The Pek and Ricky show made its debut tonight at the Target Center.

Also playing: 9 turnovers, less than 30 ftas between the 2 teams, and one of the better defensive rebounding efforts you will ever see, as the Wolves limited the San Antonio Spurs to a grand total of 2 offensive rebounds. That's pretty damn good and it should be considered a major part of the team's defense. Not allowing 2nd shots matters. Not turning the ball over matters. Tonight was about as well as you could hope a team like the Wolves could play in those two categories.

I'll hopefully have more up tomorrow. Kid A has a regional swim meet tomorrow and...well, we'll see how the intertronz times works out.

In the mean time, the Wolves are a game away from being .500 after the New Year for the first time since Dwane Casey roamed the sidelines in 06/07. Martell Webster saw his first minutes of the season and Brad Miller isn't far away. Hopefully, the horrific early-season production of Michael Beasley, Darko Milicic, and Wes Johnson can be replaced by something a tad closer to average. If that happens, the Wolves should make a fairly quick pass of the even mark. All they need is for Webster to perform at the slightly below average he has accomplished in the past while having Pek grab a lot of rebounds with a TS% that is 20 points (yes, 20 f*****g points) above Darko. Everything else will be gravy until they find a competent wing player who can produce at above-average levels for 30-35 mpg while being able to be on the court at the same time as Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio.

And no, until Derrick Williams is able to guard guys other than Matt Bonner, it's not happening with someone currently on the roster.

Fantastic win tonight. Here's hoping they come out guns-a-blazing against the Lakers. They've lost 15 in a row to LA and they have a crack at .500. This next game means a lot. The tilt this Sunday is the most important game this franchise has played in a long, long, long time and they need to, at the very least, meet the opening bell.

Well, that's about it. What say you?

Until later.

Have at it.

be excellent to one another.

buddies at Pounding The Rock

no illegal threads.

enjoy.

Minnesota Timberwolves (18-0) vs. San Antonio Spurs (12-7) at Target Center

The San Antonio Spurs come into tonight's contest with a record of 10-1 at home, but a record of only 2-6 on the road. At the AT&T Center, the Spurs have only given up 90 points per game on 43% shooting (28% from 3 point range). In opposing arenas, the Spurs are giving up 104 points per game on 51% shooting (43% from 3).

This held true in the first matchup between the Wolves and Spurs, on January 2nd, when the Wolves scored 106 points and 57% from the field and from downtown. The very next game, at home against Golden State, they held the Warriors to 95.

So, the question must be asked: Why the stark contrast? Hometown referees? Too old to travel well? More sensitive to the taunts of opposing fans? Whatever it is, hopefully the trend continues tonight.

Let's break down the matchups:

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Well, how about that! I doubt I was the only person expecting an ugly loss in this one. Short rotation, contractual issues, game on the road against the defending champs - this appeared to be the perfect storm for ugly lockout ball. But I watched anyway, because I paid a lot of money for League Pass this group is the most compelling Wolves team to come along in seasons, and tonight they showed one of the main reasons why.

Resilience.

Previous ‘Sota teams seemed to routinely fold under any kind of pressure or setback. Considering the short rotation and heavy minutes, you might have expected more of that here. At 1:00 of the second, Minnesota was down ten having gone cold and scored only 18 in the quarter. It looked ugly - then, from nowhere, a season highlight 8-0 run closed the gap to two in 56 seconds! This set up an excellent second half performance in which the Wolves took control all the way to the final buzzer, creating and holding a strong double digit lead while facing huge minutes for the starters. A great win, with plenty of team and individual standouts. First, of course, "Mal's Notable Numbers", brought to you by Mass Produced Horrible Weak Light Beer For Morons:

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All roses are flowers.

Some flowers fade quickly.

Therefore, some roses fade quickly.

If this little bit sounds like your bag, then I bet you just loooove the fact that the 23 year old Kevin Love was signed to an extension with a buyout after the 3rd year.

If that sounds kind of iffy, then congratulations, you are a functional human being.

Let's get the contract stuff out of the way first. The 5th year is ego BS. Kevin Love is one of the best 3 players in the 08 draft and he has every right to be paid as such. Instead of getting the contract that will forever be known as his college roomie's deal (a'la The Westbrook), Love gets the Dwight Howard 3rd year ETO. It's nothing to turn one's nose up at, but it's needlessly antagonistic.

Getting Love to stick around for another 3 years is fantastic...not giving him 5 years is insane. What will the 5th year be used for? The guy who just completed his 18th game in the league? The incentive that can be wiped out with the differences in state tax rates? Ish. (Sloppy writing alert/edit: the incentive I meant to tie the state taxes bit to is the 7.5% vs. 4.5% yearly escalation with Bird rights. The 5th year bit is "being saved" for...well, nobody knows for sure yet except the best GM in the league, Sam Presti.)

Listening to both national and local radio today the one "silver lining" take from the 3 year deal seems to be that the 3 year potential opt-out will somehow incentivize the Wolves to make a better attempt to win in the next 3 years. This is nonsense. Just think about how many people need to have car repairs right now. Either you can or you can't. The Wolves can currently afford to pay their superstar superstar money. In 3 or 4 or 5 years they may not. Moral incentives are always more promising as abstract ideas than real world situations. The Wolves should always be striving for wins. Their clock should always be ticking. A 3 or 5 year Love deal should mean the same damn thing: get smart people to do smart things...the end. The 5th year isn't being saved for Rubio, Love will stay no matter what deal he gets as long as there are competent people here, yada, yada, yada.

Anywho....the Wolves won tonight. I wish I could say more about the win but I was at the HS orientation for my oldest daughter's swim team. I feel really old right now. I have a daughter who is about to enter HS. Congrats, Love. Good job on your extension. I'm about to let my baby girl go into a building full of boys.

Crap.

Anywho...while I was paying more attention to stroke camps and meet duties, I'm hoping someone actually caught the game.

A review would be greatly appreciated.

Until later.

You know the drill. No something something.

Something something Mavs Moneyball.

Something something excellent.