Howlin' T-Wolf A Fresh Perspective and Completely Biased Blog About Everything Minnesota Timberwolves

Wolves Record: 14-48

What is it about the American Airlines Center that the Wolves love so much? Is it the sell-out crowd that is always into the game? Is it the friendly rims that gave the Wolves a handful of “shooter’s” bounces? Was it just the team bringing a lot of energy after 3 days rest? Or lastly could it be the team rallying together to play well without Big Al Jefferson? I’d say it was all of the above. The Wolves shot the ball well, rebounded the ball well, and were surprisingly aggressive and as a result got the to line well. Those 3 things usually add up to a nice big W. Last night however the Wolves Achilles Heel, turnovers, hurt them in a big way and cost them the win. But as a suffering Wolves fan I was happy that a) the Wolves played hard for seemingly 48 minutes (other than being a little bamfoozled by the Mavs zone during a few stretches), b) they played with energy and did a great job both pushing the ball up court and taking it to the rim aggressively, and c) they played enough D and rebounded well enough to keep it close down the stretch and make it an exciting game. I will be happy to watch these type of losses the rest of the way as opposed to the stinkers they’ve been dropping like last Saturday’s game against Portland.

Other observations:

• Is it just me or the did the paint feel a lot more open last night? It’s amazing what Flynn and especially Brewer were able to do with some room down there. It’s been a long, long time since we’ve been able to watch our team take it to the hoop. I think since Marbury was around 14 years ago!
• Along with that even with the extra space the Wolves still out rebounded the Mavs by 15 including 16 offensive boards.
• Brewer did have 6 turnovers but he finished +6 as a result of being aggressive going to the basket. Yes he was only 6-16 from the floor but if you watched the game a lot of those misses came at the end of the shot clock when he was forced to create his own shot. This is the difference between Brewer and say a top of the line shooting guard like Wade or Roy for instance who can create a much higher percentage shot with less than 7 seconds left on the shot clock.
• Can we all just agree that Ryan Hollins is good for about 10-15 minutes a game but not 36? Ok done and done.
• Ryan Gomes again showed that he can play much better as a stretch 4, especially with Jonny Flynn, than he can when plays at the 3.
• Anybody else jealous that the Mavs have spark plug Roddy Beaubois?
• Really is a Jonny Flynn drive our best end of game play? Can’t we get the ball to Love on the roll for a 3 or Brewer in the corner off a pin-down?
• Coach Rambis, please stop playing Sasha Pavlovic. He’s not good. At all.