March 2006

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Wolves-Magic Comments--Open Thread

Filed under: Timberwolves

Britt Robson is laden with other writing assignments and won't be able to offer analysis of tonight's Minnesota win over Orlando. Care to fill in the breach? Hit "comments" and give us your take.

Posted by Britt Robson at March 29, 2006 9:37 PM | Comments (13)

 

The Three-Pointer: An Embarrassing Win

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. 4th Quarter Follies
How do you cough up all but two points of a 25-point lead against a team that is 30 games below .500? By building that lead against a collection of very talented, overpaid, attitudinally cancerous players who hate their coach and are practically staring at their watches rather than the hoop while waiting for the season to end.

Minnesota outscored the Knicks 30-14 in the first quarter when New York had a quartet of sorry-ass vets--Marbury, Francis, and the Rose boys, Malik and Jalen--alongside Eddy Curry. It was a thorough dissection--all five Minnesota starters scored two field goals, and the Wolves enjoyed a 15-8 edge on the boards. With Coach Casey substituting freely (ten players loggied minutes, eight of them at least eight minutes), Minnesota coasted to a 55-30 advantage with two minutes left in the half before settling for 55-35 at the break.

With less than a minute left to play in the third period, it was still 80-57 Wolves. But during the last two minutes of the quarter, Larry Brown decided to dump the vets, subbing in rookie David Lee for Mo Taylor, Jamaal Crawford for Jalen Rose, and rookie Nate Robinson for Marbury. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, little used center Jackie Butler, who toiled admirably for the Wolves in their summer league two years ago, also was inserted. Suddenly the Knicks had some folks who actually *wanted* to play this afternoon comprising a critical mass on the court. The Wolves? Incredibly enough, they thought they had the game in the bag. Instead, they got outhustled and slowly began to choke.

When the lead dipped to 16, Casey brought KG back in for Eddie Griffin. When it was 13, Ricky Davis replaced Rashad McCants. That seemed to stablize things for awhile, but then Justin Reed fouled out and was replaced by Mark Blount, with the Wolves up 12 with 4:49 to go. Uh oh. Led by Crawford and Marbury (who replaced Francis with six and half minutes left) on the perimeter and Lee and Butler underneath, New York made it a one-possession game with 45 seconds left. They could very well have forced overtime if the refs had bothered to call KG's foul on Butler during the game's final eight seconds. Instead, the Wolves hit enough of their free throws (barely, at 7-12 for the quarter) to come away with a 98-94 victory that is best viewed as a "moral defeat."

"In any NBA game, all teams are going to make a run. New York is an NBA team and they made their run..." Casey said after the game, eventually finding a way to praise his squad because "We didn't give in." No, you just had the Knicks (record after today's loss, 19-50) down by 23 with 13 minutes to play and you white-knuckled it home. Congratulations.

2. Dreaming Marbury
The Strib's Steve Aschburner made a thinly veiled plea for Marbury to return to Minnesota and resume the dynamic duo he once shared with KG. And despite Marbury's shockingly uninspired performance today, I agree with the sentiment. First, let it be said that even when Marbury wasn't helping Phoenix or New Jersey get into the playoffs, the guy was incredibly dynamic, remaining one of the best in the league at dishing off penetration, or getting up the shot in traffic utilizing that tuck-the-baby move with the ball that he patented. He had sported a fearsome long-range jumper and exerted leadership on the court. Only slight vestiges of that remained this afternoon.

I don't know how much Larry Brown or Marbury himself is to blame--I'd say both--but heading into the off-season, the Wolves have only two real options. One is to tear apart the team down to the nub--and yes, that means trading Garnett, if he and Taylor mutually decide it should come to that. The other is, as Peter Weinhold has pointed out, to spend big money for a luxury tax-paying team salary. It would be difficult to do this unless you assume problematic, risky players with large upsides who might be inspired by Garnett's example (and in turn reinvigorate KG). Ron Artest would have been Exhibit A in this scenario (and if there was *ever* any chance of getting Artest in a package for Szczerbiak and another piece like Griffin or Hassell, I rue it didn't work out, especially in the wake of the Boston deal), but Marbury is another enticing possibility. He and Garnett are very complementary in terms of their skill sets, much more than Francis, in my opinion, who continually chokes when the game is on the line.

I'd play Marbury at the point, deal Jaric and Larry Brown's choice of Hassell or Davis and....who? Stephon will make $20 million per year for the next three years, and Jaric and Davis (who is more expensive than Hassell) combine for only about $13 million. Blount's $7 mil would slide in nicely there, but with Curry and Jerome James, the Knicks hardly need him.

Anyone who thinks Garnett is overrated--and they have a stronger argument after his miserable fourth quarter today--might want to consider that he could swapped for Stephon, even up. Imagine that. I guess that makes Marbury--who no one in their right mind would put on a par with Garnett--supremely overrated. But I'd spend $60 million of someone else's money on his return.

3. The Dirty Little Secret
Let me be the first to admit that his has been one of my more lackluster treys. In closing, let me just note that Eddie Griffin had four blocks in 17 minutes, including a couple that were spectacular and crowd-rousing. He also hit a three from the baseline after being set up by Garnett, and cast a covetous glance toward the hoop almost every time he touched the ball after that. Finally, isn't it ironic that, now the the Wolves should be totally focused on grooming next year's talent, that Casey is slowly but surely going to Anthony Carter off the bench over the past five games, especially when it looks as if the squad's perimeter defense is going to totally fly off the rails? With T-Hud out, Jaric discredited at the point, and Banks more defensively challenged than we'd all like to admit, it seems the dirty little secret is that Casey needs AC's clamp-down prowess to have any hope of closing out games. That's what many of us were saying back when winning games was a good thing for the future of this franchise. Now that every defeat gets the Wolves closer to an upgrade in personnel, isn't it time for opponents to be schooling Banks and McCants on a fairly regular basis?

Posted by Britt Robson at March 26, 2006 10:01 PM | Comments (34)

 

The Three-Pointer: Is the pattern ridiculous yet?

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Fill out this form in triplicate. Twice.

Exact double-digit lead blown, and when it started to occur?
15 points, at 45-30 with 2:43 left to play in the first half.
Mark Blount first quarter points? 11, on 5-5 FG and 1-2 FT.
Mark Blount second, third, and fourth quarter points? 7 on 1-7 FG and 5-8 FT
Career high in points or assists by an opponent? For a change, nobody!
Wolves shooting percentage, first half? 58% (19-33 FG)
Wolves shooting percentage, second half? 24% (9-37 FG)
Last tie score? 75-75, with 3:02 left in the game.
Final score? 86-82, New Jersey.
Last Wolves win on the road? February 6.
Next road win? ???

2. Half court freelancers.
Some of you probably noticed my little meltdown this afternoon after a poster simultaneously wanted everyone to know he'd anointed KG a member of his All Dunkafunkl team and proposed trading him for a couple of draft picks so the Wolves could go chase some high-priced talent. What I should do more often is praise the commentary that enlightens me, like Garwood Jones a couple of treys back, elucidating how KG makes people better the more they grasp the fundamental nuances of the game. Weinhold gets on my case for kissing Garnett's ass, and I'll cop to being an unabashed fan (alas, no autographed memorabilia though Peter).

So, because I'm biased, I'll throw this out for feedback before weighing in with my own opinion: How does a team implement an offense where Kevin Garnett plays more than 40 minutes and registers zero assists and four turnovers? And is the fact that Ricky Davis had 9 dimes tonight (and ten the previous game) ultimately good for this team, in terms of the way the ball is distributed? Is it good or bad that Jaric likewise was shut out in the assist category, while Marcus Banks had 5? Indeed, Banks and Davis alone totalled 14 of the Wolves 19 assists.

Ah screw it, I'll reveal my bias with a few more "questions." How often does this team create good spacing and then swing the ball enough to arrive at a nice, open jumper with less than 10 seconds on the clock? How often did the Nets do it tonight (even as they clanked most of their shots)? How often did it happen during the 9 years Flip Saunders coached this team? How much easier is it to defend against a team that doesn't move the ball in this fashion? How much does it preserve your legs and stamina for some second-half energy with which to mount a comeback from a double-digit deficit? Just asking.

3. A starter's penalty.
Rashad McCants got the nod over Marko Jaric as the starting small forward in place of the injured Trenton Hassell. The rook picked up two fouls within the first two minutes, and then pretty much languished on the bench for the rest of the game, logging less than 9 minutes overall. Yeah, McCants didn't look very good while he was out there. But isn't the point of the 68th game of a lost season to entrust as much playing time as possible to the youngsters who figure to be the cornerstones of your squad in the near future? Especially when your team is shooting 9-37 in the second half.

Posted by Britt Robson at March 23, 2006 11:11 PM | Comments (15)

 

The Three-Pointer: Another Quality Win

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Boxing out.
At the end of the first half of tonight's Wolves-Heat game, Minnesota was getting annihilated on the boards, grabbing just 11 defensive rebounds to Miami's 10 offensive rebounds, the primary reason why the Heat held a whopping 17-2 edge in second-chance points, more than the difference in their 57-50 lead. In the second half, after pretty much breaking even corralling caroms off their defensive glass, Minnesota outrebounded Miami 6-to-1 (18 defensive rebounds to 3 offensive rebounds for the Heat), and outscored them in second-chance points by 7 to 3. In a game where Shaquille O'Neal was a late scratch, sealing off those additional opportunities by boxing out on the boards was the difference in the game, won by the Wolves 100-96.

One of the difference-makers in this regard was an unlikely source--Ricky Davis. Now Davis rarely looks as good on the court, or in his team's final score, as he does on the stat sheet, but tonight was easily his best performance as a Timberwolf. His 6 defensive rebounds in the second half were behind only KG's 7, and twice as many as anyone else, including Mark Blount, who grabbed just one in 14:46 second half minutes and two in 24:48 overall. Davis had four assists in the first quarter, 10 points on 3-4 FG in the second quarter, 4 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in the game-turning third period when Minnesota outscored the Heat 32-13, and a team-high 7 points in the final stanza. Coach Dwane Casey wisely chose to hound Heat star Dwyane Wade primarily with Trenton Hassell (who sprained his ankle five minutes into the third quarter and didn't return) and Marko Jaric. But Davis's final line--26 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists--is made more impressive by involving his teammates early, stepping up in crunch time, and grabbing rebounds in the second half after that clearly had been the team's achilles heel in the first half.

2. KG + crunch time + foul line = victory.
If only the equation for winning were that simple. Still, it certainly bears noting that Kevin Garnett has now shot 15 free throws, and sunk 14 of them, in the past two 4th quarters, both of them relatively tight Timberwolves triumphs.

After that winless six-game road trip, KG says he had a talk with himself. "We've got this rap of not coming out with energy," he said of his team's frequent collapses (Minnesota was ahead at halftime in all six of those road games). "One of the things I'm going to do is be more aggressive in the 4th quarter." I reminded him of those words after tonight's game and asked if it could continue on the road, where the squad is something like 3-18 over the past three months.

"Yeah, but it's important...I've never experienced getting the ball to be so difficult," he replied. Knowing that Casey had called a play for him with 34 seconds left and the Wolves up by 2--a play where he never touched the rock and Mark Blount missed a jumper with the shot clock expiring--I asked him whether it was inexperience from his teammates or other teams guarding him so completely. Without answering directly, he said it was a basketball thing; that when the play is called a certain way, the players try to execute just that way, which often doesn't and can't happen. "If they are pushing me left, they will still try and run the play to the right," is one of the sentences he used by way of example. Translation: It is inexperience.

Two other times Garnett called for significant personnel changes next season. First he mentioned that "this team doesn't have the chemistry to finish out games," not saying it in a blaming way, and adding helpfully that it was "because we don't know each other that well." When a reporter asked if a training camp with all these new players would make a difference, KG responded, "Absolutely. But you've got to add some pieces to it." And later, referring to personnel, he said, very matter-of-factly and without rancor, "There is going to have to be some differences."

Good luck. There is a hell of a lot of salary tied up for a long, long time--and we're not talking about the dough KG earns every penny of. Who wants Blount, Jaric, and Hudson, who will collectively be drawing $21,715,000 in the 2009-10 season, *after* the contract of the then-33 year Garnett has expired? And between now and then we will fork over two first-round draft picks.

3. Liking McCants
When Garnett hit a 23-foot shot just before the third-period buzzer to punctuate that 32-13 period, boosting the Wolves to a 82-70 lead, he moved through his congratulating teammates toward the bench, bumping fists with every one. But just before he was to sit down, he gave an extra-hard fist bump to Rashad McCants. It is one of those minor things that connotes a lot.

The superstar and the rookie have a special relationship. McCants was whistled for a flagrant foul for taking down Wade in the final minute of the first period. The Heat, especially veteran Gary Payton, took it personally and blistered McCants in the second half. Midway through the 4th quarter, McCants and Payton nearly came to blows and had to be separated, both earning technicals. Garnett was the one who led McCants away. Asked about it later, KG replied that it was "just two warriors, going at it."

I remember a time when Wally Szcerbiak and Juwan Howard got in a scrap early in Szczerbiak's career. KG was asked about it in almost the same way as the McCants-Payton thing came up tonight, and replied something to the effect that "Wally has a way of getting on people's nerves sometimes." Knowing how much respect he has for Gary Payton, rhetorically putting McCants as Payton's equal in terms of "two warriors," was a high compliment. All the more reason why McCants must continue to be groomed with significant minutes. Just not on nights when Ricky Davis goes off for 26-7-10.

Posted by Britt Robson at March 21, 2006 11:51 PM | Comments (34)

 

The Three-Pointer: Seven in a row

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Planning to lose
Stop me if you've heard this one before: the Timberwolves played with energy and cohesion, especially on offense, in the first period of Thursday game with Golden State, racing out to a 32-25 lead. They held the advantage for nearly the entire first half, only to fold up against an opponent who was practically begging to be defeated, scoring a measly 14 points in the third and then playing cat-and-mouse in a determined but inevitably fruitless game of catch-up to make it close in the fourth quarter. Nearly every game on this road trip to hell has followed a roughly similar pattern. You want a silver lining? Minnesota didn't blow a double-digit lead this time; their largest margin (in the first period, natch) was nine points.

Every game brings a different goat. Tonight it was Eddie Griffin, the man I have been clamoring to get more minutes because of his defense. EG was even more badly roasted by backup center Ike Diogu as Mark Blount was by starter Adonal Foyle. The pair had 23 points by halftime. By the end of the third period, the Warriors, who are renowned for living and dying with the three-point shot, had 44 points in the paint.

Put some horns on Marko Jaric as well, who decided this would be one of those games where he didn't stay in front of his man on defense. In less than 14 minutes of play, Jaric was minus-15.

And once again Kevin Garnett stuffed the stat sheet but became overly deferential in the second half. I have long defended KG playing the "right way" and keeping everyone involved, but how many times are we going to watch Ricky Davis turn the ball over trying to make something happen at crunchtime? Or watch Marcus Banks loft an airball, which is the way the loss to the Lakers' ended on Wednesday night? Times used to be that when the Wolves were on the brink, it was money that Garnett would get the ball on the left block and try that patented turnaround jumper spinning off his baseline shoulder. At the very least it was enough of a weapon to compel double and triple teams. Where has that shot gone? Are we so concerned with running that we have totally abandoned our half-court bread-and-butter?

2. Sugar-coating
So Mark Blount racks up a few high-scoring games with a string of accurate shooting performances and various media want to give him high-fives. Before the Lakers game, Jim Peterson interviewed Blount on his scoring success, and Steve Aschburner, who usually doesn't stoop to this, lauded Blount in a story earlier this week.

Now I understand that Pete is paid by the Wolves and Asch has to get quotes from these guys every day at home and on the road. I also noticed that Pete was careful only to praise Blount's offensive contributions. But now casual fans who don't pay attention are getting an erronous impression and folks who follow the team are having their intelligence insulted. Because anyone with two eyes can see that Blount doesn't get in people's way on defense. That's why, despite his gaudy shooting stats, he was a whopping minus-118 heading into Thursday's game, the worst mark on the team, despite playing just 637 minutes for the Wolves. That works out to nearly nine negative points per 48 minutes.

Asch actually led his piece with this sentence: "If the Timberwolves' current streak was for winning rather than losing, center Mark Blount would be a sensation at the moment in the Twin Cities." Justin Reed, his teammate in Boston and Minnesota, is quoted as saying Blount is "just out there enjoying himself, doing what he does." That howler is topped by none other than Dwane Casey, who is quoted as saying, "Mark has done super, as far as doing everything we've asked him to do." Referring to Monday's loss to the Clippers, Casey added, "He battled Kamen as much as possible. Just a little bit more on the boards would have been the only negative, but he gave us everything else."

This is a coach who said he would emphasize defense. Chris Kamen scored 24 points and racked up a career high 23 rebounds Monday, and Casey is praising Blount for doing everything asked of him, except a few more boards? Say Blount had wrested five rebounds away from Kamen. Adding five to Blount's total and taking them from Kamen's would still give Kamen an 18-11 rebounding advantage! Mark Blount got his ass kicked Monday, and he's getting props from television, newspapers, his teammates, and his coach? And we're supposed to wonder why this team has no starch at crunchtime.

As long as I'm ripping people for sugar-coating, when it comes to television commentary, Reggie Miller is a wonderful shooting guard. Miller began the broadcast--pre-empted for a few minutes while the Heat beat the Celts in the first TNT game despite 30 points from Wally Szczerbiak--by saying that he "liked the job [Dwane Casey] has done in Minnesota," and also "like what they are trying to do" since the Boston trade. It was left to Dick Stockton to point out that the Wolves are 7-17 since the trade (now 7-18) after being 19-21 when the deal was made.

Then, later in the game, the TNT viewer text-messaging interactivity had them answer the question about whether KG will be traded this summer. When Miller was asked his opinion, he said that KG wanted to stay in Minnesota but that a trade might have to happen. Stockton appropriately asked what would be in it for the Wolves. "Oh, you're not going to get equal value," Miller replied. I applaud Stockton's restraint for not then grabbing Miller around the neck and hollaring, "then why would they make the deal?!"

Miller also hadn't done his homework, claiming that Marcus Banks needs to develop an outside shot. Actually Banks has been shooting extremely well since his arrival; Miller was basing his opinion on Banks' airball to end the Laker game and Banks' career shooting percentage. But if Miller had studied more than the highlights of one game, he might have noticed that Banks' primary weaknesses are on-ball defense and offensive decision-making. Although he had one of his better games against the Warriors Thursday, Derek Fisher still went off for a career-high 13 assists. Banks needs to pick and choose when to go for the steal, and he needs to figure out when to drive and when to set-up, when to shoot and when to dish.

3. The Yeoman
Trenton Hassell did not start the second half because he was getting stitches in his cut lip. He also recently revealed that he has chronic asthma, a condition that has been exacerbated by his move north to Minnesota. The popcornmachine.net website indicates that Hassell was plus-9 in Thursday's eight-point loss. The only other Timberwolves in the plus column were Banks at plus-3 and Ricky Davis at plus-1.

Posted by Britt Robson at March 17, 2006 3:13 AM | Comments (41)

 

March Madness: High School Edition

Filed under: Prep , Prep , Prep , Prep , Prep , Prep , Prep

Last week, Kevin Garnett "scolded" (Star Tribune) some of his teammates for laughing after another loss.

It was difficult to not think about Garnett and the moribund style of basketball the NBA plays while watching two terrific high school basketball games Wednesday night. The gym in Maple Grove was packed with parents and students, all of whom had a stake in the outcome: win or go home. Gophers coach Dan Monson sat on the bleachers in the corner, eating popcorn and salivating over the raw and tough city kids before him (salivating, that is, if he's got an iota of coaching acumen left in him).

Greg Boone was there, too. Boone played for Minneapolis Central in the glory days of Minneapolis basketball, and is now an avid youth-sports organizer. He once told me that people often tell him that the '75-'76 Central team featuring Boone, William Henry, Greg Maddox, Duane Nelson, and Andre Griffin was the greatest high school basketball team they've ever seen. They once beat Edison, 100-25.

Central was undefeated in 1976. I was there the night when sharp-shooting roly-poly point guard Johnny Hunter and the North Polars beat them in the regionals in front of 7,000 at the old Met Center. The next day's banner headline in the sports page of the Minneapolis Tribune screamed: North Shocks Central.

That's how it was. Two classes: A and AA, winners and losers, and not everybody got a trophy or a certificate. And it now occurs to me that Griffin introduced me to Minnesota's version of racism. His senior year, Griffin and Marshall-U's Rodney Hargest engaged in a ferocious scoring duel, and Minneapolis basketball lovers followed it with all the zeal that college hoopsheads have followed this season's duel between Duke's J.J. Reddick and Gonzaga's Adam Morrison.

Hargest dropped 52 one night; the next day in a matinee at Washburn, I watched Griffin drop 53 on dead-eye shooter Tim Wahl and a very good Southwest squad.

Griffin was the best high school basketball player in the state, along with two other black players, Hargest and De La Salle's Mark James, and Wahl. But when it came to the Mr. Basketball awards at the end of the year, the powers that be gave it to some white out-state sled named Peterson. After the banquet, I watched Griffin walk through the parking lot with his runner-up trophy, unfastening his tie and looking beyond dejected.

Last night, my old baseball coach Pat Widell called me up to go to the game. I've written about my love for high school ball before, and I'm always amazed at how refreshing it is. I saw old friends and met their kids. "Is it as intense as you remember it?," said the wife of the brother of my first girlfriend, laughing at me and Pat as we rode a ref for not calling a foul after one of our lads got mugged by three players late in the game. We weren't even the loudest fans in the gym, and amazingly, nobody got thrown out for heckling or rooting.

Game report: The Minneapolis De La Salle Islanders celebrated what would have been the 45th birthday of Kirby Puckett and the birth of my niece, Sara Ann "Puck" Woll, with a thrilling double-overtime victory over their arch rivals, the Benilde-St. Margaret's Red Knights. Kids hit the floor for balls, made dramatic shots, and played hellacious defense. When a river rat named Joe Scott hit an eight-foot jumper to win it at the buzzer, one of the Benilde kids crumpled to the floor and started crying. The De kids went wild, and in the post-game hand-shaking line, consoled the devastated Red Knights.

Somewhere across town, a bunch of millionaire professional basketball players were laughing after yet another loss, and a broken-down millionaire quarterback demanded, and got, traded. Somewhere else, the Minneapolis De La Salle Islanders girls' team was getting ready to play in their first state tournament.

Admission: $6

Hot dog: $2

Pop, candy, popcorn: $1

We stuck around and watched the first half of Minneapolis Patrick Henry against Orono. Henry is the class of the state, and the Orono kids were the most frightened white people I've seen in ages, but they were big and well-coached and they gave it their all. Henry won by 25, and plays De Friday night in the regional final.

I'm coaching my ten-year-old son Henry in basketball at Pearl Park again this year. A few weeks ago, I had to talk to him about shooting too much. He plays just like me: never met a shot he doesn't like. I had to come with the do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do thing and tell him that guys don't like to play with ball hogs ("bucks" in my day), that basketball is best when you pass; when you move the ball and move without the ball, when the five acts as one. He was so pissed off at me. He was embarrassed. We had words.

Our next game was against one of his best friends', Jonathan's, team, whose coach I play pick-up ball with on Sunday mornings. It was a great game. Everybody in the packed gym was into it, the game went into overtime, and my son hit a three-pointer to win it. At the end of the game, our guys went nuts, and Henry came over to the bench and gave me a quick hug.

I'm bringing him and as many of his teammates as can make it to see the Henry-De game Friday night. I want them to get psyched for our all-day tournament at Pearl on Saturday. I want them to see basketball played by people who love the game and play it the right way, but don't get paid for it. I want them to see cool older guys caring passionately about the game, so much so that some of them get their hearts broken. I want them to know that getting your heart broken is part of life, but that if you're lucky, you might live long enough to hang around the perimeter and put up a few threes.

Posted by Jim Walsh at March 15, 2006 10:53 AM | Comments (13)

 

The Three-Pointer: The Freefall Continues

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Mark Blount is not the answer.
It is a brutal exercise being a Timberwolves fan nowadays. The personnel guy goes out and gets a big man whose best season by a country mile happened to occur in a contract year. Already 30 years old, the big man is signed through the 2009-10 season at an average of $7 million per year. The personnel guy trades a number-one pick and his second-best player in the deal.

The book on the big man is that he can shoot, but he can't rebound or defend. Yet, the coach, the guy who preached a defensive identity at the beginning of the year, plays this big man 15 seconds shy of 44 minutes tonight, at the expense of a 23-year old guy who ranks among the top ten in the NBA in blocked shots, but didn't get off the bench. And, true to form, the big man hit five of his first seven shots, and racked up a dozen points in the first quarter.

The big man always seems to be scoring points in the first half and the Wolves always seem to be building a big lead. In fact, the Wolves have created double-digit leads for themselves in 11 of the past 16 games. Yet they have won only 4 of their past 16 games.

Perhaps the coach--Dwane Casey--should remember saying at the beginning of the year that you win in the NBA by playing defense. The big man--Mark Blount--can't do that, and neither can (or neither will) Ricky Davis, the "plum" that the personnel guy--Kevin McHale--was most willing to sacrifice his second-best player--Wally Szczerbiak--and a number one pick for. Ricky Davis also had a fantastic first half, shooting 8-11 from the field and getting 18 points. In the second half he shot 1-4 and finished with 20 points.

The man Mark Blount was guarding, Chris Kamen, scored 24 points, had a career-high 23 rebounds, blocked 3 shots and picked up 4 steals. According to the popcornmachine.net website, during the 43:45 seconds that Mark Blount played, the Wolves were outscored by 18 points. If you do the math on this 8-point loss, that means that during the 4:15 that Blount was on the bench, the Wolves outscored the Clips by 10 points. (The other big-man matchup, between respective team MVPs KG and Elton Brand, was pretty much a wash.)

We've had the "snakebit" theory, whereby the Wolves just seemed to be unlucky they were suffering all these tough losses. Then we had the "disruption" theory, where the Boston trade was blamed for messing up the learning curve and the coach began referring to the practices as extended training camp. Well, it has been eight weeks since the trade and there are less than 20 games left in this miserable season. Maybe it is time to trot out the "incompetence" theory.

2. Bad night for Marko.
Returing to LA to face his old team was probably an emotional experience for Marko Jaric, which should have clued everybody that Jaric was not going to be very effective. Sure enough, even the things Marko usually does well, like stay with his man if he's not a super-quick point guard, box out on the boards, and dish the rock rather than hog it, went out the window tonight. Players he was guarding took turns creating points off the dribble against him, be it Cuttino Mobley, Corey Maggette, or Shaun Livingston. Mobley in particular was able to get offensive rebounds and put-backs with Jaric on him. And in the 4th quarter, Jaric was uncharacteristically selfish looking for his own shot, hitting a couple but also ignoring the club's two most prolific scorers, Garnett and Davis. Then he capped it out by throwing the ball right to an opponent on an out-of-bounds play out of a timeout that essentially sealed the win for the Clips.

3. Nice guys finish...
I imagine that Casey continues to believe that intentionally drawing a technical or otherwise getting in the face of officials is not a successful strategy. "You draw more flies with honey than you do with vinegar," is what he told me a few weeks back. Resisting the temptation to invoke a manure joke with respect to flies and the performance of his team, let me just suggest that the honey ain't workin'. The Wolves got tagged for a timeout they didn't call in the closing minute of the game, then, after Casey and Garnett futilely argued and questioned the time out ruling, the refs called a "send him a message" bullshit offensive foul on Garnett. It is about the fifth time this year I can remember KG being disrespected in a manner that simply doesn't happen to other superstars.

As the camera was fading out to commercial after the game was over, I saw Casey out in the middle of the floor, face to face with the official. It wasn't hard to lip-read the official telling Casey that the timeout call was "my fault" and then see Casey nodding with apparent satisfaction.

Lots of honey, no flies. After five straight losses, and a series of second-half collapses, somebody but Kevin Garnett should start to get angry about the performance of this ballclub, which is becoming pathetic from top to bottom.

Posted by Britt Robson at March 14, 2006 12:25 AM | Comments (29)

 

Puckett Memorial Hits and Misses

Filed under: Twins

I fully intended to go down to First Avenue and check out the Ghostface Killah gig, but instead got sucked into the Kirby Puckett Memorial on television. Here are some quick impressions.

Hit: Former Twins GM Andy MacPhail will apparently forever be boyish and classy. His leadoff speech deftly put into perspective how much energy Puckett selflessly expended keeping himself and his teammates so upbeat--and how important that is on during the long baseball season.

Miss: All of us were once again subjected to the myriad foibles of Tom Kelly. Chosen to close out the proceeedings, TK strutted his ostentatious false modesty by breaking from the script and hauling all of the ballplayers up behind him from out of their chairs, mysteriously passing it off as a once-in-lifetime photo op when it became clear that the stunt was a confusing and time-consuming dud. He announced he wasn't going to do a speech because we'd all had enough of speeches, then gave a long rambling speech anyway that happened to slip in that he was an early champion of bringing Puckett up from the minors, then proclaimed that was one of the very few smart decisions he'd ever made (notice where all the emphasis is being put?). Kelly then invoked his favorite straw man--the clueless media guy--to showcase his honorability, claiming some unnamed media person asked him why he and all the people were at the Dome. They were there to respect Kirby Puckett, Kelly responded, then abruptly said, "I'm done," and walked away from the mic. Only the last two words were well put.

Hit: Mudcat Grant's surprise cameo and stirring rendition of the song Louie Armstrong made famous, "What A Wonderful World."

Miss: GB Leighton. Maybe there was a reason Leighton was tapped for this gig. But it was never explained to the rest of us.

Hit: Al Newman's great remark that he and Puck would occasionally fall asleep on each other as one kept talking and the other waited to get a word in edgewise.

Miss: Harmon Killebrew. Next time there is a filibuster in Congress, a text of Harmon's remarks would be an appropriate thing to throw into the breach.

Hit: Cal Ripken Jr.'s anecdote about Puckett babbling so much to him and Eddie Murray before a Twins-Orioles game that the two missed batting practice.

Miss: Kent Hrbek reprising his groaner about the God calling Puckett to heaven too soon because he needed a number three hitter for that great baseball game in the sky.

Hit: John Gordon was just what you want from an emcee in these circumstances: succinct and heartfelt without getting carried away.

Hit: Two moments of surprising poignance: Watching Kirby's two children bewildered and/noncommital about all this attention suddenly focused their way; and seeing Carl Pohlad unsuccessfully try to stand when his name was announced.

Hit: Puck, bad eye and all, doing a Letterman top ten on the ten ways to misprounounce the name Kirby Puckett.

Posted by Britt Robson at March 12, 2006 10:16 PM | Comments (15)

 

Puckett tributes: Please, you've already said enough...

Filed under: Twins

Many words of great eloquence, grace, and feeling have been uttered in memory of Kirby Puckett since his death on Monday. These are not among them.

Less global warming, more global warmth

"One of the last things I said before I walked out of the room, 'No matter the weather, it'll always be 34 degrees in Minnesota.'"

--Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Jr., recalling his last moments at Kirby Puckett's hospital bedside

Well, he did already have Babe Ruth and Ted Williams...

"God must have really needed a number three hitter, because he took Puck way too soon."

--Former Twins teammate Kent Hrbek, speaking on KFAN (1130 AM) Friday morning

Posted by Steve Perry at March 10, 2006 11:30 AM | Comments (1)

 

Wolves versus Jazz Comment Thread

Filed under: Timberwolves

Britt Robson is tied up with other assignments, but is anxious to hear comments on last night's Wolves 96-93 loss to Utah. Did Jaric step up? Was this a winnable game? Is it time to start counting lottery ping-pong balls?

Posted by Britt Robson at March 9, 2006 8:32 AM | Comments (12)

 

Minnesota Twins announce Kirby Puckett tribute

Filed under: Twins

The Minnesota Twins announced plans to honor and celebrate the life of Kirby Puckett during a public memorial service slated for Sunday, March 12, beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Metrodome. Baseball fans throughout the region are invited to attend the Kirby Puckett Tribute which will feature testimonials from family, friends, current and former Twins players, as well as video highlights of Puckett's life and career. The event will be free of charge with general admission seating. The Metrodome gates will open at 6:00 p.m.

Posted by Corey Anderson at March 8, 2006 9:04 AM | Comments (0)

 

The Three-Pointer: Unplugged

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Bench is a bust.
On a night when they honored Kirby Puckett in an extended pre-game memorial, the Wolves got absolutely nothing when they went to the bench in a loss to Houston that for the combined play of the two teams ranks as one of worst of the season.

The trio of McCants, Reed, and Jaric, so spunky and synergistic in recent games, shot a combined 1-14 from the field and finished with 6 points in over 45 minutes of play. It ranked down there with the Golden State blowout as Reed's worst game as a Timberwolf. Jaric had no idea how to score but defended decently and picked up 4 assists in 11:06. Still, the dominant impression was negative. McCants continued to have more of a clue on defense, but simply didn't shoot week, which is murder for him, was passive about going to hoop, and generally seemed out of sorts. And Eddie Griffin didn't distinguish himself either, but did block two shots in 12:07. Bottom line, no offense.

That was the first thing out of Kevin Garnett's mouth in the locker room when asked what happened in a disastrous 4th quarter that saw the Wolves miss 18 of their first 19 shots, hitting their first field goal on a KG dunk with 4:52 left in the game. By that time a 67-61 lead entering into the period was a 70-76 deficit. "We usually get a better boost from our bench," Garnett said. Then, alluding to Puckett's death and the reason why a lift from the bench was so vital on this night, he added, "It's been a rough 48 hours for me personally."

2. The Go-Go Wolves and solving the turnover riddle.
Dwane Casey had one thing on his mind after the game: The Wolves didn't push the tempo enough. Almost regardless of what question was asked and what brief tangent was taken, the coach brought the subject back to the fact that Houston likes to play a slow-down, deliberate game and pound the ball into Yao Ming (who had 30 points), and that the Wolves too easily obliged them by not forcing the running game.

I'm not sure he's right. Minnesota did have 18 fast-break points, which is more than usual, but the at least three of those baskets came in garbage time when they were struggling to catch up. Ball movement was good, with Ricky Davis especially executing some beautiful assists. Personally, I would have liked to have seen the Wolves try to exploit more post-ups with either Davis or Trenton Hassell, given that Houston started 6-1 David Wesley and 6-2 Rafer Alston in the backcourt. Instead, Mark Blount was the most effective half-court weapon, canning 8 of 13 shots from the field, some of them tough jumpers contested by Yao, before Blount inevitably fouled out. Marcus Banks likewise shot well, 12-19 from the field en route to 26 points, but many were in garbage time and his game was more impressive on paper than before our eyes.

In all, Minnesota racked up a very respectable 22/8 assist/turnover ratio, prompting me (mindful of our turnover discussion in the last three pointer) to ask Casey if the lower turnovers were the product of less tempo. He inferred that it probably was--I think he would have said anything to justify more tempo, so this answer is hardly a surprise--and then added, "I'll take 16, 17 turnovers if the pace is up." Earlier he had emphasized, "If we want to be a running team, we've got to do it every night." Hmmmmm. Should be an interesting six-game road trip against relatively tougher competition than what they've been facing.

3. Bits and pieces
Houston went to the line 45 times (to 21 for Minnesota), outrebounded them 54-43, and, according to Casey, "imposed their will on us."

Davis grimaced a few times during the game from what appeared to be a groin or stomach injury. I forget right now what his exact ailment is reported to be, but he wasn't 100 percent.

Buried in the ugly loss is further evidence that, 59 games into the season, Casey has hit upon a predictable, bona fide rotation, with the three ex-Celts not named Reed plus Hassell and KG as the starters, Reed-McCants-Jaric as the energy trio off the bench, and Griffin providing slightly less minutes than those three unless Blount or KG is in early foul trouble. AC, Mad Dog and Frahm (or Dupree or Wright, when active) are out of the rotation. I could quibble with it, naturally, but there is logic in it and the fact that it exists at all is progress.

I have a boatload of non-Wolves things that must be done in the next few days, so I won't be watching, let along commenting upon, the Wolves versus the Jazz tomorrow night (I'll tape it and watch it over the weekend). I'll try and remember to post an open thread comment line sometime tomorrow evening.

Last but certainly not least, those of you not overdosed on Kirby Puckett with 20 minutes to kill should check out former CP writer Ann Bauleke's elegant and artful profile of Puck that our editor thoughtfully linked up on Balls! elsewhere on this site. Ann hasn't written for us in over a decade and I'd forgotten what an extraordinary way she has with words.

Posted by Britt Robson at March 8, 2006 12:03 AM | Comments (3)

 

CP flashback: Ann Bauleke's "The Puckett Principle" (April 3, 1991)

Filed under: Twins

Several readers have sent along notes suggesting that we post one of Ann Bauleke's 1990s City Pages baseball columns about Kirby Puckett to commemorate his death yesterday. In going back through old bound volumes, it was pretty clear which piece to choose: Ann's 1991 pre-season feature about Kirby, "The Puckett Principle." You'll find the link below.

This morning, when I phoned Bauleke about reposting her article, I asked her to send along her thoughts on the death of the man who defined the Minnesota Twins during the decade she covered the team. She wrote back as follows:

It gets pretty complicated for me. I have to back up a day to the news about his stroke. I saw a clip of Reusse in tears, and I wondered why that wasn't my reaction. I've been completely out of the baseball scene for more than a decade now, so that might have something to do with it. But I think it has more to do with my expectations for intimacy in an interview. I wasn't looking for a quote. I wanted something real. And Kirby always kept up a wall. He was most generous with his time. He spent hours with me.

But other than hints, little comments here and there, I always wondered who the real Kirby was. I don't think he let many people in. He was big hearted and really did carry the team with his bat and glove and he was fun--quick witted, a smart tease, not the usual sophomoric stuff that can go on. All at a price. I remember Mike Riley--I think that was his name--the ghostwriter of Kirby's autobiography. He shadowed Kirby for days at a time. In the locker room after one game, Kirby was surrounded by media. It must have been a Series game or something, there were so many reporters. And Kirby was doing his thing. Talking like a preacher. Riley was a quiet, perceptive man. He watched Kirby from the back of the crowd and shook his head. He said to me, "I hate to think of what it takes to keep up that front."

With Kirby's death, I've thought more about the marvel he was as an athlete and about the people I think knew him best. Ron Washington is one. Washington is the only baseball person I've been in touch with since 1995. He can see into the soul of players, of people, and he loved Kirby. He knew him. He knew he had demons and said he'd made some bad decisions.

People loved Puckett, but no one could save him.

Read Ann Bauleke's 1991 profile, "The Puckett Principle."

Read Jim Walsh's remembrance, "The Night We Were Winners."

Posted by Steve Perry at March 7, 2006 2:05 PM | Comments (0)

 

Kirby Puckett Tribute Space--Open Thread

Filed under: Twins

Just heard on the radio that Kirby Puckett has passed. Anyone living in Minnesota from the mid-80s to the mid-90s understands what he meant to sports fans in this town. His name, his bowling ball physique, his electric charisma, and his sublime sense of the dramatic made him a favorite of diehards and bandwagon-jumpers alike.

Puck was "cute" and it was fun to let that ride. But make no mistake: This is a guy who climbed out of the projects, whose parents both died at a young age, who knew the ways, means, and rewards of competition. You don't deliver in the clutch as often as Puckett did without an internal killer instinct, which he expertly masked with his genuine, but also convenient, cuddly persona. Since his enforced retirement due to glaucoma, unpleasant things have been alleged, admitted, and bandied about regarding his behavior, particularly toward women. It besmirched his legacy.

But it doesn't erase the memory of Puckett speeding frantically down the first-base, his little-toy legs churning beneath his barrel-round upper torso. Or the way he began to stride into a pitch before it left the hurler's hand, often swinging at offerings out of the strike zone, and often sending home baserunners while he motored around first and took second or third. Or his patented home-run stealing catches against the center-field wall, be it baggy or plexiglass, timing his leap and lifting himself higher than one would imagine that body could go. Or erupting off the dugout steps to heckle folks during batting practice, or erupting into the locker room to interrupt a card game or television-watching with some choice insults for teammates near and far, occasionally silly, more often profane, always upbeat.

What all those memories have in common is Kirby Puckett living life with gusto and glee and covering himself in glory along the way. Who wouldn't want that said about them as an obituary?

Your turn. This is a forum for any impressions you have of Puckett and what he meant to you and this area.

Posted by Britt Robson at March 6, 2006 7:24 PM | Comments (34)

 

Kirby Puckett, in the beginning

Filed under: Twins

Click on the thumbnail image at left to see a larger copy of Twins rookie Kirby Puckett's 1984 appearance on the cover of City Pages, some 22 years and 150 pounds ago.

As of midday Monday, Puckett remained in critical condition in a Phoenix, Arizona hospital following surgery yesterday afternoon to drain internal cerebral bleeding and relieve pressure on his brain.

Posted by Steve Perry at March 6, 2006 1:29 PM | Comments (2)

 

The Three-Pointer: Back to Back Vics At Last

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Return of the 6-11 superstar.
Remember Kevin Garnett and the plus/minus woes of February? Well, he destroyed Golden State's Troy Murphy yesterday afternoon and is now a plus-24 in two March games. In just 35:38 of action (he was saddled with some foul trouble), KG scored 23 points, pulled down 21 boards and added five assists. Murphy's respective numbers were 7-3-1, in 32:29.

Garnett went to the bench after picking up his 4th foul with 4:13 to go in the third period and the Wolves up 67-60. The Warriors promptly went on an 11-0 run and then closed out the quarter up two, 73-75. But Warriors coach Mike Montgomery (toupee or bad dye job?) did his counterpart Dwane Casey a favor and went small, enabling Casey to sub KG in for Mark Blount and ride his three tweeners--Hassell, McCants, and Davis--along with Marcus Banks for the last 7:50, during which the Wolves outscored Golden State 25-9 and won going away.

This was just the latest in a slew of occasions when the small-ball lineup has worked for Minnesota, and this edition was especially tiny, with the 6-7 Davis the second-tallest Timberwolf on the floor. Garnett has traditionally not liked playing the de facto center slot, which is the original reason why he still is announced (and listed on all programs) as 6-11 instead of his real height, 7-1, when the starting lineups are called. I asked him how it was going, given his past antipathy and the fact that small-ball was being used more, and more effectively, than in previous years. He good-naturedly replied that "just because I've necessarily adjusted to it doesn't mean I like it...being the one to block the shots and having to get *all* the rebounds." And he said he didn't like it three or four times in two or three different ways. But he also said he prided himself on his adaptability. As well he should. As flaming assholes like Chicago sportswriter Sam Smith continue to goad Garnett for not wanting to be traded, he remains the most coachable superstar in team sports.

2. Davis gets the minutes.
That "three into two" speculation about dividing minutes among Davis, McCants and Hassell is actually a "two into one" involving Hassell and the rook, because Dwane Casey is going to give Ricky Davis all the minutes he possibly can. "It's hard for us to have either him or Kevin off the floor for an extended length of time," the coach said after the game. No, coach, actually your defense improves whenever you deign to sit Davis down. The Wolves were plus-9 in the 45:43 Davis played, boosing his plus/minus mark to minus-83, worst among the four players who came over from the Celts (some of that is a function of minutes, but c'mon, Justin Reed is plus-10, or more than 90 points better in about 450 fewer minutes).

The Wolves were also plus-4 in the scant 2:17 Davis sat, not permitting a single point during that time. Davis's primary defensive assignment was Jason Richardson, who went for 36 points, and, to be fair to Davis, probably would have gotten close to 30 even if Hassell had dogged him all day. But there was also a stretch in the second period where Mike Dunleavy found himself being guarded by Davis and prompted jacked up three uncontested jumpers for eight points in less than a minute.

I know I harsh on Davis quite a bit. I also know why Casey (and McHale) really like him. He wants the ball, can score and dish with equal facility, and also rebounds and runs the floor well. He was cold against Golden State but still kept shooting (7-21 FG), but did drop a team-high 7 assists versus only two turnovers.

My whole beef is with his defense. Davis is a big reason (Blount and Banks are littler reasons) why the Wolves are permitting more than six points per game more since the Boston trade than before it. There has been one occasion where Ricky's vaunted defensive intensity--referred to by McHale at the time of the swap--came to the fore, and that was in crunchtime of the Memphis game. All that did was demonstrate that Davis is capable of being an above-average defender *when he commits himself to the task.* But he doesn't commit himself, giving the lie to Casey's contention that he wants to develop a defensive identity and will apportion minutes among Davis, Hassell, and McCants based on defense. Casey says that, despite the workload, Davis "doesn't get tired." Maybe he ought to start asking why that's so.

3. An Eddie Griffin sighting.
Once again Casey went into his newfound postgame mantra about how the Wolves are in extended training camp and how the overriding goal is to develop the young players. After the New Jersey game, he cited the improvement of McCants and Banks and Reed and then, to his credit, realized he need to include another ultra-promising young player in his update. "Eddie Griffin is the only guy who hasn't found his way into the rotation right now," Casey said.

So in the Sunday tilt with Golden State, Eddie gets 10 second quarter minutes and does his usual thing--makes a couple of marvelous, literally crowd-pleasing blocks, including a gorgeous, lunge-block from behind on Murphy heading in for a layup, changes three or four other shots with his presence in the paint, and clanks a couple of ill-advised shots off the side of the iron. His line for the game was 4 points (2-6 FG), 4 rebounds, two turnovers and two blocks in 9:43, versus Mark Blount's 10 points (4-10 FG), 5 rebounds, one turnover and zero blocks in 26:51. Casey unilaterally praised Eddie's play in his opening post-game remarks and added that the only thing that prevented EG from getting a second-half rotation was Golden State going small.

There was some discussion in the comments to the last three-pointer about Griffin not being a center and being "out practiced" by the likes of Reed and Blount. My feelings on the relative merits of Griffin versus Blount (Reed is not really the competition here, since he comes in when the Wolves want to go small without either center in the game) are well-known to regular readers. But I can't help but add that if you are a 23 year old kid who is in his first half-season of constant low-post action, and the team trades for a player who is more experienced and thus more polished and will make three times as much money as you for at least two years longer than you are signed for on this team; and that player starts getting constant minutes while your butt stays on the pine, to the tune of not even playing seven of the past ten games, and you've had a history of depression, have also admitted you are an alcoholic, and are shy by nature, how much energy and initiative are you likely to have at practice?

Which is all to say that it certainly is nice to see the coach show the shot-blocker a little love, in both words and a stint of nine minutes and 43 seconds.

Posted by Britt Robson at March 6, 2006 1:06 AM | Comments (18)

 

"And we'll see you... tomorrow night!"

Posted by Chuck Terhark at March 5, 2006 11:32 PM | Comments (0)

 

Welcome back: Twins bats resurface in "opener"

Today I had a voicemail message on my cell phone that was intended to inspire envy more than anything--but instead, it riled me out of my late-winter stupor.

It was my father calling from Surprise, Arizona, where he noted more than once it was 78 degrees and a perfectly clear day. But he was really calling to let me know that Doug Mienkewitcz--the former Twins first baseman, once and forever known as Dougie Baseball--was batting for the Royals against the Rangers.

Dougie managed to work a 1-2 count full, and with the 3-2 pitch, according to the live broadcast my dad was offering on my mailbox, he pulled a weak grounder to the Rangers' first baseman for an unassisted out.

"He still can't drive in a run when it counts," my personal play-by-play man concluded before clicking off.

Sure, I was envious on the surface, but also grateful deep down that the Twins don't have Mienkewitcz to kick around anymore.

With that sense of small triumph, I turned my attention to the FSN broadcast of the Twins' exhibition opener against the BoSox.

Aside from the weird time-warp that comes with watching a televised night game this early in the year--and I'm still stinging from the disappointment all around last season--I felt a small sense of elation too. Embarrassing, since the game was meaningless in pretty much every regard.

Still, some things worth noting:

* Torii Hunter, Joe Mauer and Lew Ford all homered, and with as much authority as can be mustered the first week in March. If that happens more than once during the regular season, I'll be happy.

* The Twins have an interesting team, with enough off-the-radar acquisitions to finally keep Michael Cuddyer out of the infield.

* That said, Tony Batista looks too overweight--even in spring training--to seriously play third base every day, if at all. A routine grounder early in the game made him look like he had just come down with a bad case of the gout.

(Prediction: Terry Tiffee will find his late-2004 bat and end up at the hot corner; he started at first tonight in the absence of WBC-bound Justin Morneau.)

* Nick Punto still makes good bat contact, and needs to stay healthy. Carlos Silva still throws low strikes, and needs to stay healthy and get some run production from his teammates early in the season.

* Rondell White is a funny, amiable dude--if the mid-game interview with him is any indication--who seems content to only DH. He might want to hold up, though: I'm still not convinced Lew Ford is comfortable enough in right to play there every day, and his bat suffers if he sits.

* Johan Santana's arm didn't come flying clean out of its socket in the time he pitched.

The rest was, well, the first real spring training game of the season, and to say much more would be to look foolish.

But one more note: Making Ruben Sierra a "non-roster invitee" to camp may have been the whole league's stealth-cheap move of the off-season. Sure, he's ancient, but I'll tell you this: Seems like I've been watching him hit home runs in the Dome for more than half my life.

(I'm officially transferring my membership from the Bret Boone Fanclub! Okay, I know, talk to me in a month.)

And, oh yeah, Twins win.

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at March 2, 2006 8:28 PM | Comments (5)

 

The Three-Pointer: A Much-Needed Feel-Good About The Future Game

Filed under: Timberwolves

1. Three into two
It's all quickening for Rashad McCants right now, coming together like the first time you put on a pair of glasses after denying you needed them for months or years, and everything is suddenly sharp and in its proper perspective. McCants filled the lane and made a breakaway steal tonight; and zipped a pass to KG in the low block for a three-point play in the fourth quarter that pretty much sealed the Wolves win; and battled on the boards for at least two competitive defensive rebounds; and plied that sweet stroke of his for 21 points on just 9 field goal attempts.

Desperate for good tidings, Coach Casey said after the game that nurturing young talent like McCants was the season's top priority. Ever mindful of the now-bullshit credo about striving for the playoffs, the one everybody within this organization still has to preach, preferably without rolling their eyes, Casey did make noises about winning the division, but it was obviously and appropriately an afterthought. I've said all along that proper rebuilding and postseason contention weren't contradictory goals, but McCants's dysfunction made that idea seem silly straight past Christmas and up through Valentine's Day. But now, way way belatedly, McCants "gets it," which doesn't mean there won't be backsliding, and probably even an extended funk or two that makes the current enthusiasm for him seem psychedelically enhanced; but does mean that his future success is now a matter of willpower and discipline rather than nebulous notions like "potential" and "fate." Given his performances over the past couple to three weeks, we finally know: He can play.

And so now he has to play. And that's a bit of a dilemma: a rare, pleasant, quasi-embarrassment of semi-riches. Because one assumes that Ricky Davis and Trenton Hassell also have fairly strong claims on regular minutes, and given the stellar play of Justin Reed as a power forward against small lineups, and the preference to nurture Marcus Banks over Marko Jaric at the point, the relatively pint-sized Wolves only have two spots for those three gentleman--Hassell, McCants, and Davis.

After the game, I asked Casey how he intends to resolve that dilemma. At first he thought I was bugging him about not giving Hassell enough minutes, and justified his limitation of Hassell's time on the basis of momentum, etc. A nice explanation but not an answer to my question so I asked again: How do you apportion time for three guys at two positions? And he answered me. "The guys who give it to me on the defensive end are going to get the minutes," he replied, ticking off the various virtues of defensive play before leaving himself some wiggle room by saying that the rotation would also "be based on matchups" and that "I'm sure they'll be enough minutes for all of them."

My vote is for Hassell, who is flexible enough to credibly try and give you whatever you need during the course of the game, and who is, without question, the best on-ball defender on the team; and McCants, who can score with more versatility and vigor than anyone on the roster, and is, just maybe, a future star in this league. I would make Ricky Davis my sixth man, a role in which he florished in Boston, and which allows him to jack up his beloved transition 18-foot jumpers with 20 seconds on the shot clock without anybody getting too bent out of shape. I might even have Davis in the game at crunch time, since, if anything, he seems to elevate game when it matters, and that is a quality that must be fostered and utilized. But most of the time--taking into consideration Casey's cavaet about matchups, and McCants's inevitable roller coaster of inexperience--I'd give the preponderance of time to the Yeoman and the Rookie.

And if Dwane Casey is true to his word on making defense a priority--something he has said frequently and backed-up sporadically--then he will do the same thing. Because Ricky Davis is an indifferent defender, whose experience makes him better on D than an indifferent McCants, but not the McCants who has shown up for the past three games. Sometimes plus/minus stats are meaningless or misleading, but here's one with unmistakeable significance: In the 44:26 seconds Davis played tonight, the Wolves and Nets played to a draw. In the 3:36 he was on the bench, the Wolves were a plus-10. By contrast, McCants was plus-19. Hassell was plus-2 in 24:32 of play.

2. Reed and Jaric. Not pretty, just effective.
At halftime, Wolves stat guru Paul Swanson (a secret weapon of hoops knowledge all self-respecting basketball writers should listen to) pointed out that regardless of what anyone thinks, or even sees with their own eyes when Marko Jaric plays, "the Wolves score more points than the other team, it seems about 80 percent of the time, when he is on the court." Indeed, headed into tonight's game, Jaric's plus/minus for the season was plus-95, well ahead of anyone else on the team--KG is second at plus-27.

Yes, it is true that Jaric benefited from being scraped, perhaps prematurely, into the dustbin of Kevin McHale's misfit personnel decisions at precisely the time the Wolves were tanking (extended pine time during the Golden State blow-out alone probably saved him 25 points on the plus/minus ledger). But, as Swanson infers, perhaps there is a connection between the Wolves tanking and Jaric sitting.

The problem is that Jaric's weaknesses are writ in neon--his airball threes, his galumpy defense against what Casey refers to as "beep beep" (for roadrunner-quick) point guards, and his tendency to, let's not put too fine a point on it, choke when he has time to think about failure and the game is in the balance. Meanwhile, his virtues blend into the muted, pastel shades of teamwork--he length, quick hands, and court vision make him a superb help defender, he boxes out well, he's extremely versatile, he defers his shot so others may pet their egos, and he's as physically tough as he is mentally suspect. This is a prescription for being underrated.

This is not to say that the Wolves are mistaken in grooming Banks and mixing Jaric in at various spots in the rotation and portions of the game. Given the other options, Banks is a worthy gamble, provided Minnesota can sign him for a fairly slight amount of money at the end of the season--something like Eddie Griffin's $8 million, 3-year deal seems about right. But neither should they let him languish and gnaw on his uncertainty they way they did during most of February.

Instead, let's make Marko a handyman, which perfectly suits his skills and temperament. For a vexing but not particularly chronic or vital malady, see if Marko can fix it. Tonight, for example, the dilemma was that point guard Jason Kidd has had success operating out of the low post, Marcus Banks is not exactly your A-1 defender, and the Wolves already had Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson to worry about. So they turned to one of the very few point guards taller than Kidd, and, despite missing all three of his shots and one of two free throws in the 4th quarter, Jaric once again delivered, with a game-best plus-22 performance in just 24:36 of play.

Justin Reed, aka Black Lenin, aka Sweat Equity #9 (just made that up), is someone more enjoyable to root for than Jaric. For one thing he doesn't have a six-year, $38 million deal to fall back upon. He also plays like Mark Madsen under a higher dose of Ritalin--not under control, exactly, and still prone to spazz out into box-outs that leave the opponent in the third row, or fouls that remain tender bruises three weeks after he commits them, but also able to square up and bang down a baseline jumper, become the linchpin middle-man on the fast break, or surprise his man with a quick, silky smooth first step off the dribble.

The latter feat occurred in the fourth quarter of tonight's game, with the Wolves up by 5 with 4 minutes left in the game. Reed noticed that sage veteran Cliff Robinson had sussed out that the set play called for a pass to KG, and cheated toward the middle in hopes of getting the steal. Instead, he improbably and gloriously went hard down the left lane and banked it in as Robinson hacked him.

For the game Reed was plus-19, tied for second with McCants behind Jaric's plus-22. Two games ago, I asked Casey if going to Reed as his power forward in a small lineup where KG is the tallest man on the court was something he could do on a regular basis. Casey answered probably not, but that it would be based on matchups in any case. Well, as long as Mark Blount delays his defensive reactions just long enough to reliably commit the foul (not since Felton Spencer have the Wolves heard the whistle blow so often at one human being), and as long as Casey believes Eddie Griffin does not belong in the rotation, we will see a fair amount of this small lineup, with Lenin as the puny but game power forward. In fact, Casey conceded that he erred in not playing Reed more minutes in the desultory loss to Chicago on Tuesday. The bottom line is that Reed has been more consistent than any of the other three players acquired in the trade with the Celtics. Tonight was his career high in both points (14) and minutes-played (29:10). But it won't be long before he tops the minutes, if not the points.

3. Belated praise for Jim Peterson
A couple of months ago there was a flurry of discussion about the Wolves broadcast team. While I don't hear Jim Peterson during home games, I obviously do catch him when the club is on the road, and I thought he turned in an especially perceptive performance during Tuesday's Chicago game. In particular, it is a real quandary why the Wolves might perform better for the entire month of February when their superstar, Kevin Garnett, is on the bench rather than on the court. Without directly calling attention to the discrepancy, Pete shrewdly pointed out two reasons for it.

First, opponents are fronting Garnett more and more, a defensive strategy that is actually more wearisome for KG than the defenders, who are leaning on him in a fronting situation rather than vice-versa. (It is also a situation the Wolves haven't properly discouraged, in part because they lack the outside shooting or another strong low-post presence.) Second, Peterson pointed out a play where KG was getting doubled in the low block and looking for someone to pass to, but none of his teammates were moving without the ball. Off-the-ball movement increases exponentially on this team when KG sits versus when he plays. This does a great disservice to Garnett, who rewards open teammates more than any top-20 scoring superstar the game.

It felt like Peterson embraced the Boston trade with a bit too much enthusiasm, particularly his ardor for Mark Blount. But he generally has not hesitated to rip the Wolves when he feels it is warranted (and the occasions have certainly presented themselves this season), and his critiques, as well as his praise, is almost always illuminating.

Posted by Britt Robson at March 1, 2006 11:25 PM | Comments (19)

 

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