The sun is shining....

...and I need to get outside....like a normal person.

Hopefully I will make a return later in the year but under a different guise.

Enjoy the rest of the season....congratulations to Rick Adelman on reaching 1000 wins ( he hasn't done it quite yet but he will ) and well done the Wolves for achieving a 30+ win season in trying circumstances ( they haven't done that yet but they will ).

Here's to a sparkling 2013/14 season with Love, Rubio and more specifically Pek and Bud in harness.

A little gem uncovered in the draft would also be nice.

Take care all you Howlers.

HATM out.

Tuesday, Wednesday...Happy Days!

Heeeeeeyyyyyyy!

The Twolves make a short overnight trip to Milwaukee this evening to take on a Bucks side who boast a current play-off berth (8th in the East) and who slaughtered the lowly Bobcats on Monday night. That win came after a run of losses which was in danger of putting The Deer into a bit of a late season tailspin...so, the timing of the Charlotte game was indeed serendipitous....for them.

Ilyasova, Ellis, Jennings, Dunleavy and Redick ( a player some of us coveted for the Twolves around the trade deadline) are probably going to shooting threes from all over that arc...they were good enough, collectively, for 52% as regards the long ball on Monday so they'll be looking to take things outside.

Larry Sanders will NOT be going 24/13 tonight....mark my words. Nikola Pekovic (whose ankle is apparently fully functional and "loose") and friends will see to that. In the last meeting between the two sides Sanders also had an audacious 10 blocks...I'm going out on a limb and saying that won't be repeated either.

This one...again...boils down to hitting those open shots....looking at the box score of the Charlotte game Gerald Henderson, Kemba Walker and Ben Gordon seemed to be feeding their faces....hopefully Ricky, JJ et al will expose the Milwaukee guards and harass them from beginning to end. I would also expect our very own Cunning-ham to be heavily involved.

When you look at this one closely you expect it would be tight.

I'm, as you would expect, predicting a Twolves road kill..eh, sorry, win...if that should happen then everything will be coolamundo and thirty wins looks a whole lot closer....plus Rick Adelman inches closer to the big 1000.

Happier days at least. Let's go!

Another Home Win for Wolves...

The Minnesota Timberwolves held Boston Celtics at arms length last night and safely notched up another victory in a season that is closing with more optimism than was first expected.

Boston, playing without their "Big Three", had to rely on players like Jeff Green, Brandon Bass and Avery Bradley and although they gave a spirited display it looked, to my untrained eye at least, that The Wolves always had this one in the bag....winning all 4 quarters.

Nikola Pekovic returned from his ankle sprain which was painful enough to make him miss the Memphis encounter. He looked surprisingly sprightly and played a massive 41 minutes - that's 7 minutes more than any other Minnesota player ( closest to that being Rubio on 34). Pek also nudged close to his season's high in scoring 29. He was totally dominant and swatted away Boston's Wilcox and Randolph who ended up with 9 fouls between them.

Greg Steimsma didn't take his tracksuit off all night long as Coach Adelman stuck to his smaller line ups.

Good solid win.

A Visitation from Doucheball?

So it would seem....but wait, what is this? The two of the three most prominent "douches" on the Boston roster are out (Raging Rondo and Kevin Garnett - I know all those Garnett era diehards will hate that but I think he has always been douche-tastic in a green vest) and the other uberdouche ( Paul "the truth" Pierce) is doubtful after doing a "Pekovic" against NYC last evening.....if Pierce makes it, Pek take note!!

The bee's knees

If those three are all missing it's tough to see where Boston can continue their winning streak against the Wolves on the second night of a back to back, the first of which saw them royally spanked in the Big Apple to the tune of 29 points.

We shouldn't even need Pek for this one......but I'll be happy if he plays.

Love that big guy.

Good news today also that Brandon Roy's knee transplant surgery has been successful and that he intends on playing soon. Good luck to him.

Glass Ankles

Don't talk to me about "glass ankles"

Listen, I have a grade 3 ankle sprain at the moment it looks exactly like this (see pic). There is a great deal of soft tissue damage, I was in a cast for a week, I have at least three months of rehab ahead and am not allowed to run for twelve weeks.

That, my friend, is an ankle sprain......jeez, what is it with Centers?

There are some of the more decent teams you are suited to play against ( OKC? SAS?) there are others who just pose too many problems ( UTAH, MEM, CHI, IND) and without your starting Center the degree of difficulty is ratcheted up several notches. Nikola Pekovic was a late scratch from this game with an ankle sprain and with that news any slim hopes the Wolves had of beating the Grizzlies went down the plughole.

Please Do NOT Feed The Bears....

First things first.....miracle man Marc Gasol only missed two games and he has an abdominal tear.....a TEAR!

Nikola Pekovic missed a FORTNIGHT with an abdominal strain....now I'm no medic but if you gave me the choice between a strain and a tear I know which particular ailment I would choose.

Gasol must have had a stitch.....nothing more than that.

Okay that's enough hilarity, there's another top play-off team heading for the Target Center tonight and another top play-off team about to get its butt kicked.....welcome Memphis. Let us not forget, in all seriousness, that the Grizz are one of those tough, sparky teams that The Wolves tend to have most trouble with...make no mistake they will be in our grills and nothing will come easy.

That having been said this will be the first time that Memphis will have faced us with Kirilenko, Rubio, Budinger and Pekovic all fit. More of the same please.

Again...a chance...block out baby, let's go!!

OKC KO'D

OUTSTANDING!

Really, I mean c'mon, that was a performance of great integrity from the Minnesota Timberwolves last night.

The last time these two clashed, in Oklahoma, we were reaching for the off switch fairly early on as the Thunder pummelled the Wolves...BUT meeting that same OKC team at the Target Center is a horse of a different colour altogether.

Game Day #71 v OKC Thunder

Haaa-dooo-keennnn!

I was reading the game preview over on NBA.com a few minutes ago and visiting head coach Scott Brooks was singing the praises of his team's defensive efforts in their last three games (all wins), he said....

"When you don't have to take the ball out of the net, you get an opportunity to use your athleticism and get out in transition. Our first three steps can get down to half-court pretty quick and then we put pressure on the defense. It's all about defending. It's all about rebounding and getting out on the break."

OKC has outscored the Timberwolves 70-35 in that category while winning two of three meetings this season. Minnesota ranks near the bottom of the NBA at 14.1 fast-break points allowed per game.

So, lessons to be learned there eh? If ever there was a night where the Wolves have to re-recapture that outside shooting this is it...if those shots don't fall tonight we will be summarily executed. Similarly if we don't compete on the boards we will hand this game to them on a silver platter. I don't see us being blown off the court by OKC although that probably depends on (the latest in a string of detestable players to visit Target Center) Westbrook. If our guards can rile him and knock him off his game then there is a slim chance....Durant is gonna get his.....Westbrook will barrel into the paint at every opportunity....let's hope he goes solo tonight.

Malevolence....stop it before it stops you!

This is do-able...the precedent being set on Thursday, December 20th....a 93-99 victory at the Target Center. Admittedly Kevin Love dropped 28 points in that game and ripped down 11 boards and since then the Wolves have lost twice on the road to OKC but I just have a feeling in my water about this one....? I think Ricky will still be quietly simmering and looking to put things straight

Maybe I'll have egg on my face tomorrow....who knows? What the hell!

Such are the peaks and troughs we endure as followers of the famous Minnesota Timberwolves....let's go!

No Sh*t Sherlock!

Thanks for clearing that up guys...we'd never have guessed

REFS MISS CALL

Malevolence Abounds...

I learned something from the ridiculous LA announcers (with whom I was saddled) last night......apparently Kobe Bryant can run at 40 mph....yeah, you read that right...40 mph....I am so tired of this crap.....Kobe is a great player, no doubt, but he ain't no Usain Bolt and he continues to get away with far, far too much on a basketball court...and I hate that.

Los Angeles Losers

I don't care really.....but....

The facts don't lie and over the last three games the Lakers are 0-3.

Dang it guys...these 2013 Lakers look discombobulated

Over that mini stretch they have lost handsomely to the Phoenix Suns(!!), been pegged back and overhauled by the Sacramento Kings and most recently smacked in the mouth (sorry Duh-wight!) and fended off comfortably by the best team in California, the Golden State Warriors.

These Lakers aren't all that good...they should be, on paper but they are sort of discombobulated.That being said they will probably be ready to play us tonight....they have been on the previous 20 odd occasions.

The Wolves will need to retain the hot shooting from long range which turned up abruptly in Detroit last night and they will need to block the hell out.

Dear god we owe them one.......Gasol alert!

Good Things Come In Threes

So, d'you reckon the Pistons were expecting the Twolves to continue their 3 point shooting drought? Judging by the way they stood back and watched as their opponents scored 38 points in Q3 you would assume this to be the case.

Ricky! Luke!...It's okay guys, I got this...

With the score standing at 44-38 at half time Minnesota went on a scoring spree from downtown hitting 7-9. This helped, along with some ( it should be said ) good defense and (it should also be said) some pretty poor play from the Pistons to make the lead swell to 82-54 as we headed into the fourth.

Shved and Barea came in to start the final 12 minutes an immediately tried to keep the hot hands from outside going...after missing badly on their first two attempts....which had us all groaning and bemoaning a "back to reality" feeling....JJ nailed one or two.. or three... or four and the sun came out again.

Really, by this time, it mattered little....there was no way that this incarnation of a Detroit Pistons team were going to recover a 30 point deficit.

Nice to see Chris Johnson get a little burn at the 4 spot alongside Stiemer. I, like many others in Wolfdom, would like to see CJ be used more....I know this is difficult as Coach Adelman is trying, even at this late juncture, to establish rotations but the guy makes an impact whenever he comes off the bench and I would toss him in when the team looks sluggish and in need of a lift...even if only to contest things, which he will.

The Wolves looked very accomplished tonight. They are capable of defeating any team in the NBA when their outside shooting is switched on...sure the Pistons aren't the best...but when threes start to fall this Minnesota team begins to look like the complete package we were all hoping they would be. The guards were excellent with "good" JJ Barea leading all scorers on 21 (5-7 from range).

The Malevolent Lakers are in town tonight...our starting five sat out the final 12 mins last night....no excuses.

A Date In Motor City

One cannot help but think that the Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit MI, will be emptier than...well, Emptytown tonight. The Pistons have gone 1-9 in the last ten, the one win a single point victory, on the road, against the worst team in the NBA (Charlotte) earlier this week. So this is hardly a clash of the titans.

But dare we whisper it?

Will the Wolves win.....I don't think "tanking" is in the vocabulary of one Ricky Rubio.....so let's go.

Not So Sweet Home (v) Chicago...

The Chicago Bulls, without two of their best players, on the second night of a back to back road games..ANNNND using only an 8 player rotation, brutally clubbed the Twolves last evening.

These are the defeats that are so hard to take.......even when this season is dead and buried......how much longer will it be before Ricky Rubio calls someone out?

As Jim Peterson has said on countless occasions during many games...when you watch Ricky Rubio it's like he's playing a different game from everyone else in a Wolves uniform.....he's playing chess whilst everyone else is playing checkers....his level of energy and his desire to win is light years ahead of everyone else on the team.

Why should that be?

If we are in tank mode Ricky didn't get that memo.

Anyway....Bulls by name, Bulls by nature. This latest incarnation of Chicago's finest are the very embodiment of their Head Coach, Tom Thibodeau. They are a growling, snapping, snarling collection of ugly, aggressive brawlers.....who can play a bit. Some of them I like ( Deng, Butler, Gibson) some of them I don't like (Boozer, Hinrich) but there's only one of them I cannot stand and that honor falls to, legend in his own lunch-time, Nate Robinson.

Robinson annoys me in the same way that Isaiah Thomas (Kings) does......a small man in a big man's game that needs to be seen, needs to be heard, needs to over celebrate.......it's a tricky syndrome.

Okay.....I'm bitter.....reduced to this....sad.

End of mini trip (1-2)

We talked about Memphis already.

Sac-Town was next on the itinerary and a visit to the Sleep Train Arena..great name for a mattress company.

This game saw the re-emergence of Chase Budinger from his injury induced exile and it was good to see him looking fit, sharp and knocking down jumpers. The Wolves, in general, played well in this game against a Sacramento team who have been looking a bit more interested of late (handing out a heavy defeat to the Clipper in their previous game). You might say that it came down to a botched final play, whereby Dante Cunningham found himself with the ball in his hands having to hit a game tying three from long, long, loooong range...but if you said that you'd be fooling no one.

Three simple words.

Three point shooting

Does sh*t

1-19....that's 5.3% for all you mathematicians out there

Next stop Phoenix and guess what?

The 3PM-A average accelerates to a heady 16.7% (that's 2-12 folks!)....still dreadfully bad......but what the heck......even so the Timberwolves were far too good for what can only be described as a Suns team who are, like Michael Jackson did, redefining the word "bad".

A 31 point victory.....a double/double for Greg Stiemsma.....and even given the continued hell from three point land the team shot a very efficient 54% from the floor. It's good to watch the Wolves play well and not blow a huge lead ( which has happened on numerous occasions this season- but usually against top tier opposition)..they controlled this one from the tip.

Special mention should made of Greg Stiemsma who has been excellent this season. Having been forced into starters minutes, due to injuries to Pek, the former Wisconsin big man has shown his mettle and proved himself to be a very reliable back-up for the Montenegran mountain. Well done Stiemer.

Harsh? I Think So.....

Name a player, coach or team who has disappointed you this year.

Steve Aschburner: 

Is Steve hurting?

Disappointment doesn’t necessarily require blame, so my choice is the Minnesota Timberwolves. For the first time since about 2004, there was a real buzz in the Twin Cities as the Wolves opened training camp, owing to the improvements in 2011-12 under Rick Adelman, positive updates on Ricky Rubio‘s knee-surgery rehab, some smart off-season roster moves and the continued development of Kevin Love as one of the game’s elite, and highly watchable, power forwards. Then Brandon Roy(predictably, frankly), Chase Budinger and worst of all Love went down – went down hard – with injuries. A rash of others, including rejuvenated Andrei Kirilenko and Bond villain Nikola Pekovic lost time as well. Even Adelman had to miss games while attending to his wife’s health issues. Rubio, after an inconsistent couple months back, has regained his don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it form. But from Love’s opt-out in two years to Adelman’s commitment to Pekovic’s market value this summer and more, the clock be ticking in Minny.

Steve obviously finds it hard to hide his love for Minny but c'mon man, one cannot be disappointed with a team that hasn't been allowed to play together AT ALL. That is just daft. Were the Wolves sitting at this point having played all season with a full roster and without incident, on the current record?....believe me.....I'd be disappointed too....but the guys who have had to step up......Steimsma, Cunningham, Shved, Gelabale, Johnson, Ridnour, Barea, Williams (all essentially supporting cast members) have, in the main, made a decent fist of things. Sure we get found out more often than not but you cannot be disappointed in the attitude which has been spearheaded by Ricky Rubio through some difficult losses...and hey, next season, our second unit will, hopefully, be the best in the league!

Silver linings Steve.

Jeff Caplan was the only other blogger who took a kick at the Wolves...all the other, more discerning, critics threw darts at the elephant in the room....the obvious choice......The Lakers.

Devoured....

The Minnesota Timberwolves reverted to type, last night, capitulating in a third quarter that saw a six point half time lead swell to a 20+ defecit in jig time.

This is the most frustrating part of watching the Twolves play this season....when shots don't fall, as has been the case in countless contest this season, the collective head goes down and the team rolls over.

Use the FORCE Luke....don't force the LOOK!

The Grizz aren't the Pelicans...these guys aren't going to make things easy for you....but in saying that a great many of the missed shots from Twolves last night were pretty good, open looks....they just missed them....most of the time....badly.

Ricky limped out but he's going to be okay...breathe everyone!

Derrick Williams after teasing us again with a "hoop and harm" conversion in the first quarter against Z-Bo....went to his outside shot and missed and missed and missed and missed.

Too many players just not dialling it up and basically a game that the Twolves weren't interested in doing anything other than mailing in. Hard to watch....very hard to watch....and there is now a desperate familiarity to this season.

With all the injuries nothing has been achieved and no progress made...a waste of 82 games....unless the draft throws up something tasty......save us Obi Wan Kenobi - you're our only hope!

Rockets and Pelicans and Grizzlies...OH MY!

Okay, so we had a loss which was pretty hard to bear given the 20 point lead that the threadbare Twolves managed to piss away against James Harden and his darned Rocket-Men...but hey...we are in forgiving mode as we hit the home stretch of this "harder than hell" season.

Harden threw the switch and went into overdrive when he needed to...he is one hell of a player...I love watching him play.

Hey guys, someone told me Pek and AK47 were back...you seen em?

Last night the "soon to be" Pelicans flew into Minnesota for a basement battle of sorts. They had lost three more games than us ( having played three more - you do the math!) and with Big Pek and a certain Russian, no, the other one, the one with the sore back and leg coming back into the fray there was cause for optimism.

In the end those two were the difference in what turned out to be a very close affair....as others have pointed out today, we can all bill and coo over Derrick Williams' career scoring night (well done Lion) and Ricky Rubio's efficient shooting from the floor (7-11..very pleasing) but when it is all boiled down Pek battled for and hit those free throws and Andrei Kirilenko blocked Eric Gordon and corralled the rebound as the game hung in the balance.

The Twolves obviously look a lot...LOT more stable with those two massive presences out there.

And we need them back as there is little rest.

Off to the land of the original pelvic thrust tonight as the Twolves face up to the Memphis Grizzlies...a team it hasn't beaten in three long years....and a team sitting comfortably in the middle of the play-off picture in the West. The Grizz are tough and this is the second night of a back-to-back for Minnesota....Not making this sound very winnable am I?

Let's go!

Mission Impossible

Without Nikola Pekovic this was a mountain....Roy Hibbert looked like a school-yard bully out there, he, along with West owned the glass and the paint....end of story.
Also the Twolves, who behind Ricky Rubio gave another spirited display for three quarters, shot 31 % from 3 point range which is almost half of what they registered against SAS....that's just the way the percentages roll with this particular set of guys.

I think I just swallowed JJ Barea...can ya see his feet back there?

Target Practice.

Peter, sorry, Tony Parker was unavailable for the San Antonio Spurs last night and Pop decided to leave the The Big Fundamental and his new prodigy at home for last night's tilt at the Target Center.

Even with those players missing for the Spurs the Wolves were massive underdogs, given the form of some players of late and the fact that four players out of our starting five still languish on the sidelines ( but I see you Bud and it warms my heart ).

So it was with great pessimism that I tuned in, today, to last night's offering.

100 - 77...humped again

Dallas aren't that good really.

They are hitting some form as we come towards the sharp end of the season but really....nah, if Vince Carter is beating up a team then that team has to be the injury-ridden, half slept, daylight saving time bemused, travel delayed Twolves.

Not much to say about this.

Alexey Shved needs to go and lie down somewhere....and he should take Derrick Williams with him.

Is that unfair?

Does it matter?

Things to do in Denver......

Metaphorically speaking this season is dead...was dead...several weeks ago.

Vorsprung Dirk Technik

As I've taken to doing, I turned this game off after about five minutes of the third quarter. The Wolves had started to miss consistently and the Nuggets were beginning to leak out for two on ones , three on ones and other assorted fast breaks. The second half was lost to the tune of 39 - 61.

I got sick of watching Corey Brewer's spindly frame dangling from the basket after he'd beaten the Wolves defense up the court for the umpteenth time. It was also painful to watch Ricky Rubio trying to haul himself back in transition defense....his legs looking like they were coated in lead.....the energy levels of this beaten up collective are at critical levels and that was the first night of a back to back....oh dear!

Bed yourself in folks as this is the first of what could be another string of defeats....not a great deal can be done about it.

The Big German will be taking shots at the Target tonight..........shut it down!!!

"Steal" town......the wonder of Rubio.

...Let's cut straight to the 4th quarter.

The Twolves have shown guts and determination and are leading by two points 63-65.

Gimme that!!!

No Pek, No Kirilienko.....none of the usual injured suspects......bare bones.

Ricky Rubio is taking a breather and the Wizards start to make a move. After two and a half minutes of play they have turned things around and have built an 8 point lead. The Twolves look lost and all of a sudden have the defeated appearance we've become accustomed to seeing.

Enter #9....the whole face of the game changes....the expressions on the faces of the Twolves both in the arena and watching from afar change from grimaces into smiles of joy.....4 steals later and this game is won.

Yeah okay, simplistic  (I've vowed to keep my game recaps short-ish) but that's the way it seemed. This kid is everywhere on the basketball court. He doesn't always do right thing and he doesn't always follow instructions but his will to win, his combative, destructive approach to defense and his sublime creativity in helping others score are the only highlights in what has turned out to be another grim 82 games for Minnesota's finest.

Is there a possibility we can go on a little run? Well, Denver tonight.....Dallas and San Antonio at the Target Center next week....we'll need guys back......and that ain't happening......enjoy the win folks!

Miami (20-37).....

Six straight losses for this beleaguered Minnesota team.

Don't get me wrong, there was some fight in last night's game e.g  Barea v Shuttlesworth.....a true clash of the titans....I mean, c'mon Jesus, pick on someone your own size......this little contretemps just gives the Heat fans another reason the hate JJ....they'll never forgive him for single-handedly dismantling them, whilst in a Dallas uniform, in the Championship series of the 2010/11 season......

Okay...the Heat were offensively pretty poor, except for Duh-Wyane, who went 15-23....that's the pre-LeBron Wade....the Wade I used to like, nay admire.....but I really don't feel like going into that just now.

Defensively the Heat are the finest you'll get and that's the reason they will probably win it all again this year. They are tough.

Enough about them....they do nothing for me....and win too much to be interesting.

THIS...is a what a flagrant 2 looks like everyone..

Which brings us, paradoxically, to the Wolves. The Barea ejection, the Adelman outburst and tech, the Shved 3 pointer being rightly chalked off and the slightly dubious Cunningham charge - now that's INTERESTING...those crazy few minutes were a microcosm of this season.....if it can go wrong it will go wrong.....and then some. Okay this was always going to end in an "L", probably, but the officiating team made no mistake with the scores at 70-76. Barea's foul was by no means a flagrant 2. That's just fact. Subsequently the game swung like it had been fired from a catapult.

The players who took to the court last evening (and who were ejected from it) deserve nothing but respect for the effort they are putting in. These are proud men, it must hurt like hell. Rubio, in particular, is expending monumental effort to keep his team relevant.....it is too, too much.....he looks around and sees a group of honest guys who are giving their all. His frustration edges closer to the surface with each passing game.

It's a tough time to shout for the pack....but this is when they need us most.

The Miami Heat are in town....BIG Whoop!

No Love
No Pekovic
No Kirilenko
No Budinger
No Roy
No Lee

No Effing Chance.

The Heat have no injuries to report and are gearing up to break their franchise record by winning 15 consecutive games on the spin.

We stand in their way.

Now funnier things have happened in NBA history but I honestly don't think a starting five of Rubio, Ridnour, Williams, Gelabale and Steimer will have the South Beach Royale's quaking in their loafers.....our bench has so few players on it, it's tipping up at one end.

To dream.....

Adding insult to injury.......

Grin and bear it baby!!

The "Grin" Reaper looks like he may have found his mojo.....in Phoenix.

3 consecutive "really good" games for Wesley Johnson.....surely the gods of the basketball world are punishing Minnesota for previous transgressions.

He had a breakout game against his former team the other night ...well, "breakout"...he'd been shackled to the Suns bench....he then hits a game winning buzzer beater against the San Antonio Spurs....in Texas...THEN he goes 6-9 (3-5 on threes) in last night's win against Atlanta.

Has Wes awoken after 4 long years.

Can he keep it up?

Does this have David Khan pleasuring himself in a darkened room?

Keep on smiling Wesley...you doing good. Oh by the way the Twolves were crushed in LA and Pek limped off court with an abdominal strain. We are all looking forward to tonight's game in the same way that you look forward to having a rancid abscess lanced.

Game Day #...oh who gives a sh*t!

Really.

It's against those malevolent Lakers who are just a shade above shocking this year.

They are still too good for us however.....whichever way you look at it.....and tonight could be another grisly event in the Staples Center.

Then again as we all know these Timberwolves are tough and having pushed the "form" team in the NBA ( Phoenix swat San Antonio in the Lone Star State Shocker...Readallaboutit!!!!) into OT on Tuesday who knows what miracles could happen?

Oh dear lord.

No Kirilenko and the usual list of MIAs...yet still we follow...because that is what we do.

Let's go!

Something Wicked This Way Comes......

That has to be the worst performance by the Minnesota Timberwolves in many a long season.

The Phoenix Suns were equally bad.

Which meant we were treated to an extra 5 interminable minutes before this god-awful game was decided. By that stage I really didn't give a damn who won, I just wanted the nightmare to end....yes, it really was that bad.

The "Grin" Reaper

If you look at the scoring per quarter you'll get an idea of the kind of anti-classic this was....as the tremendously entertaining Phoenix TV crew put it...."this one ain't going in the time capsule, that's for sure!"

First 15-16, Second 18-31, Third 18-11, Fourth 26-19....OT 6-7

As you can see, the Wolves amassed an enormous 51 points through 3 quarters....I don't know about you but I kept expecting something, anything to happen but nothing really did....it went something like this...

Both teams started really poorly. Phoenix became a little less poor and forged ahead....then the TWolves got a little less poor while the Suns got really poor again...( you still with me?) the final quarter saw the Twolves be less really poor than the Suns but they couldn't maintain that high standard and fell back to being really, really poor again allowing the, by now, merely poor Suns to eek out the win.

Ghastly, ghastly, ghastly, ghastly.

Happiest man in the building?    Chris Johnson DNP Coach's Decision

If he cannot get even one minute of playing time in this total armageddon of a game I simply do not know if he will see the court at all before the season ends.....ohhhhh he happy! he smiling like he Wesley Johnson!!

HI-"JACK" and other stories

Extremely sorry for my tardiness in reporting on the Golden State game.....it's been a difficult time.

In true sad, strange, topsy turvy style the Minnesota starters woke up only for the bench to fall into a deep slumber. The usual third quarter malaise occurred one quarter earlier than it should have...oh...and Jarrett Jack went on a shooting spree.

I'm going to stick with the shooting for the minute.

But for the aforementioned and appropriately named "Jack" who propped up his team's offense in the first quarter, scoring 11 of their 18 points, hitting all his threes, Golden State would have been dead and buried. Over the whole game the Warriors were about 41% from long range (7-17), Jack was 5-7 himself......the Timberwolves were 9.1%.....let that sink in for a moment......9.1%

The Lion...locked in

That solitary three was scored by Luke Ridnour who only took three shots from downtown...that was, on the night the most attempts by a Twolf. I guess Rick Adelman must have put the kibosh on three pointers as only one out of eleven attempts dropped.

To be honest the outside shooting was pretty dire all night long with most of the Wolves' production coming from the painted area where Pek and Derrick ruled supreme...in fact 62 points were scored in and around by the good guys and Williams was something of a revelation....I'm the first to hold up my hands and say "WOW! young man!!"....I criticized D-Will for playing like a "circus clown" in previous games...well staying on a theme the lion roared and could not be tamed...the acrobatic plays were astounding....the strong man moves employed on some of those plays was extremely impressive....but most impressive of all was the finishing - end product - points on the board - +1s.....tough, tough, tough.

I'll be happy to stand up and say I was wrong and apologize about Derrick Williams if he brings this type of game on a nightly basis. He's been good in flashes this season but that game was about as complete as he has been.....AND he didn't look, to me, like he was loping around aimlessly with that all too familiar sleepy look. He was locked in and although he couldn't stop Lee from getting his share he played him about as well as anyone has done this year.

hmmmm...Skittles....man, they tasty confectionary!

Bring it again Derrick....we like!

Tonight it's Phoenix...I followed Phoenix for a brief period when Super Cool Bease went over there. They have been dreadful all year and don't have any injuries to hang their excuses on. Word is they are in full blown tank mode so this could be a real snoozerama. I would imagine Ricky will have his evil way with them although Dragic is a gutsy guy and may just fancy a tilt at the mercurial Spaniard. Michael Beasley is on a very short leash out there and is playing scrubs minutes....The Phoenix faithful are trying to stir up some bad blood between the "Bash Brothers" ( Markieff and Marcus) and Derrick Williams.....I say D-Will, the mood he's in, would take them both on at once....let's go.

Shoot some threes guys...please!

GSW

Harrison Barnes...with sleeves.

Is this the new face of the NBA?

I must admit I'm a bit divided on this but will go with it for just now.

The Warriors are troublesome (32-23) and are fresh from beating the even more troublesome SAS in OT the other night.

I really fear for the Wolves in this game but usually that brings out the Jeckyll and Hyde personality, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

I can watch this one live 8.30pm in the old country..let's go!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOklahoma (20-32)

It wasn't only the chicks and ducks and geese that were scurrying last night......

Oh no.

Out of the starting five for Minnesota only Ricky Rubio merits pass marks and not because he played at all well (+/- was -5)....just because he keeps on trying....even when things are really ugly.

Lets explore the +/- for the other starters.....

Kirilenko -20
Williams -16
Pekovic -20
Ridnour -15

That is a motley collection of numbers and hopefully, today, these players are hanging their heads in shame. The lack of effort was so apparent that I decided to turn this game off three minutes into the 3rd quarter. JJ Barea, Greg Steimsma and Dante Cunningham had scrapped the Wolves back into things at the intermission but watched all their hard work be pissed away by the lack lustre starters.

Fair enough, it was always going to be a tough game against the Thunder on their own court but this OKC team have flaws and were in the midst of a three game skid.....I was expecting Minnesota to exert some pressure from the opening tip....never happened. All I'm looking for is a bit of effort and self respect.

As I say this is the first game that I have actually switched off.

I'm sick of watching Derrick Williams play basketball like a circus clown.

Mailed in - disgraceful.

You can see why the organization felt that there was no need to enter into any trades....we good!....we really, really good.

76ers (20-31)

That was putrid.

Which is hard for me to say as this is a win and wins haven't been easy to come by in the last few weeks....but dear grief....that game was putridly bad.

So let's focus in on any seams of light.

Follow the big guy...head towards the light

Hard to call Pek a "seam" of light...he was more like one of those big bright beams that is so powerful it illuminates a safe passage or escape route to all who follow it....he was immense once more and swatted the Sixers' bigs like they were recalcitrant pups.

27 points and 18 boards for Pek who was dominant all night long.

Andrei Kirilenko came back and his inclusion in the starting line up was immediately effective as the Wolves sprinted out to a big early lead powered mainly by AK and ofcourse, Pek.

The contest between two of the leagues brightest young PGs Jrue Holiday and Ricky Rubio turned out to be a bit of a let down, both punching each other out in a foul laden game.

Winning ugly is part of winning and the Timberwolves can certainly put a big, red tick in the"winning ugly" box after this game.

Game Day #51 Philadelphia

Welcome back.

I'd like to say it's great to be back but given the way this train wreck of a season has gone so far...I'd be lying to you, dear reader.

Our beloved Twolves are in trouble....with a capital "T"......to be fair, trouble not entirely of their own making. We all know the story - injuries and illnesses have killed this season - a season that in October held such promise even tough it began without the twin figureheads of Rubio and Love.

And so we find ourselves staring at a 19-31 record and a game at the Target Center against the Sixers....a team who are 3.5 games out of the play-off picture in the East. The only occasion the teams have met previously this season the Wolves absolutely drowned the 76ers in a deluge of three pointers.....K-Love played in that game and was stone cold and Ricky Rubio was still convalescing.

Andrei Kirilenko comes back after having had a decent rest so one would expect Minnesota to be extremely competitive in this contest. Only wins will do against teams such as Philadelphia who themselves are searching for some kind of identity and are a feckless 6-16 on the road.

Mark it "W" dude.....next frame.

Utah (19-31)

We all saw it, didn't we?

Ricky's penchant for lefty finishes is exposed

It is inexplicable...after playing well for nearly three quarters the Wolves came out with Barea, Shved, Cunningham, Steimsma and Williams facing a 5 point deficit. This deficit was to balloon promptly as a lacklustre start to the fourth gave the Utah Jazz the initiative. Yes, I know that the Wolves, prompted and cajoled by Ricky Rubio's "never say die" attitude scrapped back but the Jazz had their measure and controlled this game until it eventually petered out in the dying seconds.

These kind of games are simply horrible to watch....and I must admit I was shuttling through this game fairly regularly such was the poor quality of the basketball....also I had the Jazz announcers, the detestable Bolerjack and Harpring, on NBA Game Time....this was hell.

Derrick Williams, on the surface, had an impressive stat line... 24 points and 16 rebounds looks like a mightily impressive night but I know I'm not alone in feeling I'm being sucked into a hole of despair every single time this young man takes the ball to the hoop.

This part of his game is dreadful....just horrendously dreadful.....and I see no improvements there whatsoever and if he wants to be a 4 he needs to have an inside game. It's tough on him after such a decent scoring performance but he could be SOOOOO much better if he worked harder on his weaknesses. Paul Millsap once again killed the Wolves...aided and abetted by Big Al.

With the ghastly circus of the All Star weekend upon us I shall switch off the NBA and wish for a revitalised Timberwolves after the break.

Chill people.

The Half Century......Spew-tah!

Take a look at this...

"We want to be aggressive but be smart about it. We're not doing anything crazy. We're not out there trying to hurt anybody but we want to play with a certain sense of urgency and a certain level of aggressiveness. That's who we want to be and that's who we are"

-- Jazz Coach - Tyrone Corbin

Posted Missing....(19-30)

Much like the Head Coach (in Memphis) and the entire Wolves team (in Memphis), I've been conspicuous by my absence....then again....judging by the traffic trickling through this little blog it won't make much of a difference to the natural cycle of events.

Nevertheless, back we are to cast an amateur eye over the past couple of games in less than 500 words.

Luke....HATM loves Luke

Memphis was the blow-out that we've all, kinda, been waiting for. They are a very strong, physical team and perennial play-off shoo-ins. Conley and Allen do all kinds of disruptive stuff on the defensive end and Zach Randolph is more than willing to carry the offensive duties should he need to....add to the mix a Tayshaun Prince with a new zest for life and Marc Gasol and you have a potent, aggressive starting five.

The Wolves hung in for the first 12 mins then were blown off the court in quarters 2 and 3.

It's my opinion that they mailed it in in order to try for the W against the easier looking Cavs.

I watched the game this morning and must admit even though Austin Carr is an unabashed homer, his color commentary is amongst the most enjoyable in the league. He's working very hard on his "go to" phrases such "DEEP in the Q!" and " He's gonna DOT the I!!".....you could hear how frustrated he was becoming late in this game as the Wolves stretched away from his beloved Cavaliers. Fred McLeod is pretty good too, to be fair.

Any way the Wolves found a victory...victory number 990 for Rick Adelman in his long and illustrious career. It was a battle but in crunch time they found Luke Ridnour channeling his inner All Star. Luke drained all kinds of shots including a dagger three at about the two minute mark to stomp on the Cavs as they made a push.

I wish that the Coach would give Chris Johnson some minutes....Pek is beginning to feel the strain ( if you ask me) and could do with some extra rest. Teams are pummeling him on a nightly basis and if he wasn't the ox of a man that he is he'd be on the treatment table permanently. I know CJ isn't the physical presence of Pekovic but he does have other attributes and could give us another dimension against some teams.

Utah next....another hack fest.....we need to sort out the free throw percentage.

The Knickerbockers

NY comes to MN tonight.

Reckon it might be best to keep this short.

suicide is painless.....

The Wolves have waived Lou Amundson, this will have no bearing on the result.

The Wolves have signed Mickael Gelabale and Chris Johnson for the rest of the season, this also, one would imagine, will have no bearing on the result....( unless CJ gets some burn ).

The Knickerbockers aren't brilliant away from MSG and might treat this one lightly....this is the very thin straw to which we cling......very unlikely to have any bearing on the result.

Andrei Kirilenko won't be playing....neither will Chase Budinger, Kevin Love, Brandon Roy, et al.....someone, somewhere today, likened the Target Center to a MASH unit....yeah....this will have a very significant bearing on the result.

There is absolutely no way the Wolves can win this game.

That should work.....let's go!!

San Antone (18-28)

Reading around the many excellent Timberwolves sites today the articles are full to the brim with one man's name....

TONY PARKER.

C'est juste trop facile!!!

Last night Parker destroyed what is left of the Minnesota Timberwolves and plunged them into some serious darkness.....there's a lot of fight in these Wolves but fight only gets you so far.......you need a sprinkling of class and you need players to do what they do best.

Minnesota have far too many players, through no fault of their own, playing so far from their comfort zone it's frightening. Coach Adelman can do nothing about it ( except maybe give some burn to Chris Johnson which he rigorously refuses to do?) and like the rest of us has to breathe deeply and wish for better days.

Sure Parker was everything last night but he was ably supported by others...even without the superstar duo of Duncan and Ginobli.

Danny Green had a career night after being chewed by Pop...Kawhi Leonard is quickly becoming one of my favorite players in the entire league - love that kid's game and the others in Spurs uniforms just get on with their jobs.

The Wolves made their usual run but in truth they were never going to get anything from this...Parker's scoring and prompting were always going to ensure a road win for the Spurs....he finds seams where there are none and is almost cat-like in some of his "manoeuvres" ( thought it only proper to use the French spelling there )...just a great, great player.

Somedays you eat the bear...dude. 

Portland (18-27)

Yeah...okay...got some of my predictions wrong.

We were treated, once more, to the "too little too late" show as Minnesota poured in a massive 40 points in the 4th quarter to almost, almost pull out a win against the Trailblazers. One thing I did get right (but hey, we all knew it would happen anyway), was that the Portland guards will fill their boots from 3 point range. Wesley Matthews was at it again and in the early going hit three after three...admittedly he did dry up eventually but he was just partly responsible for putting the Wolves in such a deep hole. LeMarcus Aldridge did the wise thing and took three large steps away from Pek shooting his high release jumper with great efficiency (12-15) and Damien Lillard once again lived up to his billing by running the show for 3 quarters until Ricky Rubio, Dante Cunningham and to some extent JJ Barea, finally took matters into their own hands and started to dismantle the lead bucket by bucket.

I just missed a lay up....yok yok yok!

You know, the Timberwolves are so used to losing players to injury that little was made of the fact that Andrei Kirilenko disappeared, never to be seen again, a minute or so before the half time interval.......a right quad strain.....so that'll be him out for three to four games undoubtedly. To be fair to AK he has been, by far, the Twolves best player this season and in the last couple of games he's looked a bit jaded....the rest will do him good.

I am happy that most of the players seem to be giving it their best shot....I say "most" as I believe that Derrick Williams is existing in some sort of parallel universe and I cannot fathom why Chris Johnson doesn't seem to figure in Rick Adelman's plans at all...this is a strange one....the kid gives energy, commitment which quite often translates into rebounds and points...we need those kind of guys on the floor.

The Trailblazers have just reopened the wound that was staunched by defeating New Orleans...the next three games could see the Twolves KO'd....that fighting spirit is going to be sorely tested.

Game Day #45 (18-26)

The Portland Trailblazers have beaten the Minnesota Timberwolves twice this season...both home and away.

Their modus operandi has been..in the main..to stand behind the three point line and hit shots. Ask Matthews and Batum who both helped themselves to 5 triples in the last contest and scored 26 points apiece. I don't see them changing their thinking very much.
Damien Lillard also looked the part in those games but he hasn't yet had to face up to a Unicorn. A Unicorn that seems to be reinvigorated and on the hunt for wins. Rubio will give Lillard a game tonight make no mistake about that....in fact, let's be brave, I think he will run amok!

This is just one area in which I reckon the Wolves will have the upper hand this evening.

Pek will dominate LMA.......I would like to think that Gelabale will get some time on his fellow countryman Batum ( possibly not but I think that might be a very interesting match up).......the Wolves are now hitting some outside shots.....the Wolves also have developed a tough streak - Steimsma leads the way on the "I'm standing my ground" approach.

Dante Cunningham had a 9-9 night against the Bees.......hopefully he'll hit his first shot and then forget about it. Cunningham has been a fantastic signing for the Wolves....like Barea, the kind of guy you prefer to have playing for you...most of the time.

After a tough fightback versus the Lakers which ultimately ended in failure and a convincing victory over NOLA the Wolves are looking to keep things rolling along and get above the 20 mark as soon as possible. A win against a beatable Portland will help to bolster their confidence and put even more spring in the heels of Ricky Rubio.

Can you feel it?

Game Day #43...(17- 25)

Okay, having missed the game wrap for the Clippers game I'm squeezing everything into one minuscule but beautifully formed wrap/preview before tonight's home game against the Lakers.

First of all it was good to have Coach Adelman, Pek and Alexey Shved back against the Clippers...even though we lost to a team who are quickly becoming as odious as their Staples Center co-habitees...there were good bits...there were also many dreadful bits ( are you watching Derrick Williams?).

FEED THE BEAR!!

I don't know if anyone else felt this but I got the impression that some of the Wolves' players were totally affected by the Barnes incident....Barnes is a douche-bag, plain and simple and his conduct towards Greg Steimsma was completely pre-meditated. No matter where he has gone he has always prowled around with that perma-scowl on his face as if the whole world owes him something...maybe his parents didn't hug him enough.....whatever, the guy has serious baggage. It was almost as though the entire Clippers squad flexed their muscles at that same time and some of the Twolves didn't fancy the battle. This Clippers team, all of a sudden, have something to prove and there are plenty of older heads with super-egos sniffing the chance of a(nother) ring.....hand it to them these guys are together....sort of like the 2006 Heat.

Just my take...probably interpreted things all wrong.

Anyway onto tonight's game.

The other half of LA.

The Lakers seemed to have righted the ship after an atrocious start to this campaign. They had won three on the bounce before being bounced out of Phoenix by none other than my old friend Michael "Supercool" Beasley on Wednesday evening. That game also saw Dwight Howard take a shot to his "glass" shoulder which leaves him questionable out for tonight.

Looking forward to Rubio v Nash....if the Suns can roll the Lakers an under strength Minnesota should be in with a shout.

Footnote: I'd like to see Chris Johnson get some burn....not used at all against the Clips and I felt there were times where Pek was blowing pretty hard in his first game back....Johnson gives energy in buckets. I'm sure Mr Adelman knows what he's doing though...he's extremely clever

Game Day #42 The Lobs

The Clippers haven't been so spectacular lately, especially on the road...they have lost 4 of their last 5 games...three of those away from The Staples Center where OKC beat them last Tuesday. I suppose what I'm trying to say, in typical discombobulated fashion, is that with Rick Adelman, Nikola Pekovic and Alexey Shved being welcomed back to the bench and CP3 out...there is more of a fighting chance in tonight's contest.

Don't get me wrong, the Clippers have more than enough talent lurking around the periphery to completely destroy this Wolves team...but that talent doesn't always find a way to play coherently and their coach (sorry to keep repeating this) isn't good enough to be in charge of so many outsized egos.

So, personally, I think the teams kind of balance each other out tonight.

The biggest lift the Wolves will get is by looking over to the sideline and seeing Rick Adelman prowling back and forth. It's tough on Terry Porter when you think of the desperate situation the team have been in with all the injuries....to be fair he did try to steer the ship through the most direst of straits...and but for one or two errors may have ended up with a slightly better record than 2-9. You've got to believe that the Twolves will want to try doubly hard for their returning head coach this evening.

All out effort. It'll be interesting to see where Chris Johnson and Mickael Gelable fit into Adelman's thinking and how the minutes are carved up.

Then someone called for the cavalry........

It looks like all three may be back as the Wolves look to take on the Clippers at Target Center on Wednesday. Hopefully this means that Mrs Adelman is on the road to recovery and is out of harms way...bottom line. You can't help but feel that a rested Pek will devour everything in his path...the time off will also have done "The Dude" some good as he'd looked gassed in a few games leading up to his injury.

Those lights I switched off after Charlotte....they are flickering, stubbornly back into life.

Hope springs eternal.

Charlotte (17-24)

Going, going...........

Have the Twolves now "gone"?

Buried under a multitude of personnel difficulties?

It's hard to find anything positive to say when even this beat up team can play so cohesively for 12 mins...even with Kirilenko having to leave with a cut eye....and then play like total strangers for most of what remained.

The fact that this was a single point defeat in a road game is immaterial.....the WOEFUL Bobcats were able to scrap back from an 18 point defecit.

Like most people I'm lost for words. Yesterday I beefed out my post with a mini rant about Derrick Williams....today I cannot be bothered.

Turn out the lights when you leave.

Washington (17-23)

Do I really have to?

No, I know I don't but there is some perverse side to me that seems obliged to wallow in the mire that is quickly becoming the Minnesota Timberwolves' mid season.

SWAT!

17-23 and falling fast. Last night the Wolves were totally outplayed by the Washington Wizards behind a John Wall who looked something like the player we thought he might be...even after injury.

There is nothing new to say. Same old stories....injuries, stand-in Head Coach, lack of depth, players playing unfamiliar roles...blah,blah,blah....

Derrick Williams has to be one of the softest finishers in the entire league. Every single time he attacks the hoop in traffic he looks...well...soft. This kid can leap and he should be strong. What the hell is wrong with him? He's been handed a massive opportunity with Love injured and he just doesn't seem to have the desire to grasp that opportunity. In his defense he seems to have eradicated the Euro-step from his repertoire but he still gets himself in the air and goes nowhere.
I'm tired of seeing him drive to the hoop and it end up thus (pic).....if his shot isn't falling he hasn't got much game at the moment...I assume he's working on it.

Okay, this has spiralled into a mini rant.

No preview for Charlotte. I fail to see how the Wolves can get past them given the current situation...we need bodies back and quicly.

Game Day #40 Washington

The Minnesota Timberwolves pack up their troubles and head off on an Eastern road trip encompassing back to back contests against The Washington Wizards (tonight) and The Charlotte Bobcats. These two teams boast the worst records in the Eastern Conference and indeed the entire league...Wizards 10-32, Bobcats 9-31....exactly the wrong time for the Twolves to be playing them.  Although Charlotte have been just as good as us over the past ten games (2-8)..The Wiz, who languish in the basement position are stabilizing somewhat (5-5). This is due, most probably, to the return of star PG, John Wall from injury.

Nikola Pekovic and Alexey Shved will not make this road trip....Jeez! How bad are those injuries?....yeah well, okay, you can't rush these things but.... a bruise and a sprain?

What do I know.

The only prediction I can make is that for a period during this game the Wolves will be excellent...the flip side of that particular coin being that somewhere along the way they will also be the exact, polar opposite of excellent.

It's where we are...suck it up....hope for the best.

Red Mist Descending

I do have more to say.....

Allowed myself to get angry there. Looking around the blogs and websites pertaining to all things Wolverine, I do not stand alone....seemingly.

Too much anger isn't good....and as things stand many Wolves fans are becoming increasingly disgruntled.  Everyone knows that the injuries and the absence of Coach Adelman have cast the team into a huge hole and that it's going to be an uphill struggle until we can get the likes of, at least, Nikola Pekovic and Alexey Shved back on the court in the near future.

Then again, you look at some of the games recently and you cannot help but feel irate at how well the Wolves have played only to have the hard work indiscriminately sabotaged by some very questionable ( being as kind as I can possibly be) decisions and rotations from stand in Head Coach Terry Porter.

I'm sure Terry Porter is a genuine guy but his "JJ got hot" comments after last nights game are indefensible....and quite honestly beggar belief. I'm sure this will all get sorted out but it is needless hassle at a time where the Wolves are scratching around in the dirt for crumbs.

We watched Barea being killed on play after play after play by CJ Watson...lose his temper and then get killed again and again....until Porter told him to go match up on someone else...instead of extending the hook. Barea did what he was told, he isn't going to leave the floor voluntarily....he was "HOT"...allegedly.....he played on and Ricky Rubio, who had played 24 mins to that point and was standing at the table, was called back....visibly livid.

Bad....just plain bad.

I also feel that whilst Mickael Gelabale is with the team let's see what he can do against the likes of Joe Johnson and other bigger guards (Kyle Korver springs to mind)...teams are now lining up to annihilate Luke Ridnour....make no mistake Ridnour is a fighter and I admire him immensly but he's seriously outmatched for size in just about every game....and unfortunately he's being asked to take too many shots which sends his efficiency through the floor.

Another 40 mins for AK47....how long before his back goes "ping!" again?

Lastly, if Chris Johnson is not offered a contract the Wolves fans should storm the Target Center. Lou Amundsen, well meaning though he is, isn't doing enough to pass muster. As I read on Canis Hoopus, cutting Lou would mean eating his contract....do you see the FO doing that?

Deeper and deeper we go......

Brooklyn (17-22)

What is missing from this picture?









                                             

                                        One of these







Ridiculous, inexplicable and downright insulting.....................I have nothing further to add

Game Day #39 Brooklyn

With a 17-21 record, the latest shot of reality being administered by Al Horford and the Atlanta Hawks, the Wolves edge nervously towards tonight's game with the Brooklyn Nets, who are 9-1 in their last 10 games. The Nets split a pair of back to back games with Atlanta recently and it's interesting to read that it seems to have been Mike Teague who did most of the damage against them.....well, kind of interesting anyway.

Al Horford completely abused the entire Wolves frontline, one after the other, on Monday. No matter who Terry Porter threw at him Horford was relentless and chucked them in the mincer. It was a shame for the beleaguered Timberwolves as they had built a hand lead 31-18 after the first and 58-44 at the half....things just seemed to unravel in the third.

Looking at my notes (which I retrieved from the bin and are a bit crumpled...at least I swished it!) I see that I have "GET GELABALE ON KORVER NOW!!!" scribbled, just like that, on several occasions. Now, okay, this sounds like I'm trying to be clever after the fact....truth is, I don't know if it would have been clever, it just seemed to make sense as Luke Ridnour was being torn to shreds, outsized and outmuscled by Korver who was scoring freely. As I've said on several occasions....I love Ridnour but he has his limits....I'm sure Luke Ridnour knows that.... and once more he is being asked to live way beyond those limits. He's not going to complain about it, he's just going to try and do his job. I emphasise "TRY".

This was only one of many questionable rotations from TP. The Hawks seized the initiative in the third and although Minnesota finished the third Q still up by 7 the writing was on the wall, the horse had bolted, the gasket was already blown etc etc etc....

The Final 12 minutes gave us some stubborn resistance until Jannero Pargo (our payback for Christ and Jellybelly) finally broke the Wolves' backs. It was hard to watch latterly....and the Hawks raced to the finish line whilst the battered, bloodied, bruised Wolves limped home and made straight for the medical tent.

So, yeah, Brooklyn...what gives?

Tough to work out how the Timberwolves are going to manufacture a win out of this game. The Nets have superstars...superstars who are in decent form. The Wolves are still without a quadly contused Pek and the rest of the usual sicknotes....Shved is doubtful. We can hope that Brooklyn decide to coast in this one and the Wolves,having rested a bit, can produce some homecourt bite.

Lucky white heather?            

                                

Game Day #38 Atlanta

The good news that the Lakers had been beaten, once again, this time by the Raptors was tempered by the sobering news that the Denver Nuggets had downed the Thunder in OT. Even worse was the news that Corey (The Cat in the Hat) Brewer dropped 26 points on OKC in that victory...mind you the Nuggets have played 43 games whereas the injured but dangerous Wolves have only played 37.

Injured but dangerous......well, okay, we'll see how dangerous when they travel to play against the Hawks in today's early 2pm (7pm Scottish Time!) tip-off. Means I get to watch live...which is always good...it would be great if I got the Wolves announcers (as I detest the Atlanta ones) but I won't hold my breath.

Houston (17-20)

Yes indeed....we all saw that coming....

Oui, oui and thrice oui!!

If nothing else, a display (like last night's), shows the respect that the players have for their fans and for themselves. Yes we can all say that we played the Rockets at, arguably, their lowest point of the season and on the second night of a back-to-back but let's get real...they have got a ways to go before they are entitled to start complaining....try losing over half of your active roster......go ahead, try that......then we'll listen to you.

The Timberwolves fans who gathered at the Target Center for the game were given a performance high on guts and determination...anchored by Andrei Kirilenko (who played 42 mins) and boosted by massive efforts from newcomers Mickael Gelabale and Chris Johnson.

Looking ahead, if the Wolves can pick a path towards the beginning of February and somehow be at 0.500 then they have a long run of home games. It's strange to be talking in such a positive tone when you consider what is occurring as regards the roster but basketball is a funny game and who would have imagined Portland and Houston falling into such deep tailspins at this juncture?

Strange too what winning can do for a team......obviously we are not going to get ahead of ourselves and there's a tough match up with Atlanta ahead tomorrow but when you see how Gelabale manned up on Harden you feel he might unsettle Korver who is shooting well this season. I'll talk more about Atlanta in a preview later, for now lets just enjoy that Timberwolves victory and how significant it may be in weeks to come.

Peeking above the parapet now....well done Wolves players and staff for sealing the "W" in extremely difficult circumstances.....shouldn't have doubted you.....heh!

Game Day #37 Houston.

I was too troubled to write anything after the Clippers game.

Couldn't come up with anything constructive, to be perfectly honest....which is bad. Then again given the fact that Nikola Pekovic and Alexey Shved limped off the court, Dante Cunningham is ill and the Wolves have just signed Gelabale and Johnson ( not Magic..or even Joe!) how can one be constructive?

Let's just lower our heads and wait for it to be over.

Game Day #36 Los Angeles Clippers

So after that tortuous road trip we come back to nice easy game against the 30-9 Clippers, who have been rocking the league with their displays so far this season.

Hellboy ( come on, Blake Griffin must be Ron Perlman's love-child!) is having a good season ably prompted by Chris Paul ( about whom, I can't make up my mind as regards liking him or not).

This would be a tough proposition WITH all of our players fit...as we've said ad nauseum for god knows how long....so it is with everything crossed that the Wolves will go into this game.

No Rick Adelman still, so that makes life easier for Vinnie Del Negro (about whom I have no trouble making up my mnd).

Can't see anything other than a loss in this one and that means 16-20 which looks, psychologically, a lot worse than if the needle just got stuck at 19.

Here's hoping the reverse jinx works.

Dante needs to come off the bench and I think Barea should start for a little...this won't occur ofcourse.

Dallas (16-19)

There isn't a metaphor left to torture as far as things stand at the moment.

I mean, really, okay, the Dallas Mavericks are improving and when you get a group of players (collectively) playing highly efficient basketball (as Dallas had) they are going to be a tough nut to crack. The Big German never got out of third gear all night...he didn't need to.

The Mavs hit their shots but also went after the Wolves on the defensive end which produced further totally IN-efficient performances from our guys...are we glad this road trip is over?

I think so.

Game Day #35 Dallas

Luke Ridnour isn't a well man.....after last night's loss to SAS he said the following....

"We were right there going into the fourth," guard Luke Ridnour said. "On the road, that's

where you want to be - within striking distance."

I would assume that Luke will be added to the list of casualties tonight as he is obviously delirious.
Yeah, yeah, yeah...okay I know that the Wolves were only down by about 8 points on the box score but in the real world the chasm was immense....I mean, truly, immense. We all know the reasons, we all know what needs to be rectified and we all know that it isn't going to be fixed any time soon......soooooooo, we head on over to a face a Dallas team, on the rise, with The Big German back in harness and playing well.

Another "statue" day.....one feels.