POST GAME TIMBERWOVES

I don't know about the comment about "maybe Doc should rest his aging stars more often". They did that last week and got creamed their first game back. There's a fine balance between rested and rusty.

1. I'm going to be the ant at the garden party and say I was not that pleased with Rondo's return. I'm happy he's back, don't get me wrong, but I'm not oohing and ahhing over his 11 assists like some are. He had 9 assists at halftime, which means he took the 2nd half off and don't even get me started on his defense. His defense was atrocious last night. Horrible. Disgusting. Pathetic. Are you getting the idea I'm having trouble coming up with the right word to do describe just how putrid his defense was? I've been grumbling about the decline in his defense this year, but last night was unbelievably bad. Minny ran the same play 2 or 3 times, a Minny big had the ball up high and Barea came over the top and got the pass after he turned the corner. Rondo wasn't anywhere near Barea. He didn't fight over the nominal pick, nor did he go under it. Barea got 2 or 3 layups in a row. Rondo's 5 TOs aren't anything to be elated about. Rondo's steal was due to a blown call by the officials. He fouled Ridnour, it was obvious on the replay, and they called a foul on Ridnour as they both fell down. Sorry, underwhelmed overall. Stats don't tell the story, in this case, except for one. Rajon Rondo was 5-6 from the line, going 4-4 after splitting his first pair. This brings his season-to-date % up to 65%.

2. KG was magnificent. He played extra hard (if that's humanly possible) against his former team.

3. Pierce had 4 TOs in the first half. Not good. He drove to the hole repeatedly but was getting no love (small "l") from the officials. 1-6 from 3. They're like peanuts to Pierce, he can't walk away from them or take just one. He threw up an unnecessary one with time winding down that brought a few moans from the Game On crowd, but that's part of what being an assassin is. It means wanting to be the one to drive home the dagger. Kobe does it, MJ did it, so did Bird. They want to be the heartbreaker. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Last night it had no effect, since he missed and we still won.

4. Bass started off ice cold, going 0-3 in the first half, all from mid-range and maybe a bit further. In the second half, though, he turned it around, going 6-6. The shots started dropping, he attacked the hole and looked more like, well, Brandon Bass. He also grabbed 8 boards, had 3 blocks, 2 steals and an assist. He's still struggling with his consistency, but not with his effort. His effort is there all the time, night-in-and-night-out. I wish I knew why he keeps back-rimming the baskets so much.

5. Greg Stiemsma had a nice return to the Gahden. 2 blocks in 9 minutes. Yep, that sounds like The Steamer. 0 rebounds. Uh, yep, that sounds a bit like him too. Considering how he's always going for a block one shouldn't be surprised or disappointed if he's out of position for the rebound. At one point he got a push-in-the-back call from the ref on KG. KG was standing there, with his back to Steamer, and you could see Steamer come up behind KG and say something to the back of his head. It didn't look like smack, so much as it looked like a "you shouldn't have taught me that last year" or a "I should have gotten these calls in practice all last year too" type of thing. Steamer seems like a labrador retriever on rBGH (he is from Wisconsin, after all). Not a mean bone in his body. Tommy (I was able to get Mike and Tommy last night. Yes!) teased Mike about how he couldn't stop hugging Steamer pre-game. Steamer is one of those guys you just can't help but root for.

6. JET was flying last night. A great game by Terry. Where Rondo couldn't (wouldn't?) handle Barea, JET did a good job of handling his much quicker, much younger former Maverick teammate. Offensively, JET looked smooth as silk. 17 points on 7-10, 3-5 from 3. He was catch-and-shooting, he was creating his own shot, he looked like a well-oiled machine. It has taken him a month, but he's starting to look like he's getting it. A chemical reaction is taking place!

7. Sully got a Tommy Point for running downcourt on a break and grabbing a missed shot and getting it to a teammate before he fell out of bounds. He's getting very good at taking charges. 7 boards in 18 minutes. He finds a way to contribute every game.

8. Kevin Love is a great player. Durant wows people with his shooting but Love is a very good shooter as well and he boards like a throwback. All under the rim, all position. He had 9 rebounds at halftime. 4 offensive boards total. What does it say that an earthbound player like Love can get 13 rebounds, 4 offensive? It means that rebounding isn't about being big, wide or being able to outjump your man. It's about heart and desire and positioning. I really enjoy watching him play, and I'd love if kids all around America watched him too, because watching him play his game is a remedial lesson for the league in fundamentals.

9. Pekovic is 6'11", 290# but looks even bigger. He did all his damage inside, as he carved out a lot of space. I don't know much about him, but looked strong last night.

10. Alexey Shved is another Minny player who looks like he'll bear watching in the future. 6'6" SG, but a toothpick at 185#. He can, and did last night, shoot from deeeep. He's listed as a PG, but he sure didn't look like one last night, he was definitely shoot-first, pass-second. 23 years old, no college, from Russia. Another "amateur" from the Russian army, like in the old days? He only shot 4-11, but looked very dangerous doing it. Quick and long. I can see how a backcourt of him and Ricky Rubio would be as entertaining offensively as they would be defensively handicapped.

11. We shot 53% for the game, they shot 44%. We outrebounded them 45-41 (yeah!). We out-assisted them 24-19. Lucky for us Minny, as a team, shot a Dwight Howard-like 14-30 from the line. Kevin Love was 6-12 (ok, that's Howard on a good night). A career 82% ft shooter, he is tied with Rondo this season at 65%. How does one explain this? After saying all those nice things about Shved, he was 1-4 from the line too, but he's an 82% shooter too. Well, we've seen this before, haven't we. It's contagious, one guy can't hit'em, suddenly nobody can. If Minny had shot even 21-30 (70%) this would have been a 3 point, 1 possession game. Considering that Louis Amundsen, their end-of-bencher and a horrid ft shooter, was 0-2 in his 3 minute garbage time, this game would have been even closer.

Especially if AK 47 hadn't sat this one out with back spasms...

Minny has some opportunity to make some noise in the WC when Rubio comes back. Love, Rubio, Ridnour, Dante Cunningham, Pekovic, Barea, Josh Howard (he played well last night. I thought he was washed up), Steamer, Kirilenko and Shved make for a decent and entertaining 10. Defense up front with Steamer and AK, rebounding and beef with Love and Pekovic, speed with Rubio, Barea and Shved, versatility with Dante and Josh, veteran steadiness from Ridnour coming off the bench at the point guard slot (or Rubio comes off the bench and Barea and Shved are off to the races).

Overall, a nice effort, some good execution (some not so good). Our transition D still needs work. We out-rebounded them, but we still gave up 13 offensive boards.


A back-to-back home-away series with the struggling Philadelphia 76ers next. They started out like gang busters, and are still 10-8 like we are, but are 6-4 in their last 10. They always seem to get up for playing against us, though, so we need to be on our game.


bob


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Rondo's SportCenter shot. Credit to Bass for running the floor, in case a cleanup in aisle 3 was necessary.







JET, taking a well deserved take off.






Pierce, cutting baseline, looking for the cutting Wilcox. I LOVE how Chris Wilcox runs the floor. His first instinct is to always go to the front of the rim.








This was a move we don't usually see from KG. He did his little back-to-the-basket "which way am I going?" move, and then did a drop step and a long reach to the other side of the rim. We saw it all from KG last night.








Schved, loose underneath. I believe this one went in.







bob


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