December 2005

« November 2005 | Main | January 2006 »

The Three-Pointer: Dominant Front Line

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Eddie fits right in
Timberwolves stat man Paul Swanson is busy looking up the last time every member of the team's starting frontcourt scored at least 20 points. I bet it hasn't happened since the departure of Tom Gugliotta, if then. Getting 20 is a routine night at the office lately for both Wally Szczerbiak and Kevin Garnett, of course; the difference tonight was the 22 posted by emergency starter Eddie Griffin.

Eddie's teammates got him in rhythm by feeding him for a pair of layups and a dunk in the first period. The second quarter was devoted to rebounds and blocks. After halftime, confident now, he ordered up a pair of treys with a sidecar of two steals in the first four minutes of the third period. When the night was over, he had his 22 on 8-11 shooting, a dozen rebounds, four blocks (the sideline stat crew missed a fifth one), two steals, two assists, and about 8-10 altered shots in the paint. It wasn't as dominant as his 8-block performance against Utah earlier this month, but it was more significant because it was done within the fiber of the game, in a non-freakish manner that enabled his teammates and engendered trust. It also occurred at a time when the scales are falling off the eyes of Coach Dwane Casey when it comes to Michael Olowokandi, as they inevitably must. Casey isn't the first coach to check out Kandi's skill set, athleticism, and intelligence level, and figure he can make this guy a top ten NBA center, but unfortunately for Kandi, he is pretty close to being the last one with such illusions.

After the game, Casey announced that Griffin is his starting center "for now," and repeated it enough to convey the message that Eddie will hold on to the job if his solid play continues. That's no sure thing, of course, and there may be times, especially against the behemoths, when Kandi is the better option to start. But Griffin and the Wolves both needed Eddie to step up and deliver another example of his unique versatility and talent (Casey correctly noted that we hadn't seen it since the last Lakers game more than two weeks ago) and they got it. Good for you Eddie Griffin. Whatever demons you've been shadow-boxing recently, be it the pressures and frustrations resulting from your desultory play of late, or something else, it's nice to see them banished for at least one night.

2. Deck the boughs with hails of Wally
A dreadful pun, I know, but something has to be done to acknowledge the phenomenonal December Szczerbiak has put together. In 13 games this month, he's burning the twine for a nice round 25 points per game, on 56.3% (120-213) shooting; numbers good enough to rank him 9th in the NBA in scoring and 2nd in accuracy if he'd done it since the beginning of the season. Better yet, Wally has become a more complete player this season--Casey unabashedly touted him alongside KG as an All Star candidate, and specifically cited his improved defense.

But perhaps his biggest improvement has been Wally's successful inclination to go strong to the hoop in the half-court game. After getting to the free throw line just 29 times in the first ten games, he's been there for 82 chances in his past 16 contests, a 5-per-game average that's way better than at any point in his career, without a corresponding increase in his turnovers. In fact, Szczerbiak's ball-handling miscues have probably declined this month.

But numbers alone don't tell the entire story. Tonight, KG fouled out with 4:37 to play. The Wolves were up 16, but the Sonics still had Ray Allen and a batch of other three point shooters. The lead was a shakier 13 with 4:09 to go. Wally lined up a 24-footer from the left baseline and nailed it. And then, after an Allen trey brought it back to 13, he went back to the same spot, up-faked the three, and drove hard along the baseline for a slam dunk in traffic, restoring the lead to 15 with 3:01 to play. Seattle coach Bob Weiss called timeout and emptied his bench.

On second thought, here are some numbers that orate pretty well. Szczerbiak finished with 14 fourth quarter points on 6-7 shooting. This December, he's hitting 65.1% of his 4th quarter shots, including 13 of 18 from three-point range. And he hasn't missed a 4th quarter free throw in 19 attempts. In seven of the last eight games, he's played more than 40 minutes and led the Wolves in scoring. Despite all this, when a television reporter mentioned Casey's all star tout and asked for a reaction in the locker room tonight, Wally simply replied that the team wasn't winning enough games for him to get that kind of consideration. Good answer.

3. Quick takes on Marko and McCants
Seattle is hurting--figuratively and literally--at point guard this season, with Luke Ridenhour out and Flip Murray laboring with two fingers on his shooting hand that he dislocated Monday night. Yet that shouldn't completely tarnish the job Marko Jaric turned in. Jaric followed up his abominable performance against Phoenix by doling out ten assists with 3 steals and no turnovers while helping limit Murray to 1-12 shooting from the field. He also teamed with Griffin and Hudson to trigger the demi-fast break that enabled Wally to get out and score before the defense was set up in transition; or, failing that, enabling Garnett to set up on the block before receiving the ball. That's a big reason why Minnesota shot 58 percent for the game and 55, 53, 58, and 55 percent from the 1st through the 4th quarters.

And then there was Rashad McCants. Casey was pointedly adamant that McCants would continue to have to earn his minutes--"all the articles aren't going to force it," he said. Of course he wasn't referring to my hollering on this still relatively obscure little blog, but to the beat writers having permission to broach the issue of more time for McCants courtesy of a supportive statement of the rook by the resident superstar and most powerful person on the franchise, Kevin Garnett. And, not coincidentally, after his typically uneven and enticing 2nd quarter stint (which actually began late in the first quarter) McCants got a little 4th quarter taste tonight, and promptly coughed up the ball three times in 3:08. Casey was right to pull him when he did.

But Casey was also right to play him; regardless of whether it was because of KG's comments, Minnesota's then 12-point lead, or the realization that he couldn't keep moaning about someone stepping up to be the third scorer while keeping his explosive rookie stuck on the pine. All I want to see is McCants continuing to get those tastes, which are all going to be important learning experiences however he plays--and if he doesn't learn from them, well, that's a learning experience for the rest of us. Because if he gets two-thirds of the second half minutes that he now gets in the first half, I think it will accelerate his development and temper his attitude.

Finally, I appreciated that when Casey cleared his bench for the dregs of garbage time, subbing Dupree for Eddie and Tskita for Wally with 1:03 to play, that he kept AC on the bench. Out of respect, I presume.

Posted by Britt Robson at December 29, 2005 12:58 AM | Comments (21)

 

Is NFL Shop the new jinx?

Filed under: NFL

For a mere $19.99, you can order a lovely grey t-shirt declaring the New York Giants the NFC East Division Champions from the NFL Shop. The only problem, of course, is that the team still needs to achieve this goal. The Giants lead their division and have clinched a playoff spot, but need to win this weekend, or Washington needs to lose, in order for New York to win the division. The resurgent Skins can still take the NFC East with a win and a Giants loss. The link to the NFL Shop appears a bit quirky. Follow the link below for a screen shot of the web page...

Posted by Corey Anderson at December 27, 2005 9:43 AM | Comments (0)

 

The Three-Pointer: Casey Lays An Egg

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Second guessing--do the figures lie?
The Wolves got waxed tonight against Phoenix, 103-89, for their sixth loss in 7 games. I believe it was Dwane Casey's worst coaching performance of the season. I'm sure it's coincidence more than design, but Casey's substitution patterns have shown an annoying correlation between a player's minutes and the size of his paycheck. And tonight it bit this team in the ass.

For the past couple of games, the coach has been grousing about not having a player step up and become that third scoring option the team so obviously craves behind KG and Wally Szczerbiak. Meanwhile, he continues to jerk his most talented one-on-one offensive threat, Rashad McCants, on a tight leash.

I'll grant McCants's critics everything: his defensive effort is sporadic at best; he occasionally pouts and subtly shows up his teammates when he isn't getting the ball; his shot selection is still way unrefined; and he simply doesn't seem to concentrate on the court every now and then. He can also be sullen and diffident with reporters, if you want to pile it on. Okay?

But here's what else we know: Rashad McCants can get his own shot better than anyone on the team, including Garnett and Wally. There were at least two games this year where McCants did everything "right"--didn't shoot much, stuck to his man, hustled diligently, and had a good attitude--and it didn't make any difference in his chronic pine time in the second half. Casey is clearly trying to send a message that McCants needs to shape up or he won't play. But it has been almost all stick and no carrot. Meanwhile, the offense stagnates, especially at crunch time, when everyone knows an increasingly weary Garnett and Szczerbiak are the team's only viable options. Remember the loss in Philly? Or Friday night's 13 point fourth quarter in the home loss to Portland?

Better yet, let's look at tonight's tilt--89 points against a porous Suns defense. Once again, McCants is accorded that glorious spot at the onset of the second quarter, perfectly in sync with the resting of superstar Kevin Garnett. The Wolves are down 4, 20-24. Nine minutes and three seconds later, McCants leaves with the Wolves up by a point, having outscored the Suns 16-10 during that time. Yes, for 2:27 of that time Phoenix was without the wondrous Steve Nash. Yes, McCants frequently lost his man, getting rubbed off on picks and burned by bursts of movement when his head was turned. Yes, he was only one of four from the field, including a wide-open miss on a weakside three-pointer that he needs to sink. And yes, the Wolves were frequently in scramble mode covering for McCants.

But that's still 11 Phoenix points in the 9 minutes McCants played. Because of that stretch, Phoenix had its poorest shooting, lowest-scoring quarter of the game, hitting 35 percent from the field (7-20) and registering 21 points, via 6 assists versus 3 turnovers. The man McCants was primarily guarding, Raja Bell, went 2-6. In the 3rd quarter, when McCants rode the pine, Phoenix shot 71 percent (12-17) and racking up 35 points on 8 assists and zero turnovers. Raja Bell played the entire third period and went 2-3 from the field while picking up three of his four assists for the game in the period. Even if you say that McCants had nothing to do Phoenix's drought while he was on the floor (which is in fact fairly accurate), you can hardly argue that he would have hurt the Wolves' defensive effort in the dreadful third period. Meanwhile, wouldn't it be nice to see what the kid can do with extended minutes over a 5-10 game span? Maybe we'd get a glimpse of that vital but still-missing third offensive option that has the Wolves in the lower third of the league in scoring and just barely above .500 despite a defense that statistically ranks among the top five in the NBA.

The other benefit to playing McCants more tonight would have been less floor time for Marko Jaric and Richie Frahm. Jaric simply stunk the joint out. He was a step slow physically and two steps behind mentally, mailing in a performance that rivals his collapse in Oklahoma City versus Chris Paul and the Hornets for ineptitude. Steve Nash routinely blew by him when he played the point. Boris Diaw abused him in the low block. Raja Bell likewise seemingly could do what he wanted when Jaric was on him. A few minutes into the third quarter, an obviously furious Kevin Garnett let loose a torrent of curses in Jaric's direction as the team was setting up to defend an out of bounds play. If looks could kill, KG would have smote Marko into powder. The point guard led the Wolves with 6 assists, but sank just one of seven shots and, as mentioned, played horrible D for nearly every second of his 28:17 of playing time, during which the Wolves were minus 23!

You've heard my broken record on Richie Frahm. His role on the team is as a long-range scorer. Six weeks ago he had converted half of his 26 three-point attempts, and was 19-33 from the field overall. Since then, he has made just one of his last 16 treys and is 5-22 overall. Heading into tonight's game he was averaging 10.3 minutes per contest, just a shade less than McCants' average of 11.2 minutes.

After the Portland game, I asked Casey if he'd considered playing McCants in the 4th quarter as players not named Garnett were going 3-14 while Ruben Patterson locked down Szczerbiak. He said he didn't give it a thought. Tonight I prefaced my comment by saying that you can do anything with figures, and then noted that the Wolves were plus-5 in the nine minutes McCants was on the floor. Casey replied that you can indeed do anything with figures (and to back him up I'll note here that McCants has the worst plus-minus of anyone on the roster besides Dupree), adding that he didn't think anyone could say McCants was a factor in whether the team won or lost tonight. But less than a minute later, he repeated his plaint: "I just think offensively we need one more guy..."

2. More second guessing--AC on the MVP?
On the surface, this would seem to be a poor time to renew my advocacy for Anthony Carter to get more playing time. If the Wolves defense is solid and a third scorer is the priority, why bring up a guy who is shooting below 40 percent, and whose only attempt tonight sailed well wide of the rim and caromed off the backboard?

But there are times when you need a stopper on the perimeter. Often that can be Jaric, but as mentioned earlier, he was sleepwalking tonight. The Wolves had some luck switching KG out to guard Nash on the high-post pick-and-rolls, but Phoenix inevitably found their quick tweeners in the low block who were being guarded by the smaller dudes on the switch--that's one large reason why Boris Diaw had 31 points.

Minnesota was down 10 to begin the final period, and so Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni decided to rest the reigning MVP, Steve Nash, for a minute or two. A mere 107 seconds later, the Wolves had sliced the lead to three, 77-80, prompting D'Antoni to hurriedly call timeout and get Nash back in the game. And that's when Casey should have countered with AC.

Believe it or not, this isn't hindsight. Phoenix's Game Notes reveal that reserve guard Eddie House has been dubbed "4th quarter Eddie" because six times in the Suns' first 25 games he has scored at least 8 points in the final period (Phoenix is 5-1 when that happens). Reading that before the opening tip, I had hoped Casey would deploy Carter on either Nash or House at crunch time if the game were close.

So Nash joins House in the backcourt with the Suns still up 3 and a little over 10 minutes left to play. Over the next 3 and a half minutes, Phoenix goes on a 13-0 run, with Nash dishing for three baskets and House hitting two long jumpers (one a trey). Game over. Ironically, Casey subs Carter in for Jaric about two minutes later with Phoenix still up 14. During the next 23 seconds, AC helps harass Nash into a pair of turnovers.

After the Portland game, when I asked Szczerbiak why he'd only gotten one shot in his team's 13-point 4th quarter, he said Portland had locked down on him with Ruben Patterson. He then mentioned that he and KG were talking about how when the Wolves go with the smaller lineup (meaning the triple point guard set of Jaric, T-Hud, and Carter), it gives opponents trouble because they don't know who to guard. Later, when I asked KG if he thought McCants might have helped in the 4th quarter, he replied, "Shadee can definitely come in and give us some energy," then added without prompting, "AC comes in and gives us energy." (Carter was a DNP-CD versus Portland.)

I'm not trying to be a jackass, and in fact think that on balance Casey is doing a pretty good job thus far. But the fact remains that guys I think should be getting more minutes--including McCants, Carter, and Eddie Griffin--have instead seen their time cut back. Meanwhile the Wolves have dropped six out of seven. And yes, I know that Griffin has been almost shockingly ineffective the past five games or so, to the point where you hope he hasn't been revisited by clinical depression or relapsed into other bad habits from before (there is no evidence besides his lousy play to indicate he has, by the way). But I repeat: The best way for this team to contend for a playoff spot is to also be rebuilding, providing minutes for young kids with enormous upside, Griffin and McCants foremost among them.

3. Burning out the forwards
One of the smart things Kevin McHale did last season when he took over the coaching reins from Flip Saunders was work hard to reduce minutes for Kevin Garnett. Casey's substitution mishaps tonight include the marathon minutes accorded both KG, who played 43:33, and Szczerbiak, who sat for a grand total of 8 seconds at the conclusion of the first half.

The Wolves' front line has recently been depleted by injuries. Michael Olowokandi was declared inactive tonight due to bursitis in his right elbow. And Mark Madsen hurt his back taking a charge in the first quarter. That said, there's no excuse for playing Szczerbiak 47:52 against anybody, let alone Phoenix, with primary responsibility for guarding Shawn Marion much of that time. Lest we forget, Wally has a history of foot and toe problems and runs heavy like a Clydesdale.

I empathize with Casey's desire to get the Wolves back on their winning ways. But for most of the 3rd and 4th quarters, Phoenix had a double-digit lead. Not resting either Wally or KG at all the entire second half is pound-foolish, especially with Griffin logging a mere 10:04 and Seattle, another run-and-gun team that likes to spread the floor, coming in on Wednesday night. Don't be surprised if either KG or Wally are missing a little lift on the jumpers and defensive rotations versus the Sonics.

Posted by Britt Robson at December 26, 2005 11:31 PM | Comments (13)

 

The Three Pointer: Crushing the Hornets

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Another flash of McCants
The slooooow nurturing of Rashad McCants took another baby step forward Wednesday night when the rook went off for 10 points (eventually tying his career high with 14) and four rebounds in the second quarter alone as the Wolves thumped the Hornets 88-69.

Best of all from coach Dwane Casey's standpoint, the Hornets scored only 14 points in the period, with McCants on the floor for every second of it. Fans will remember the alley oop dunk Marko Jaric threw McCants out of a timeout (a play called by Casey), and a vintage left-handed jam by the rookie driving the left baseline and, typically, getting past his surprised opponent with a sudden burst off the dribble. But Casey's tough love is all about the defense, and even though Rashad didn't know who he was supposed to be guarding, allowing Speedy Claxton an open look (which he clanked, like everything New Orleans threw up Wednesday) at the end of the first quarter, McCants wasn't abused on D and, after three horrendous games, finally seemed to let the pace of play come to him.

For an upcoming Hang Time, I'm going to contrast the patience the Wolves have shown toward Michael Olowokandi on the court versus the quick hook the rookie receives. Kandi is on the last year of his deal, and unless he can be had for a million or two, the Wolves would be crazy to re-up him. Meanwhile, McCants is here for at least three years, and is a dynamic scorer off the bench who can create his own shot as well as anyone on the team already--exactly what the Wolves need, now and in the near future. As Kevin Garnett said in the locker room tonight, "I'll tell you, that kid is going to be something special."

2.Lessons from the first meeting
Back on November 23, the Wolves blew a 16-point lead to the Hornets, who were led by point guard Chris Paul and power forward David West. Paul made Marko Jaric look so foolish that Jaric was benched for the rest of the game just a few minutes into the second half, and West pretty much held his own in the matchup with KG.

On Wednesday, the Wolves seemed to play the pick and roll so that Paul was directed toward the big men on penetration. The result was just five buckets in 16 shots, versus three assists. Contrast that to the 21 points (19 in the second half) and 8 assists he had in the first meeting.

None of the Hornets starters shot 50 percent. Trenton Hassell totally shut down Desmond Mason (1-9 FG) while dishing for three assists himself in the first quarter. Wally Szczerbiak and Hassell held J.R. Smith to one basket in 6 attempts, and backup point guard Speedy Claxton, who likewise bedevilled Troy Hudson and company in the first meeting, managed just a pair of hoops in ten shots. Like Paul, Claxton was generally allowed to penetrate but not finish. Much of that was the play of Kandi, KG, and Eddie Griffin (4 more blocks, in just 21:31 of play), but the team played the scheme as a unit and didn't suffer the breakdowns that happened last time.

At the other end of the floor, the Wolves pulled Hornets' bigs PJ Brown and West away from the basket and let the little guys go to work on the smaller remainder of New Orlenas' lineup. Wally led all scorers with 21, with Jaric, McCants and KG also in double figures. In addition to his strong pick-and-roll defense, Kandi had what I regard as the ideal apportionment of duties, attempting just three shots (and making two) while pulling in a game-high 10 rebounds. And as for the KG-West rematch, Garnett racked up 9 assists (to go with 17 points and 7 rebounds)in a mere 29:44, while West scored 11, rebounded 5 and dished a single dime. It was a pretty thorough thrashing, with New Orleans down 68-39 with less than two minutes to play in the 3rd quarter, causing some media folks to start researching the all-time NBA low for points scored in a game.

3.Big man substitution patterns
One of you smart readers has noticed how well Eddie Griffin and KG play together. There has been a synergy there ever since the first month of last season, when Eddie's then-accurate and plentiful treys pulled opponents away from Garnett in the low block. Now that Griffin has thankfully curbed (but not eliminated) his increasingly wayward long-range bombs, the pair click mostly in the paint, where Garnett's dogged on-ball defense and superb peripheral vision and defensive rotations neatly cover for Griffin's weakside ambush on blocked shots, and his desire and proclivity to create chaos, for better and worse, to deter drives to the hoop and when fighting for rebounds.

But here's another point that I can't really prove yet. I think Kandi and Mark Madsen also have good chemistry. Like KG, Mad Dog is crisp and, well, dogged in his rotations and body-up D, while Kandi is a little more inconsistent but better at standing up shooters as they come into the lane. The problem, of course, is that both are subpar scorers, which is why Szczerbiak or Hudson needs to be in the mix if Kandi and Madsen were paired more often. The point is, Griffin and Garnett are the future front line for this ballclub. The problem is, Kandi's fragile ego probably can't handle being bumped from the starting lineup, especially in a contract year. Besides, Casey seems to think Griffin deserves the same tough love he's doling out to McCants. What I want to know is, where's the tough love on Kandi and Frahm?

Posted by Britt Robson at December 22, 2005 12:12 AM | Comments (7)

 

The Three-Pointer: Technical Glitch

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Little lineup works
2. KG gets rattled then recovers
3. Don't fret...at least not yet

Hey folks. Those who know me understand how technically incapable I am with computers. Until today I have been remarkably competent/lucky with preserving my Three-Pointer posts. That streak has come to an end with the vanishing of my longest Three-Pointer to date. I was literally two sentences away from wrapping it all up when I heard my email sing, flipped over, saw it contained an attachment, and hit the link for it. Three hours of mad opining and frenzied analysis just went down the drain. It rivalled the Beach Boys Smile album, I'm sure.

I don't have the stomach to try and regurgitate it all now. But I am very curious in your reactions to the past two gut wrenching defeats, and so I'll provide the barest of descriptions of what I was writing before so rudely interrupting myself.

1. Little lineup
Against Sac, that go-go trio of AC, Mad Dog and Wally that I have been enamored with for the past ten months or so finished plus-16 in two extended stints encompassing about 17 minutes of play. And against San Antonio, the triple point guard alignment reared its head for the first time since the second week of the season, with mostly good results. Just as AC and Mad Dog complement Wally by running the floor and either creating (on offense) or closing (on defense) seams in the half-court sets, AC and Jaric are tailor-made for T-Hud's virtues because of their defensive tenacity and relative willingness not to shoot.

There was one significant drawback in the little lineup on Thursday, however. Wally got burned a couple of time on treys from the corner because he was new to the power forward assignments on defensive rotations. Most of the time, obviously, Szczerbiak is a small forward and so he was inclined to shut off the lane rather than fly over to guard the corner, which apparently is the assignment for the power forward.

2. KG rattled then recovers
This was a long and no doubt brilliant description of how KG can be too responsible for his own good. For nearly a decade, he has been the unquestioned leader of this franchise. That hasn't changed this season. But his rebounding and assist numbers are off thus far this year; he missed a couple of golden opportunities to sink the winning shot versus the 76ers; and he was having another statistically subpar night (2 rebounds, one assist at halftime) against Sacramento when that go-go lineup I mentioned earlier helped spur Wally into a bout of magnificence to begin the 4th quarter. When Garnett sat to begin the 4th, the Wolves were down 2. Wally nailed 9 points in six minutes putting the Wolves up 6 with 5:59 to go when KG returned. Szczerbiak had been a catalyst the entire game. Now he was showing real leadership while KG rested.

For one of the very few times in the hundreds of games I've seen him play, Garnett looked rattled by the circumstance. When he got fouled just over a minute later, I wrote in my notebook, "moment of truth for rare case of KG nerves." He missed both free throws. Any doubts about what I was seeing were set aside when KG tipped an offensive rebound to Madsen for a slam dunk 30 seconds later, then triumphantly raised his finger aloft as he ran down the court, an overexuberant sign of relief.

With the Wolves up by one in the final minute, there wasn't a Kings player who didn't know that the Minnesota would try and ice the game by having Garnett do his patented outside shoulder turnaround jumper from the left block--three players were in his face as he went up. It clanked. Bonzie Wells hit the prayer at the buzzer and for the second game in a row Garnett had missed an opportunity to cinch a Wolves win.

The happy ending is that KG shrugged all that off on Thursday versus San Antonio. He banged home three of four jumpers in the first quarter, all from no closer than 13 feet. Guarding Rasho Nesterovic and/or Tim Duncan instead of worrying about Allen Iverson, Kyle Korver, Brad Miller or Sharif Abdur-Raheim on the perimeter, he had six rebounds in the first quarter, after getting just a dozen total in the previous eight quarters.

With the game on the line in the last minute, Casey called a timeout and drew up a play with KG is the semi-high post, feeding Marko Jaric cutting on the baseline. It would have worked beautifully if Jaric was more than a mediocre finisher, but he isn't and it didn't. Next time, KG dished to a wide open Anthony Carter in the corner, with predictible results--AC ain't a shooter even under unpressured circumstances. KG then launched his own miss on the third attempt at forcing overtime or gaining the lead, and Troy Hudson finished it off with a last second miss. Even so, KG stuffed the stats with 24 points, 21 rebounds, and 6 assists.

3. Don't fret...at least not yet
Moral victories are for average teams. Average is a pretty good description of what I imagine the Wolves to be this season--40-45 wins and on the playoff bubble--so I have no problem seeing the positive side of three gut-wrenching losses.

First of all, the odds of inspired play diminished for each of the three losses. Against Philadelphia, the Wolves executed their defensive game plan almost perfectly and made Chris Webber beat them. Chris Webber then beat them. Okay, no great shame in that, except they faced the daunting prospect of absorbing that tough loss by coming home for the second game of a back to back. After going down 14, they staged an impressive rally and were beaten on a very low percentage, buzzer-beating rainbow. Yeah, they shouldn't have put themselves in such a precarious position, but they fought gamely.

Who expected them to play the Spurs tough? I certainly didn't, especially after San Antonio snuffed them with an 8 point second quarter. Against arguably the best defense in the NBA, the Wolves then proceeded to score 59 points, with 11 assists and just two turnovers, in the second half. There have been some very disappointing losses thus far this year--my "favorites" are the Jaric and Kandi debacle against New Orleans, Szczerbiak clanking shots in the overtime loss to Seattle, and this recent loss to a bad Sacramento team. But this team has demonstrated thus far that they can't be counted out.

Pluck only lasts for so long, however. The tough part of the schedule is upon this team, and dropping another two or three games in a row would begin to exert its influence. Fortunately, as Jason Napora correctly told me before the season started, the Wolves' division is weak and up for grabs. And until and unless the Wolves deliver the sort of putrid effort that typified at least a dozen losses last season, they deserve the benefit of plenty of legitimate doubts.

Posted by Britt Robson at December 16, 2005 11:28 AM | Comments (12)

 

The Three-Pointer: 0-3 in Overtime

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Picking their poison
The Wolves were determined not to let NBA scoring leader Allen Iverson beat them tonight, holding him to a season-low 19 points (in 51 minutes) and 32 percent shooting. They were determined to deny Kyle Korver the ball, and permitted Korver, who'd had back-to-back 20-point games and was an unconscious 10-11 from the field last time out, only 8 shot attempts in 45 minutes.
Consequently, Chris Webber murdered them with 27 points and 21 boards, triple the rebounding total of Kevin Garnett.

If anyone had any doubts about Casey's defensive schemes cutting into KG's boards, they should be removed after seeing this game. Yes, Garnett is no longer at his peak athleticism. But Casey would rather contest shots than grab a higher percentage of rebounds; his players rotate hard and challenge the shooter, making it tougher to box out. Ask yourself how many times Iverson had an open look off the dribble in the half-court sets, and how many times Korver had more than a split-second to shoot. Damn few. But how many times was Philly in position for offensive boards and how many times was C-Webb able to square up and pop that midrange J? Too many.

2. Missing T-Hud, cursing Frahm
After Marko Jaric fouled out two minutes into overtime, the Wolves' offense was toast--literally, they didn't score again. The 76ers kept a body on Wally and collapsed around KG when he had the ball and that's all they needed to do. After hearing Trenton Hassell talk about empathizing with Ron Artest's desire to be seen as more than just a great defender, one might think he'd seize this time. But no, he disappeared. (As did Wally--what about running a play for your sharpshooter, coach? Or at least letting someone else inbound the ball so the defense has the sharpshooter to worry about in the final minute of the 4th quarter and overtime.)

Troy Hudson, the guy I'd ripped regularly and royally through most of the first three weeks of the season, was sorely missed tonight. In his stead was Richie Frahm. No Rashad McCants. Richie Frahm wanted no part of winning or losing that game in crunch time. I bet McCants goes back to the hotel tonight and puts his foot through the television. Even if McCants couldn't defend anybody to save his life (which isn't true, by the way), there are about 14 reasons he should play over Frahm, for the good of the team now, and in 2012.

After hitting his first shot in overtime, making him 9-17 from the field, KG was 0-5, in heavy traffic. Jaric hit his only J attempt before fouling out, and Frahm was 0-1. Throw in two clanked free throws from AC and that was the Wolves' entire offense: Kevin Garnett and some misguided prayers for KG. BTW, Carter's crucial choke at the line (neither shot was close, let's face it) removed some of the shine from his 4th quarter steal that culminated a 12-0 Wolves run that transformed a certain loss into a heartrending overtime defeat.

Bottom line, I want Rashad McCants trying to atone for stupid fouls and unseen back-door cuts by taking those dishes from a triple-teamed KG and tickling the nylon with a long trey, or delivering a definitive dunk like the left-handed jam he facialed Dalembert (a top-10 shotblocker in this league) on in the first half. I don't want Richie Frahm muttering to himself and praying that somebody else gets the ball when the clock is winding down.

3. Ron Artest?
He wants to be traded. Indiana says they'll try to oblige. Ron Artest is worth at least any two players on this roster not named Garnett. This could be a "failed experiment" that blows up the fucking arena, especially with a guy like KG stoking the fire. But it could also be the finest pair of forwards to ever grace an NBA team.

Posted by Britt Robson at December 12, 2005 9:34 PM | Comments (9)

 

The Three-Pointer: Just Win, Baby

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. 4th Quarter Warriors

In the four 4th quarters on this undefeated road trip, the Wolves outscored their opponents 114-78--and it would have been more dominant if they hadn't enjoyed a double-digit lead over Sacramento before the period started.

The latest victory, 84-74 over Portland, was a character-building comeback, the kind that puts some tang in a fan's enthusiasm. Yes, the Trailblazers are a desperately young ballclub ravaged by injuries, inexperience, and bad attitudes. But when the Wolves were down by 14 with 10:22 left to play, they could have easily rolled over and been content with a respectable 3-1 road trip. A trio of players prevented that from happening.

Start with Kevin Garnett, because he's always overlooked. After more than a decade, we have dubbed him a superstar and take brilliance for granted. LeBron James has probably ensured that KG will never again be regarded as the best player in the NBA--as anyone who was paying attention knew he was in both the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons--but he remains at worst in the top five because he combines the kind of incomparable skills from which legends are spread with the blue-collar grit, savvy, and attention to the "little things" that define an invaluable role player.

Tonight, the Wolves' comeback started almost immediately after KG came back into the game early in the 4th quarter. He proceeded to snuff out the Blazers' only reliable scoring threat, their 20-10 man, Zach Randolph, holding him to zero points, two rebounds, zero assists, zero blocks, and zero steals in the final ten minutes. Meanwhile, Garnett twice stole the ball from Randolph, and also registered 4 points, 7 rebounds, and a block shot in the period. It was imperative that the Wolves started scoring versus Portland, and they hung up 33 points in the 4th after getting just 51 through 3 quarters. But yielding only 13 points was equally vital. And the backbone of the crunch-time D was Garnett.

Move over to Wally Szczerbiak, who had a sublime road trip. It was Wally's aggressiion toward the hoop that helped keep the Wolves in the game in the first half, and his disappearance in the 3rd period coincided with his team's offensive swoon. But when the Wolves started making their run, Szczerbiak was the trigger man, thankfully forsaking the pass when none of his teammates had any offensive rhythm. He wended his way through two opponents for a nice leaner and then, in perhaps the most crucial play of the night with 6:22 left in the game, drove hard in the lane, drew the 6th foul of Portland center Joel Pryzbilla, and tossed in the layup with his left hand. Pryzbilla had been a monster all night, with play eerily reminiscent of Eddie Griffin's effort against Sac. Suddenly he was gone with half of the period left to go and creaky, ailing Theo Ratliff as the only legitimate big Portland could call upon. Wally's free throw drew the Wolves within 7. And right then the odds of a victory tipped toward Minnesota.

The final individual salute goes to Marko Jaric. With Troy Hudson out with fluid on the knee, the onus of scoring from the outside must have left a slightly deeper imprint on Jaric's brain matter, but he didn't flinch from the challenge, draining a couple of huge clutch three pointers, the kind that suck the air right out of an opponents' lungs. The first occurred just after Wally had fouled out Pryzbilla, and brought the Wolves within four points. The second whittled Portland's lead to two with just over four minutes left. As a final grace note, Jaric snuck over and re-stole a pass from Theo Ratliff (who had just stolen the ball from KG), laying the ball in for a four-point Wolves lead with less than three minutes to play. If he keeps this up, he's going to get a reputation as a 4th quarter titan.

2.A good game for Pete

A couple weeks back, somebody took a shot at the Wolves' TV announcing team. I must confess that I've always enjoyed Jim Peterson's analysis, and he was in fine form tonight. He had strong, accurate opinions, criticizing the Wolves' sluggish ball movement and openly wishing that Casey would bring Eddie Griffin back into the game in the 4th quarter. His use of statistics were on-point and revealing. Some were researched or gleaned from others--he noted that the Wolves were 6-0 when Wally scored 12 points or more; and 2-6 when he didn't--and others were grabbed on the fly, as when he said that Minnesota still didn't have any fast-break points midway through the third period.

He also used what viewers had just seen to instruct and illustrate. When Kevin Garnett avoided two leaping defenders and unsuccessfully tried to execute a reverse bank shot in the low post, Peterson said that KG could have drawn the contact and gone to the line, but that it was in his nature to avoid that and try to score the hoop. And when Wally dished to a wide-open Jaric on the first crucial 4th quarter trey, Pete cited Szczerbiak's dribble penetration as the key to freeing up Marko, underscoring his previous criticism that the team was moving their fee or the ball.

3.A cry from the peanut gallery: McCants over Frahm!

By now most of us should realize that we criticize Coach Dwane Casey at our peril. Casey obviously knows what he is doing. For instance, the Wolves missed Troy Hudson's feast-or-famine electricity during the first three periods tonight, and until the final quarter Anthony Carter did not have a particularly good game in Hudson's stead. Foolish or not, I'd still take my chances at crunch time more often with AC than with Huddy, but the fact of the matter is that Casey has gone with Hudson (when he's healthy) and that decision has mostly worked.

Which is all to say that even good, shrewd coaches make mistakes, and while playing Richie Frahm over Rashad McCants doesn't quite rank with Twins Manager Tom Kelly pinch-hitting Denny Hocking for Todd Walker, it's in that territory. If Frahm hits his wide open, outside jumpers, then Casey looks smart of course, but by those parameters, Casey hasn't looked smart since the season opener.

Richie Frahm is a fine looking player for Europe or the old CBA. Rashad McCants is going to be an offensive force to be reckoned with in this league. Yes, McCants's defense can be suspect. But I can't imagine him sabotaging the Wolves comeback much more egregiously than Frahm was with his wayward j's--he might even rise to the occasion. And if he doesn't, well, another humbling lesson to help him buckle down and play the kind of defense you want him to play. But give him a taste of these spirited comebacks, coach. You keep saying he's going to be a great player in this league someday. Whet that appetite. And ours. I've said all year that one of the beautiful things about this Wolves team is that their rebuilding strategy is also a pretty good contention strategy, provided you get a rhythm-building amount of minutes for McCants and Eddie Griffin, with at least a smidgen of uptempo action for Madsen and Carter on the side.
Say goodbye to Richie Frahm.

UPDATE
From an email by invaluable Wolves' stat guy Paul Swanson, here are the 4th quarter stats from the four-game road trip, which of course works out to be similar to a 48-minute game, won by Minnesota 114-78. It is revealing on a number of levels...

Posted by Britt Robson at December 7, 2005 11:32 PM | Comments (14)

 

The Three-Pointer: Confidence Growing

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Eddie Griffin on the block

Anyone who watched EG play last season, especially the synergy he developed with Kevin Garnett, knew that when the Wolves signed him for a measly $5.2 million over the next two years it was a steal. Tonight Griffin was the X factor, registering 8 blocks and 11 boards in less than 28 minutes of play. He also rang up 14 points, courtesy of a perfect 6-6 from the field inside the three-point arc, and 6-9 overall. Furthermore, Griffin is the type of player who elevates his game at crunch time. No player in Wolves history has enjoyed a better month of shot-blocking than Eddie has put together to begin this season, providing the Wolves with a whole new dimension in the low block.

I'll have more on Griffin in a Hang Time to be published either late Tuesday or early Wednesday at the regular citypages.com website home.

2. Denying the long ball

One of the things Coach Casey has preached from the first day of training camp is a need to defend the three-point shot. The Wolves entered the Utah game second in the NBA (to Golden State) in lowest 3-point percentage by opponents and proceeded to limit the Jazz to just one make in ten attempts from behind the arc. This, by the way, might also explain the significant drop-off in the team's defensive rebounding totals and percentages.

3. A rotation is emerging

There may always be slight wrinkles in Casey's substitution patterns, like the recent early insertions of Dupree to spell Hassell, but a fairly predictible player rotation has begun to emerge and it has been boosted the club's confidence and rhythm.

The starting five has never varied: KG, Szczerbiak, Kandi, Jaric, and Hassell. The crunch time quintet is comprised of Hudson and Jaric in the backcourt, with Eddie, KG and Wally up front. Filler time is late first period through much of the second quarter, when McCants, Madsen, Dupree, and even Frahm are likely to get most of their minutes. Everything is complicated by fouls and matchups, of course, but Casey obviously trusts Griffin and Hudson at the expense of Kandi and Hassell when it matters most. So far that has been rewarded. In any case, when Wally is hitting his shot, the Wolves are proving to be a very tough 4th quarter ballclub.

Tonight's game against Utah was their third improvement in a row. It will be interesting to see how good this crew is when they start facing a steady diet of quality competition later in the month.

Posted by Britt Robson at December 5, 2005 11:42 PM | Comments (12)

 

And by "seals their fate" I meant 5-game winning streak

Filed under: Vikings

Buck the Idiot's got nothing on me when it comes to prognosticating. Sports pundits around the country picked the Vikings to make it to the Super Bowl this year, with a well-stocked defense and locker room distraction Randy Moss shipped off to Oakland. Well, the defense choked and sputtered, and Daunte Culpepper, without his go-to guy, seemed a bit lost in the backfield. All that talent on the field, in the hands of Mike Tice, Steve Loney, and Ted Cottrell, added up to 2-5.

In an October 31 post, I stated Culpepper's season-ending injury would sink the Vikings ship. It seemed between off-field antics and on-field lack of production, Pep's blown knee was the last gasp for this team. And, of course, I was completely wrong, which is why I don't get paid to write about sports. I would agree with most of the sporting world's talking heads that, with Brad Johnson we had the most capable back-up in the league, and the combination of his slowing down the offense, and the defense starting to gel, the Vikings aren't winning flashy, but they're winning.

Chicago looks to take the division with their dominating defense, but the Vikes are gunning for a wild card spot. While some of their opponents in the final weeks have been struggling (St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Baltimore), none of them look like an easy win, and the final game against the Bears could decide whether the Vikes get into the playoffs - an ugly scenario for Vikes fans with obnoxious Bear-fan friends such as yours truly. However, if the Vikes manage to win two out of the next three, a 9-7 record should be enough in the anemic NFC to keep them playing beyond New Year's Day.

Posted by Corey Anderson at December 5, 2005 10:47 AM | Comments (0)

 

The Three-Pointer: Success in Cali

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. One-third empty or two-thirds full?

You can't complain about two straight road wins, one an offensive shootout in which the Wolves racked up 39 4th quarter points en route to 113 for the night, the other a tilt in which they held the previously (and still potentially) explosive Sac Kings to less than 80.

Or can you?

The Lakers (Friday night's opponent) and the Kings are both terrible teams. There is reason to believe that the Wolves would have been (and will be, if they don't substantially improve) waxed both nights by a playoff-caliber foe. Minnesota garnered just eight rebounds in the entire first half against a Laker team whose best big man, Kwame Brown, was injured. And on Sunday night, they committed 14 turnovers in the first half, including nine in the first quarter, the most that the Kings, who are hardly ball hawks or anything resembling a defensive team, had generated in a period all season.

The victory over the Lakers in particular seemed out of sync with what the Wolves are trying to accomplish this season (aside from the W, of course). Smush Parker was consistently beating Marko Jaric off the dribble, Brian Cook was having a field day hitting a little bunny jumper on the baseline, and the Lakers, with Chris Mihm as their signature big man, outrebounded the Wolves 37-22 (including 27-8 in the first half), outscored them in the paint 56-26, and shot 54 percent from the field.

The Wolves won because a couple of microwaves--Wally Szczerbiak and Troy Hudson, got hot at the same time, teaming with KG to hit ten straight 4th quarter shots. It was a lot of fun to watch, if totally at odds with Dwane Casey's vision of a disciplined, defensive-oriented team. No point in being a killjoy--the Wolves bagged a game they really had no business winning. But to have no business winning against the 2005-06 Lakers is a sobering thought.

2. Props to Wally, Kandi and T-Hud

The three guys of whom I've been most critical thus far this season played crucial roles in the two wins. It's becoming increasingly apparent that Szczerbiak's performance is a significant barometer of how the team as a whole is going to fare. When he's on it opens up the paint for KG and enables the team to swing the ball so much more freely.

As hot as Wally was in the second half of the Laker contest (11 points in the 3rd quarter, 17 in the 4th), I thought last night against Sac was his best all-around game of the year thus far. Although he knew he was hot from outside, he drove to the hoop at least three times in the first half, picking up fouls and keeping defenders on their heels so he could have room for those mid-range bombs. Like everyone else, I cringe when Szczerbiak starts to dribble, but when an opponent gives him the open lane that the Kings were providing for much of the night, it is a pleasure to see him seize the advantage.

What's more, he chipped in nine rebounds and played credible defense on Bonzie Wells (the size of Corliss Williamson gave him problems in the 4th quarter, but that's to be expected). For the night, he was 9-10 from inside the arc (missing his only two treys), registering a game-high 18 points on only 12 shots. When the Wolves were in a 4th quarter funk, not sinking a basket for six minutes, it would have been nice if they decided to look for their red-hot number 2 scorer. But Wally never bitched. Getting schooled by Corey Maggette the other night may have been a necessary wake-up call. If so, that's very good news for the Wolves.

Troy Hudson drives me crazy. Sunday night, KG set up shots for Huddy with high-post picks twice in a row (he made one and missed one). The third time down the floor, same thing, only the Wolves' superstar was wide open rolling off the high-post pick. Hudson kept dribbling toward the foul line, and, seeing that his own jumper wasn't possible (in part because the defense had left KG to guard him), he dished out on the wing to another teammate, who in turn fed KG for a much more difficult shot (and miss) in the low block. It was a glaring example of Hudson either lacking court vision or being selfishly on getting his own shot, and it happens all the time, albeit usually more subtly.

Okay, now that I've gotten that off my chest, Hudson was the sparkplug that triggered the second half outburst against the Lakers. His ability to get to the line in the 4th quarter rescued a stagnant Wolves offense against Sacramento. He has been exactly what you want from a sixth man--a change of pace via a jolt of energy. He is playing with a great deal of confidence right now, has learned (along with Szczerbiak) how to draw charges, and deserves the minutes he has received over the past week or two. If he can keep this up against good defenses, the praise sent his way will be less qualified. Until then, however, let's please all keep in mind (and this means you, Dwane Casey) that, while the thing Huddy is known for first, second, and always is his ability to score, the guy had a .404 career shooting percentage after 438 NBA games heading into this season.

If Casey could spot Huddy the way he has Kandi the past three weeks, it would be a marvelous thing. Yeah, Olowokandi has disappeared in more than a few games thus far this season, as is his wont. But recently it hasn't really hurt the Wolves because Casey is understanding Kandi's inconsistency, and simply considering his contribution to be a bonus, particularly in the second half.

Sunday night against Sacramento, Kandi had a very nice game, and I've got to think Casey and the coaching staff had a lot to do with it. First of all, they got Kandi off by calling his number early and often in the first quarter (much the way Flip used to try to engage Rasho Nesterovic early), and the big guy responded by going 4-6 from the field and leading his team with 8 points in the first quarter. But even more important was the way Kandi and KG frequently traded off defensive assignments, with Kandi frustrating low-block scorer Shareef Abdur-Rahim (6 points, 9 shots in 31 minutes) while Garnett totally snuffed out Brad Miller's mid-range jumper and high post passes (0 points, 1 assist in 26 minutes). The inability to get either Abdur-Rahim or Miller off keyed the Kings' frustration, and Kandi's ability to provide on-ball defense in the low post (still his biggest advantage over Eddie Griffin) was crucial to the cause.

3. Odds and ends

What made the Kings think they could win with Bonzie and Abdur-Rahim, a couple of coach-killer if I've ever seen them. Rick Adelman, you have been sabotaged by your general manager, and your days are numbered.

Another smackdown of Rashad McCants, benched for the game for taking the wrong bus. Either there has got to be more drama behind the scenes that we're not privvy to regarding McCants' attitude (and there are rumors to that effect) or this rookie hazing is getting ridiculous.

Marko Jaric also drives me crazy. His occasional indifference (there really is no other word for it) both passing and defending is infuriating, and yet the guy has a habit of making big shots and generating steals (he had four on Sunday). And Anthony Carter drives me crazy...by sitting on the bench the entire game.

The Dupree experiment, like the Frahm experiment, is not Casey's finest gambit. If you're going to deploy a single-dimension guy, why not make it Carter as your stopgap defender (I swear he could defend 6-6 athletes as well, or at least with the same propensity for fouling them as Dupree), and McCants (who hopefully, if he isn't disciplined to distraction, will be an all star when Frahm nailing treys in Europe) as your designated points producer from the weak side?

Posted by Britt Robson at December 5, 2005 9:27 AM | Comments (2)

 

« November 2005 | Main | January 2006 »