Howlin' T-Wolf

Timberwolves Tracks:

• Jonny Flynn partook in an intense 3-on-3 practicing the other day
• Jim Petersen returned to work after a few days off. Petersen suffered a minor heart attack after Wednesday morning’s shootaround.
• The Wolves have emphasized their commitment to honor our military this season. And just the other day, the Wolves hosted a Thanksgiving dinner at SEVEN Steakhouse in downtown to honor those who have recieveed a purple heart for their time in uniform.
• Just my own little tidbit with more analysis to come soon, Kevin Love recorded his fourth 20-20 game of the season. To put that into perspective, the season leader for the Wolves is Kevin Garnett with six in one season. We’re only 17 games through the season and Love already has four. Just sayin’.

Sorry for the short Tracks today, but I hope you enjoy them nonetheless!

Tonight's game was just sloppy on the Wolves's part

Turnovers. Defense. And. . .

Dorrell Wright.

That just about sums it up for the Wolves pathetic effort tonight. Allow me to explain.

Let’s begin by saying that you can’t figure to win a game with 20+ turnovers. It wasn’t that the Warriors’s defense was so stifling that the Wolves couldn’t make any plays, rather the Wolves forced themselves into bad situations by means of bad passes, over-dribbling and a lack of verbal communication on offense. Probably the worse offense of them all were all the bad passes. The Warriors did a great job of filling lanes and taking away opportunities but it still doesn’t make up for the fact that the Wolves’s passing wasn’t nearly crispy enough to be dubbed worthy of professional caliber. A good amount of turnovers came from Darko’s post offense. Recently the offense has been set in motion through his ball control in the post, but tonight it was corrupted on a few occasions by the pesky guards of Golden State, who came up from the baseline and swatted the ball from his hands without him being aware of them coming. Chalk up one for Golden State’s scouting report on Darko.

Once the Wolves turned the ball over, they failed — yet again — to group together and play some good ole’ fashioned team defense. Warriors found cutting lanes all over the court, usually created by the quickness and agility of their dynamic backcourt of Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry. They weaved their way through screens with such fluidity, it certainly was fun to see — A quick side note: Monta Ellis ought to become an NBA All-star this season. I love his game, as much as it frustrated me tonight, but he plays with such aggression and passion, he makes plays happen all on his own for a lackluster Warriors offense. I love it.

Anyway, back to our putrid defensive play, normally, when 6-foot-2 guards pinch their way into the lane, Darko is there waiting to punish their shot. Tonight was a little different in that Darko seemed a little off; He wasn’t always in the correct position, and when he was, credit the Warrior’s players for this, they made brilliant plays underneath to dish the ball off to someone open on the perimeter. Perimeter guys were open all over tonight because of lazy defense like Michael Beasley’s. Often standing idle completely out of position, Beasley lost track of his man, usually Dorrell Wright, and left the Wolves crying for help.

As for Wright, the guy must’ve had a career night — I don’t even feel like checking if it’s true. For a guy only averaging under 15 points per game, doubling his average in scoring and shooting 75 percent from three-point range should be a career night in itself. The man was on fire and couldn’t be stopped.There was one point where I thought, “Will this guy ever miss??”

He answered that quickly by hitting one more in Beasley’s grill. I took it as a polite “No”.

But despite the inexcusable turnovers, the shoddy defense and Wright’s career night, we can’t excuse the fact that the Wolves didn’t play well in any facet of the game. Kevin Love recorded yet another 20-20 game tonight but it all went for nought, as did Beasley’s 28-point effort. None of the pieces fell in place for this tilt to even seem competitive. The Wolves need to figure out how to play better and more efficiently on night’s like these, where a less-competitive team comes to town — These ought to be must-wins in the future.

Next up is a trip to Texas: First game in Dallas next Wednesday and a bout in San Antonio on Friday. Hopefully this nice three day break gives the Wolves some time to figure out what’s going wrong and time to fix it because these next two games will be a serious test.

You pick the lead for this story:

The Wolves lost composure, letting go of their lead and handing the Spurs a win in overtime 113-109.

OR

The Spurs battled back and won 113-109 against an inexperienced Wolves squad despite being down by 21 at one point.

Either way you shift or shape it to make it sound better, what a heartbreaker that was? Some might say that this game ended in typical Wolves fashion: Never failing to disappoint all of those adorning fans by letting one slip out of our grasps — our grasp was a 21-point lead at one point. But really, the Wolves played very well, and hard, only to let it slip away in the end. We ought to be proud of their collective efforts…

As for individual efforts, there were terrific ones across the board, and some that were on the complete other side of the spectrum. For starters, how about one of tonight’s co-stars, Kevin Love? He ended with 32 points and 22 rebounds. Watching him tonight in the first quarter, you could just feel another magical night coming his way. The only problem was that Love’s contributions fizzled out towards the end, including a pathetic effort at the end of OT to get an open look/foul/whatever he was trying to do.

And how about Love’s co-star, Darko Milicic is slowly becoming a fan favorite in the Target Center. His outstanding play and high energy is being complimented by faint “Darko” chants and standing ovations. Tonight, Darko took Duncan to school. Yes, I said it. There was one point in the game where Duncan was growing so frustrated with Darko’s success in the post that he picked up three fouls. . . in less than two minutes. His confidence and energy has elevated his game to an all-new level, one that compliments our offense very well. No longer do we always need Michael Beasley on the court to run an offense in the half-court. Darko has proven to be a potential focal point of this offense, which everything runs around him. He has all the skills, now, with the passing and his impressive post moves. He’s a force to be reckoned with and future opponents need to scheme properly to defend our newfound, supernatural Serbian center.

Elaborating on the fact that Beasley is no longer needed to run this offense, let’s create some context: Beasley had his worst game as a Minnesota Timberwolf tonight, in my opinion. He made silly, irresponsible turnovers including passes into the crowd and ill-advised jumpers. He tried generating things himself, but a lack of confidence in his shooting touch blocked his chances at doing his normal thing. Beasley only played 30 minutes tonight and sat a good portion of the fourth quarter, including the final stretch. Instead of Beasley being the go-to guy, coach Rambis and the Wolves looked to Darko, even while being defended by one of the NBA’s best, Tim Duncan. Darko established dominate position on the high post and went to work all night long against a perennial defender. Usually at this point in the game, we’re used to seeing Beasley take over himself by flailing into the lane, but not tonight. It shows that the Wolves are mulit-dimensional and don’t exactly need Beasley to make the engine run.

I can sit here and highlight pros from tonight’s game all night long, but you can’t ignore the fact that tonight was just another common theme in the reoccurrence of failing to shut the door. Star Tribune beat writer, Jerry Zgoda, questioned the Wolves’ poise and composure in these tight games. I feel it directly correlates to our youth and inexperience. This team has had trouble sealing the deal because no one understands that you need to elevate to the next level to shut the door. It takes single-handed efforts to pull these kinds of wins out — Ginobili and Parker did it tonight. Sooner or later these guys are going to realize that we need to kick the adrenalline up and make plays happen down the stretch. If not, close games are just a lost hope for our Timber Puppies.

But still, you would think that one of these games would just happen to fall our way, despite our lack of poise and composure in the final minutes. Yet here we are again sulking in the fact that the Wolves let one go once more.

To be honest, I’m a little lost at word, so here are a few notes from the game instead:

• It’s nice to see Wes Johnson rejoin this team. Recently he’s been absent in every facet possible, but came up big with 15 points.
• Tim Duncan angry is a sickening sight. He doesn’t just get mad at anyone, rather he throws his arms up in the air looking for sympathy. What a baby??
• Luke Ridnour, being the most experienced player on this team, may just be the worst player when it comes down to performing in the clutch. A few times this year, Ridnour has lost track of the shot clock in crunch time and essentially lets the possession go to waste. Tonight’s ordeal may have been the worst ball control/efficiency I’ve seen out of him.
• Sebastian Telfair was shaky. Outside of one big three pointer, Telfair continued on with his inconsistent play that disgusts many fans in attendance — or at least where I’m sitting. I can’t wait til Jonny Flynn returns.
• Manu Ginobili may be a bigger baby than Duncan. With two minutes to go, he assumed the cradle position on the court, wincing in pain. And then he got right up and nailed a three into our backs.
• Quick note on the defense, I was rather impressed compared to the outing against the Thunder. Again, I still see too many easy cuts to the hoop — via Beasley’s defender — but defense as a team was considerably better.
• Whether Love is out of condition or he’s just a tank not built for a marathon, he looked deadly tired towards the end of the game, limping around on his knee and visiting the bench for extra cups of water. Tanks just aren’t built to run more than 40 minutes per game.

Timberwolves Tracks:

• Here’s a Q&A with Kevin Love about his historical night and his outstanding rebounding numbers.
• The black unis are back! They are set to debut December 10th against the Detroit Pistons. I guarantee that these will be the hot commodity when they drop!
• The Wolves are still waiting for notice when Jonny Flynn is ready to go to the D-League.
• Martell Webster partook in a light shootaround yesterday but still isn’t ready to participate in full-contact practice. Once he comes back, this team should be able to elevate to the next level.
• The dynamic duo of Kevin Love and Michael Beasley isn’t just contributing to on-court success; The two now find themselves becoming very good friends.

NBA Tracks:

• Here’s more of Phil Jackson running his mouth. This time it’s about Eric Spoelstra’s status and the Heat’s lack of success.
• The Heat have now signed Erick Dampier to fill in the hole left by Udonis Haslem’s injury.
• On a more serious note, the NBPA Executive Director, Billy Hunter, essentially promises that a lockout is looming over the NBA.

Blake Griffin is lighting it up thus far in his rookie season. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look at this dunk he had over Timofey Mozgov of the New York Knicks:

But what I want to know from you guys is which dunk is better between that and this one from Vince Carter in the Olympics:

Make your voice heard in the comments section!

Wes Johnson had a big dunk in the first, but failed to show up later on

Right out of the gates, it seemed like it was going to be one of those nights again, where the Wolves just get bull-rushed by a superior team into submission. But Darko and the Wolves fought back in the fourth and made things interesting, only to get buried by a Jeff Green three with less than a minute to go.

The Wolves were completely overpowered in the first half. The Thunder crowd welcomed Kevin Durant back to the starting lineup, after missing a few games with a sprained ankle, and he came through big with 15 points in the first half. The Wolves had no answer for his athleticism, but even more importantly, his offensive awareness. Countless times did Durant observe a sleeping defense on the Wolves part, more specifically that of Michael Beasley, and made us pay for it with an alley-oop. I’m pretty sure I counted up to 5 to 6 alley-oops in the first half alone, three of which Durant was on the receiving end.

But the real threat to the Wolves’ chances tonight was Jeff Green. Just last week, I was reading the highly respected Daily Thunder blog about how Green may have been on his way out of the starting lineup. Partly because of his lack of production and the development of the explosive Serge Ibaka, Green just seemed like the odd-man out of the exciting Thunder team. But tonight, he scored 24 points and showed his versatility by stretching his range beyond the three-point line. Green’s biggest contribution: a dagger of a three pointer with under a minute to go that gave the Thunder a four-point lead. Somehow, someway, an unfortunate bounce landed into a wide-open Green’s hands and he sunk it along with any chance the Wolves had at a comeback victory.

The Wolves missed having a big game out of Beasley, which we needed to counteract the scoring ability of Durant. He was slow out of the gates, failing to score a point until late in the second quarter. He eventually created some shots off the dribble, soaring into the paint, but it was clear he wasn’t the go-to guy tonight.

Instead, the go-to guy tonight was Darko Milicic. It’s remarkable to see his confidence and comfortability on the court rise through the roof, and it puts fans that disagreed with his signing this offseason at ease to see how well he’s playing — i.e. guys like me. Durant called Darko “one of the best centers in the league,” tonight. Not only is his production being noticed on a local level, but also the national spotlight is starting to observe to his exceptional play.

Here’s a few tidbits I wrote down from tonight’s game:

• Welcome back, Durant. Beasley turns over the ball in the first possession and Thunder take it the other way on a 3-1 break, capitalizing with a thunderous slam from Durant (Pun intended).
• The Thunder pushed the ball down the court really well all game long. And that’s not even their style of play. But when you have someone as fast as Westbrook and as athletic as Durant, it’s hard not to push the ball and create opportunities in the open court.
• Did anyone see that shot from Brewer towards the end of the 1st? Just threw it up at the whistle, watched it bounce atop the backboard 2 or 3 times and fall into the net. That is the epitome of Corey Brewer’s game.
• Nick Blackburn knows it best: the Thunder have such a wide, loyal fan base because they’re fun to watch and they play hard.
• Darko certainly looks more confident shooting, passing and basically every other aspect of the game. Coaches said they made adjustments to his base footing. All I care is that he’s starting to look like a legitimate center in this league.
• One of the most frustrating things to watch sitting on my plush couch is when the Thunder ran plays that you can actually see what’s coming; You know exactly what’s going to happen next at least one pass ahead of real time. But still the Wolves couldn’t stop it. A LOT of work still needs to be done on defense to get where we want to be.
• James Harden looks like Kimbo Slice
• There seems to be a common theme as of late that the Wolves play very well but just seem to catch their opponent on a good night for them as well. Part is our lapse in defense, but mostly we just seem to catch a team a bad night.
• Tolliver played great against Durantulla in the third quarter. Love that matchup a lot better than Beasley.
• Ridnour tries to play pick n roll game with Love with 4 mins left and a 1 pt lead with 8 seconds on the shot clock. Stupid.

Well, that’s all for tonight, folks. Be sure to check back in throughout the week as the Wolves take on the San Antonio Spurs at Target Center on Wednesday and you know I’ll be in attendance.

Darko’s line may have raised a few eyebrows last night, including mine. It was clearly his best game as a Minnesota Timberwolf, and likely the best of his career, setting career highs in points, field goal attempts and blocked shots.

Just take a look at his line: 23 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and six blocked shots.

Oh, and not to mention, this came against one of the West’s best big men in Pau Gasol.

For even more perspective, we move to Anthony Maggio of Fox Sports North:

Banking on an across-the-board performance like Darko had Friday is lunacy – Kevin Garnett is the only other Timberwolf in team history to put up 20-plus points, 15-plus rebounds, 5-plus assists and 5-plus blocks in a game, a feat he accomplished six times and most recently on March 31, 2006 at Denver.

Darko has elevated his game to new heights in the past three tilts. His once unmotivated and lackadaisical style of play had fans pleading for some bench time, but he has now started playing with some intensity and focus. It’s a real breath of fresh air, I tell ya.

It’s sad that Darko’s efforts last night went to waste with the loss and all but if these performances continue, especially with the way he’s playing on defense, it’ll soon land on a night where Darko leads us to victory. Mark my words.

Now on the other hand, Kevin Love didn’t have too stellar of a performance. You could so far as to say that he was the worst player in a uniform on the court last night. 0-7 with 0 points? Only seven boards in 34 minutes? These aren’t K-Love numbers at all.

But aside the point, after the game, Phil Jackson shed some light on his opinion on K-Love:

“He fouls and gets away with it a lot,” Jackson said. “He jumps over guys’ backs. But he’s there, he’s pursuing it and he’s got a reputation now and [the referees] are giving him some latitude. But you have to give him that for determination and effort.”

Who is Phil Jackson to complain about one of the hardest working rebounders in the league? Those are the kinds of statements made about Phil’s superstar player, Kobe Bryant, a real star, who seems to get a real benefit of the doubt when it comes to getting “some latitude” from the referees.

Love is an outstanding rebounder and it’s not because he “jumps over guys’ backs,” rather he positions himself well when the ball streaks through the air. And then reaches for the ball at the highest point using his body strength to gain even better position while in the air.

Jackson may have gotten lucky last night with Love’s putrid performance, but when fightin’ words like that come from someone’s mouth through the ears of the passionate, hard-working K-Love, good things aren’t in store for the Hall-of-Fame coach later down the line.

Just wait til next time, Lakers.

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Timberwolves Tracks:

• Check out Beasley’s game winner from last night. It’s fun to see the reaction of the crowd.

• Sid Hartman gives the gist on Rubio’s pretty below-average stat line.
• Jonny Flynn’s eager to get back on the court and is now listed day-to-day. And after last night’s performance from Bassy, it’s safe to say that we could use ole J-Flynn back at the point.

NBA Tracks:

• Greg Oden has more surgery/Brandon Roy is going to miss 2 games.
• Chris Bosh comes through big for the Heat for the first time this season
• Tony Parker and Eva Longoria are getting divorced. This is probably the most depressing news all day, except for the fact that Longoria’s single now!

Beasley established himself as one of the league's best tonight. . . Seriously

Consider that performance by Michael Beasley KGesque. Beasley came through in the clutch in a big way throughout the game but, more importantly, in the last 14 second, where he effortlessly flicked a 10-footer straight into the net. And judging by how hot he was all night, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that that ball wasn’t going in. More on him later.

First off, this game started off in a bad way. Sure, we held a lead for most of the game — thanks to the 64% we shot from the field in the first half. Eric Bledsoe and Eric Gordon slashed their way through our slow transition defense, making easy layups and drawing fouls. Gordon’s outside shot wasn’t consistent, but it didn’t matter with how well he was driving into the paint and getting to the line. I felt like we had a serious disadvantage in speed tonight.

Another disadvantage was in the paint. It was freakishly scary to watch Blake Griffin explode in the first half for 20 points. I clearly thought that the Wolves had no chance with him scoring at will underneath the hoop. He was beating both Kevin Love and Darko with superior strength, quickness and of course athleticism. But as luck has it, Darko buckled down in the paint and made Griffin work for it, frustrating the sensational rookie, not allowing him any easy looks at the basket.

Speaking of Darko, this guy came into the game fifth in the league in blocks. He looks lazy and unmotivated on offense but is still a serious threat on defense. Tonight, Darko recorded three blocks and they all came in a big way. He forced the Clippers to work for their shots, which resulted in some forced looks by the like of Griffin in the second half. Minus a few, typical boneheaded mistakes towards the end of the game that allowed the Clippers to fight back with three minutes left — he made some pretty pathetic turnovers that are really unacceptable, — Darko, I felt, had an all-around solid performance. He fought through all the “Boo’s” and really put up an effort against a strong, quick frontline of Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. He made some beautiful passes including a remarkable bounce pass from his ass through the legs of Jordan into Love’s hands, who drew the foul on a layup attempt. His post moves still lack finesse, except for a beautiful shoulder roll off of Griffin’s torso that led to a giant slam. A standing ovation greeted Darko as he lumbered back down the court. That doesn’t happen often.

Corey Brewer and Wes Johnson both looked awkward as usual handling the ball and creating their own shots. I can never trust these guys in iso situation because they always find some way to fumble the ball and turn it over.

Brewer came up big with a floater that took the lead down the stretch, but by no means did it look fluid or pretty for that matter. It’s clear that Johnson’s strength in this offense is going to come from being the second or third option on offense. He’s a little too raw to become anything special yet, but as he develops and learns, it’s clear from tonight that he has the energy and skill to become a solid starter on this squad.

And now on to Love — I have to mention most players tonight because everyone contributed in a big way. Take a look at Love’s line tonight: 24-14-4. By no means was it a 31-31 kinda night but he still got the job done and elevated the crowd to all new heights. But where Love stepped up big tonight was his interior defense. The game plan coming out of the tunnel in the second half was to double team Griffin in the post. Love played on his back most of the half and was effective doing it with the help of Darko behind him. This is the kind of defense we need out of Love, so we don’t have to worry about taking him out down the stretch because he’s a liability in the paint. Oh, and the result of the second half switch up: Griffin scored only six in the second half. Good work, Love.

And now back to the star of the show: Killer Beas. As for my statement earlier regarding Beasley looking awfully similar to KG himself, he played with such a loud passion for the game and a big heart to follow suit. After every jumper, especially the game winner, he’d skip down court and beat his chest staring maniacally into the eyes of thousands of fans. Doesn’t that bring back memories?

He took over this game in the opportune moments, shining like any other star in the NBA. His jumper was as smooth as ever; Nobody ever doubted one shot he took tonight. And that’s big. It’s big for the fans, and, more importantly, his teammates. You can see the friendship and bond that Love and Beasley have made and it speaks miles to the future of this franchise. Keep these two together, whatever it takes, don’t let them go separate ways.