprains.

The Key Matchups

Kyle Lowry is a beast. Really, I just wanted to start off by saying that. He is incredibly athletic, but more importantly, he makes good basketball decisions. Lowry is averaging 16 points and 8 assists per game. His turnovers are up (3.6) but his usage rate is up 4% as well, so he’s being entrusted with the ball more often. But it’s his style of play that will make tonight’s matchup against Rubio so interesting. Lowry is kind of similar to Westbrook in that he goes crashing to the basket to try to score. It will be fun to see how Rubio is tested defensively tonight after a big night offensively against Utah (17 points, 11 assists).

Love will be matched against Luis Scola, whose range will test Love on defense. Scola, however, is a below average defender, so look for Love to start a new double double streak in impressive fashion tonight.

Derrick Williams showed some really great flashes against Utah. He still took some contested long twos, showing some inner Beasley, but he spent quite a bit more time working his way to the basket and to the free throw line, which was really great to see. It would be nice to see him get some more quality minutes tonight.

The most disappointing thing about tonight’s matchup? Brad Miller is injured and Jonny Flynn doesn’t get any playing time, so there’s very little chance of a Miller/Flynn grudge match. *sad sigh*

The Outlook

I have no idea what to expect from Minnesota anymore. They are capable of beating just about anyone and equally capable of losing to anyone. They had a night off in between games, so hopefully that will give them enough rest time to come out fresh. But honestly? I refuse to guess one way or the other.

Game starts at 7 on Fox Sports North

Love followed his "big shot" with a forgetful performance

You didn’t expect Utah to give us roses and hugs after our big victory last night, did you?

A three game winning streak and a huge win over the NBA’s new golden child, the L.A. Clippers, on national television puts a target on your back. And, when you’re as young as the Wolves are, being targeted is uncharted territory and feels plain, old awkward.

The Utah Jazz knew that. They didn’t let any of that momentum from the Wolves’ win last night be harnessed in any way whatsoever. One ongoing theme the Wolves have shown this year is a special scrappiness, especially late in games. But tonight that scrappiness just turned into desperation in the fourth quarter. The Wolves failed to play scrappy defense, which was the downfall in the end, and then it turned into desperation on the offensive side.

As for the individual performances, Ricky Rubio can only do so much. Without the help of a true supporting cast — especially in areas where your opposition is strong — Rubio was severely limited all night long. He did have 11 assists but should’ve had 15+ if others were playing at the same level of competitiveness as him.

The number one culprit: Kevin Love. It hurts to say it, especially after last night’s big shot that captivated SportsCenter from an entire day. What makes that statement even worse is that he didn’t even get a double-double (He ended with 15 points and only eight boards). He was out-muscled and over-finessed underneath the hoop all night long. And it was a mirage of opponents doing the damage. Al Jefferson, Paul Milsap and even Enes Kanter all had field days in the paint, hitting shots and grabbing offensive boards all night long.

With Love on this team, the Wolves are one of the strongest rebounding teams in the NBA. But having an off night against a strong frontline like the Jazz is never a good idea, and that’s ultimately what decided this outcome.

On to the bullets:

• Not to belabor Love’s rough night anymore, but he went 5-21 from the field — 1-7 from three-point land — and was visibly frustrated all night long. I noticed that the Wolves, as a whole, started to lose their cool in the third quarter. A string of iffy calls and poor officiating overall got under Love’s skin, which led to his second technical of the season. To me, Love doesn’t play well angry and tonight was the best example of that.
• Rubio shot poor early on tonight, just like last night. The only difference is that he didn’t let it get to him and he started attacking instead. We’ve learned this from Wes Johnson the past few games but the best cure of poor outside shooting is to attack the rim and draw fouls. Rubio did that tonight, and just seeing those few lay-ups and free throws go down gives you enough confidence to shoot another from outside.
• Speaking of Johnson, this dude is starting to figure things out. I joked with my father last week that Johnson just used his rookie season and the first 10 games of this year to fake others into thinking he’ll always shoot from outside. Dude was just hustlin’ everybody. It was a lengthy ploy but it’s starting to work. Whenever he gets the ball on the perimeter, a simple pump fake gives him enough space to drive to the hoop where he’s starting to hit some shots. He had an And-1 in the first quarter tonight. Enough said.
• Darko Milicic followed his gaudy performance last night with another 10 points but only played 16 minutes due to a sore hip.
• You had to be impressed with Derrick Williams tonight. He came out aggressive, which usually doesn’t go his way, but tonight it worked out for the better. He’ll continue to learn and develop and these performances will only aide that growth.
• Everyone is so surprised by the Utah Jazz but why? Their bench is rather impressive. I love the way Earl Watson plays and CJ Miles gives them a special scoring option off the bench. And that frontline rotation, if they keep them together, is going to be something special.
• You’ve read this far and you still have no clue what I mean by the title, do you? Before tonight’s tilt, the Wolves had a chance to go to .500 and have eight wins already this season. That’d be one hell of a win in all aspects. But even though they lost, that gives the Jazz one more win and pushes them that much closer to a playoff spot. The Wolves own the Jazz’s lottery protected first rounder this year, so if they make the playoffs, the Wolves will have a first rounder after all. Sure, it’s not much of a win but in a draft as deep as this upcoming win, any pick in the first round is going to help.

Next game is Monday night against the Houston Rockets at the Target Center. Rick Adelman faces off against is old team and Kevin McHale comes home — can’t wait to hear the crowd reaction to his announcement.

Utah Jazz (9-5) vs Minnesota Timberwolves (7-8)

Kevin Love is cooler than you.

Last game: Minnesota: W, 101-98 vs Los Angeles Clippers, Utah: 94-91 vs Dallas Mavericks

Do we have to move on already? The Wolves won their third consecutive game in dramatic fashion last night as Kevin Love hit a three at the buzzer. Darko Milicic inexplicably scored 22 points on 10-15 shooting, and the Wolves battled their way back from a double digit third quarter deficit to secure the win.

The Jazz also battled back, but came up just short against the hot Mavericks, falling 94-91. Former Timberwolf Al Jefferson led the way for the Jazz with 22 points, and Utah fell to 9-5 on the season.

Injury report: Minnesota: Barea out (ankle), Beasley out (foot) plus the usual suspects. Utah: Josh Howard out (quad)

The Key Questions

#1. Will there be hangover from last night for the Timberwolves?

You may have heard that Minnesota had a pretty dramatic game last night. In the second biggest city in the nation, against one of the most hyped teams in the NBA, on ESPN for the first time in years, the Wolves spent the entire game battling back before Love hit his shot. It would be understandable if the Wolves came out a little flat against the Jazz.

But this is the NBA, and more importantly, this is the NBA in 2012. The games are packed together, and after every big win, there’s another big game lurking around the corner. Minnesota will need to shake off the afterglow (but not the confidence gained) from such a big win, turn around, and try to knock off a surprisingly good Jazz team who are currently in 5th in the Western Conference.

Speaking of which…

#2. How are the Jazz so good this year?

Utah has played quite a few games so far this season in Salt Lake City. 9 at home, 5 away to be exact, which happens to directly coincide with their record of 9-5. They have only beaten three truly quality teams, Philadelphia, Denver, and the Clippers.

That’s not to say that Utah can’t be a good team when they are playing other good teams. The front court trio of Jefferson, Paul Millsap, and Derrick Favors have developed some really good chemistry, and Gordon Hayward has made some really big strides as well.

They also have a very deep bench of role players, which makes them dangerous on consecutive nights.

Speaking of which…

#3. What have we learned about the Timberwolves so far this year on the second night of a back to back?

Remember how we all made a big deal about how good the Timberwolves would be on the second night of back to backs before the season started?

Those were nice times. The Timberwolves are now 1-4 on the second consecutive night of basketball. Their one win was against San Antonio on some of the hottest shooting we’ve seen from them. Some of the losses? Toronto and Milwaukee, as well as a blown game against Atlanta.

This doesn’t bode well for tonight’s game. The Wolves will have to rely on the same contributors from last night to have a big impact tonight, given the injuries to Barea and Beasley. So let’s talk about those contributors. (Also about the fact that I’m KILLING my transitions today.)

The Key Matchups

At the risk of sounding too punch-drunk after Love drained a very deep three to win the game last night, Love’s range very well might bother his defenders tonight. Neither Millsap nor Jefferson is particularly suited to guarding the three point line. Derrick Favors got a shot at Love last season in Utah and Minnesota’s final matchup, and he played decently, scoring 13 points, but he allowed Love to score 22.

Al Jefferson is going to get Darko to foul out within 15 minutes. I’m calling this one right now. Jefferson relies on a fairly wide array of pump fakes, and Darko bites on EVERY SINGLE PUMP FAKE IN THE HISTORY OF MAN. Ugh.

I feel like Devin Harris’ size and athleticism would cause some serious problems for Rubio if Harris hadn’t seemingly forgotten how to play good basketball this year.

The Jazz have a lot of young players coming off the bench, including two rookies: Alec Burks and Enes Kanter. I’m a fan of Burks, who is very proficient in turnovers, unfortunately (2.0 per game), but is a decent shooter for a rookie (42%, but steadily improving). Kanter will grab a lot of rebounds, but he is unathletic in every way save strength.

The Outlook

Someone on Twitter pointed out yesterday that tonight’s game is win-win for the Wolves (and if you are reading this, hit me up on Twitter so I can credit you…) because if the Wolves win, they go to .500 on the season, but the more the Jazz win, the better the chance that Minnesota gets a first round pick this year, since the Wolves own Utah’s lottery protected first pick. So there’s that. Optimism!

I’ll be honest: I’m not feeling this game. The back to back thing is killing me. But it’s tough to pick against a team that did what the Wolves did against the Clippers, and as much as I’ve enjoyed watching the Jazz so far this year, I’m not a believer in Utah quite yet.

Hopefully tonight doesn’t do much to change my mind.

Game starts at 8 pm on League Pass

This feels relevant, somehow.

I was watching the Clippers/Wolves with some friends, and when Randy Foye drove into the lane, avoided two defenders in midair, and scored a tough layup to put the Clippers up by 12 in the fourth quarter, I considered packing it in and watching the end when I got home to write this recap. 12 points was too much for this team, no matter how resilient they had seemed, right? I began thinking of positive things I could say (”well, at least we know what Darko could be if he was good at basketball!” or “at least it wasn’t Ryan Gomes punishing Minnesota!”).

But then a couple of shots fell, it was under 10, and I thought “aww heck. What’s another ten minutes?”

Twenty minutes later, we tensed up as Rubio pushed a three into the air, and yelled “YES!” simultaneously as it hit nothing but net. We all thought the same thing: “20 seconds…dammit, that’s too much time to leave for Chauncey.” We winced as Chauncey fell down, perked up as no foul was called (correctly, I might add), and buzzed about Rubio’s ability to move his feet and stay straight up and down under pressure. We froze as we saw DeAndre Jordan lose Kevin Love in the shuffle of that final out of bounds play. We gasped as Love rose and fired. And we screamed as the ball fell through.

Look, I know it’s one game, but we deserve to gush. We deserve to be hyperbolic, looking at Minnesota’s near .500 record and wondering about the playoffs. We deserve to be irrational because Minnesota honestly deserves praise for their performance.

The Wolves defeated a quality (if banged up) opponent on the road. They withstood Mo Williams’ second straight torrid game. They battled back from big deficits, and back-breaking shots (seriously, don’t try to pretend you thought the Wolves still had a chance after Billups hit that three to put the Clippers up 96-90).

And perhaps best of all, they executed on a final play. Derrick Williams’ misdirection led defenders away from Love, who backed up, getting a solid screen from Wayne Ellington, and found himself with enough time to set, rise up, and bury Los Angeles.

And yes, I’m aware that the Clippers were without Chris Paul, and that this game probably would have been different if he had been playing. In fact, it probably never would have become a single possession game. That’s what a great point guard like Paul does: he creates his own shot and scores when the offense is breaking down. The Clippers’ offense was in shambles by the end of the fourth quarter. It’s very rare for any offense to be in shambles when CP3 is in.

But even without Chris Paul, this Clippers team is dangerous, especially at home, where the fans are engaged and waiting for the next Blake Griffin alley-oop. More importantly, this win wasn’t like the San Antonio game. The Wolves didn’t shoot unsustainable numbers en route to a misleadingly lopsided victory. They won by grinding. They kept taking the Clippers’ best punches and kept coming back, until finally the game was tied, and the Clippers didn’t have any more punches to throw.

And Minnesota still had one more.

Let’s do some bullet points:

• For my money? Rubio’s shot was more pressure filled than Love’s. If Rubio misses, everyone questions his shot selection, Los Angeles gets the ball, and Minnesota has to foul, giving the Clippers the chance to make it a two possession game from the free throw line. But if Love misses, the game goes into overtime, Los Angeles’ is totally reeling, and Minnesota has all the momentum going into a pressure packed 5 minute overtime period.  Who do you think had more to lose?
• Rubio’s celebrations are hilarious. If you can find it, re-watch the actual broadcast of Love’s three, and look for Rubio right afterward. For those of you who don’t know, soccer players aren’t allowed to pull their jerseys off anymore after they score a goal, so they will grab the bottom of their jersey and flap it up and down like a small flag. Rubio did this while running after Love to hug him. Also, that little girl-esque skip thing he did after he hit the tying three? Pure gold. As my friend put it: “he’s even adorable when he’s being cocky!” Somebody show Rubio this clip. I want to see him do the DMC pimp walk.
• Mo Williams had a real case against the foul call that eventually got him ejected (Rubio pretty clearly slipped, from what I could see), but can you think of a worse time to lose your temper? Mo was on fire for his second straight game, he already had a technical, and his team was caught in a hard-fought matchup at home. Just a bad decision.
• On a broader note, does any team complain to the refs as much as the Clippers? Between Mo, Chris Paul when he’s playing, Chauncey Billups, and Blake Griffin, I honestly have a hard time thinking of one. Although in Griffin’s defense, it’s hard to tell when he is complaining about a foul call and when he is just frustrated with himself, because in both instances, he does this.
• The good news about last night? The Wolves won a big game on ESPN. The bad news? The sheer volume of people about to jump on Minnesota’s bandwagon. Wait, what am I saying? Minnesota has a freaking bandwagon. EVERYBODY! WELCOME!
• Last night was the second game in a row that this has happened, so I don’t feel quite as weird bringing it up: Wes Johnson attacked the rim a few times, once even getting a basket plus a free throw. On the play before, he worked his way to the basket and got hammered, with no foul call. Is it possible he was pissed off by the no-call and decided to take it to the hoop again? Did Johnson do something aggressive? Good on yourself, Wes! Keep it up.
• Darko deserves his own bullet point, so here it is: 22 points? 10-15 shooting? I’m a little worried my computer is going to freeze up as I try to type those numbers. Also, it should be noted that, even in the heat of an intense game, sitting in a room full of people cheering for the Timberwolves, one of my friends and I looked at each other and cracked up when Darko hit his last basket, that 100 mph layup. Highest of comedy.
• The last time Minnesota won three games in a row? February of the 2009-10 season, a streak that started against the Clippers. That was also Minnesota’s last four game winning streak, which they will try to match tonight against the Jazz. The last time Minnesota was at .500 more than three games into the season? 2006. They quickly fell below .500 that year.
• Let’s not lose sight of this: Wayne Ellington is shooting out of his mind right now. He was 6-9 for 13 points last night, which makes him 23-38 in his last five games. Obviously, he probably won’t continue to shoot 60% from the field, but it’s great to see his numbers starting to even out after a bad start to the season. Also: am I the only person who keeps forgetting he’s just 24 years old? Probably? Ok, never mind.
• In light of the on-going Stephen Curry story, it’s really good to see Adelman continuing to let Barea’s ankle rest. Minnesota really could have used him last night, but it’s a long, packed season, and ankle injuries need time and patience.
• Finally, random players hit buzzer beaters all the time, and immediately get overrated as clutch by the NBA’s online fanbase, one of the most sensationalist groups of people I have EVER encountered. But at the risk of sounding like one of them, please Minnesota:  just pay Love. The max. Five years. Whatever he wants. Please. Get. It. Done.