GameThread #70: @ Lakers

…only know Alex Chilton from a Replacements song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQaUs5J2wdI&feature=related

And, if you can believe it, dude was 16, yup 16, when that was recorded. The man had a legit classic in 1967 and died this week at just 59. Unbelievable.

Love’s temperament. Back in L.A., and does he bounce or keep falling? Bust his butt or let his shoulders fall?

Game thread / NCAA Tournament prospect thread?

When we’re down 35 in the 3rd, I’m thinking discussing Turner, Favors, etc… is going to take precedence.

but I’m wondering if Ainge would take big Al for Garnett and the Celts 1st rounder.

Let’s see how soon the entire team quits tonight…

“Andrew gets it away from Kevin, Darko, Darko jump higher, oh your too late!!”

WTF..

He clearly had a poor game, but I saw a lot of things I liked. Today was the fist time I’ve watched him. Great NBA body, excellent ability to absorb contact and get his shot off, very good handle, played good D.

Wouldn’t be a bad consolation prize with the Charlotte pick if we miss out on Turner.

Even Odom. We look like midgets out there

They are just better and hitting everything. At least we have appropriate energy and effort.

At least you got the foul this time, but stop trying to do that. Please.

He was on KFAN a few hours ago. He is a big supporter of the Wolves getting Turner in the draft, says he would be perfect in the Triangle, especially in the pinch post.
His comment about Wall is that his upside is Gary Payton, his downside is Jamal Crawford. He didn’t hide his fear of Wall fitting into this system. Says Wall would be great in Golden State playing for Don Nelson, just doesn’t think he will fit with the Wolves.

Good to see.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO this is where it ends.

Except we’re the Nuggets this time

nice. 8pt swing there. gotta appreciate the big dude.

of the fast break the Lakers just stuffed down the Wolves throat.

How many 3 step memos does the NBA have to send out? A pump fake and a dribble is NOT travelling.

Gasol really posterized him. Hopefully this doesnt scar him forever.

bringing kevin love’s girlfriend with to all games. if this is how he’s going to play around her, it would be a solid investment.

of course, he could also just tell Rambis to stop f*&^king with his minutes.

Put the game on an hour ago after the kids went to bed. My wife humors me watching the Wolves these days and doesn’t really pay attention. She watched a play and said “Is he getting Fat”…I knew who she was talking about, but asked her who she was talking about to be sure. She said Kevin Love. This has been written about a little lately and a lot of fans don’t want to admit it, but when my wife who pays attention to five minutes per game (when they are on TV) notices that Love is out of shape, HE IS OUT OF SHAPE.

WERE TIED!!!!!!!!!! JONNY FLYNN LOOKS LIKE A REAL POINT GUARD!!!!!!!

Do we not realize this is the 3rd Q, and we’re playing the Lakers. Is this some bizarre, double negative thing?

tied? in the third? i need another beer…
if anyone touches that remote, you DIE!

Wakey wakey

From Jonny, Kevin, Darko.

Here’s where Kobe gets pissed and we go down by 15 before the end of the quarter.

now we are comfortably ahead by…2pts. so i can put in my ineffective players???!!!!?!?!?

what a moron.

What is up with this guy. There are some days when he is an absolute ass-clown.

WTF….

put Jonny Flynn back in…. oh, and put get Wilkins out of there.

The Lakers have cranked up their D to a gear we simply don’t have.

Why Phil Jackson put in their “ineffective” players. Cuz they can’t play 48, my friends…

but since we have little to no chance of pulling this one out, I’d like to see KLove and big Al get double doubles.

arrrghhh.

…..awoken the sleeping giant

I kinda feel like the Lakers haven’t really even been trying tonight, but they’re just so much better, it doesn’t matter. Certainly Odom has been clowning around a lot…

That I wanted Darko back, just not for $5mil/year. I take it back. I would pay that gladly.

isn’t that kind of like a regular person loosing in the special olympics?

in major danger of ending. I wonder how much they’ll try to work it to get it for him. Seemed like early on he was determined to hit one. Hope it happens naturally.

Does that shock anyone else? I barely remember him doing anything in this game?

True sign of greatness?

dont be injured badly please. you bring us timberwolves fans hope.

….has grabbed the quietest 14 rebounds I can remember

It is a complete pleasure to watch that man work the post. Like Greg Maddux pitching, it’s just genius. I for one am glad we get to watch him work.

Get Corey a look for 3. Two more chances at least. Be a leader, realize what the team needs.

Hollins getting 73 seconds despite playing them like the typical 20+ minutes he gets.

But Corey got rid of JR Rider. That’s all that matters in the end

Just a few thoughts:
I dont think any of us would’ve bet that we’d actually be competitive with the Los Angeles Lakers. Hopefully Darko is OK. Jonny looked more like a real point guard today (thank god). Nobody really stood out except for Darko and Love… just a solid game by all players.. thats a huge improvement.. and hopefully can carry this over to next game.

Night.

You actually turned this into a game thread, instead of a “Let’s Talk About the Draft” thread. Now, if you could just bring that same effort to the rest of the season, we’d appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Wolves Fans

…the histrionics over the past week will calm down.
Love isn’t a whiny fat loser.
Flynn is not destined to be worse than Maynor, Collison, and Teague.
Rambis isn’t a complete idiot.
Al cares enough to still get pissed and still has skills.
We can play a little D at times, but we just lack talent and size.

We are not good, but we are not nearly as bad as the previous few games.

    @chadfordinsider Thanks to all who sent in congratulations for Darko’s “breakout” 16 & 12 game. I told you it would take 6 years

Period. The same might be true of another legit-sized C. But Darko has skills on both ends of the court.

What are the odds that the Wolves surprisingly end up offering a chunk of their FA money on Darko?

What are the odds he accepts?

In the box score, this makes yet another loss in which the Wolves get nothing like legitimate contributions from their wings on offense.

Gomes, Brewer, Wilkins, and Ellington were 9-28 from the floor. Wayne’s 4-9 saved that from a hideous .263 shooting percentage for the game. The positions with “scoring” and “shooting” in front of them, those we don’t fare so well at.

When we’re talking about things we knew before the year started, the fact that we had nothing like starting NBA wing talent is first on my list. Look at the Wolves’ wins, and what you’re going to see is some games where we got Gomes to go off against Denver, and that sort of thing.

Tricycles need handles, and the back-court players were terrible at controlling
the ball tonight. Usually, we bring in Sessions to settle things down because
Jonny gets a little wild. Tonight was an exception. Sessions was horrible. Every
guard on our team seems to have ball control problems, and the Lakers exploited
all of their weaknesses. Flynn was best tonight, but he still had several breakdowns.
When Ellington brought the ball up, the Lakers attacked, pressured, trapped and stripped him.

My chant to trade Love was very muted tonight. His effort brought out his offensive
skills and he looked very good tonight, making several good decisions. He has
an excellent basketball sense. Is that because he’s playing to the home crowd?
I hope he puts personal grievances behind him; it distracts him from the business
at hand.

Jefferson is Jefferson. Excellent scorer down low, but limited to that. A double-down
on him can take him out of the game. He gets just as pissed as Love when he
doesn’t get minutes. Does one of them have to go? That’s a hard decision
because what you get can be worse than what you have, and we haven’t many
bargaining chips. It would be nice to shed salary. If Jeff goes, Love has to step
up and get a man attitude and bring it every night. Neither is a great defender,
but Love does face up, at least, and doesn’t get juked much. He keeps
his feet. My main rap on him is pouting, and emphasizing it by withholding
‘game’. He needs to shed the crocodile tears, and reconcile with his coach &
mates, and bring a new outlook.

Darko: Damaged goods. Still has upside. If Rambis can get Darko believing,
we can get a lot of good play from this guy. Right now he’s playing like he
has an inferiority complex. When he takes it to the hoop, he’s too timid. He’s
had plenty of opportunity to make statements at the rack, but he’s going
to the rim soft. I’d like to see him go at the hoop more aggressively. Some
of that soft stuff has rolled off the rim, where a jam could have made sure.

Ellington: Not a great ball handler, as we witnessed tonight. If he continues
his great shooting, though, he has the ability to play well off the ball, find
a space and pop. That’s the way he has to be used. He’s not tall in that
position, but he’s very good at getting away from his man and find open looks.

The rest of the team? a grab bag. They each have a good night now and then,
but a good team needs to field guys that have it almost every night. The highest
on this list would have to be Brewer.

Bottom line: Taking care of the ball is the biggest weakness on this team.
Recommendation for the Summer? Ball handling drills for every guy on this
on the squad, from Guards to Centers. In the modern game, every player needs to be
able to handle and protect the ball as well as a guard. In a game, keep the
ball in the hands of real ball-handlers. Most of our turnovers are caused by
guys who shouldn’t have the ball in situations. If they do get in a situation,
they should be able to get themselves out of trouble. Our guys who aren’t
comfortable, who get trapped, always panic. Easy TO for the enemy.

I’ll just list my biggest gripe.

The guys out on top don’t meet the invaders to cut them off, make them change
direction, or pass off. They let the opposers get in too deep and split the defense for
easy straight to the hoop shots. Drivers have to be cut off. If they get by you, at least turn
them toward help. Most of the time, the guys coming into our territory are
unmolested out high. This has to be addressed emphatically.

Difficult to comment.

The biggest rap seems to be the match-ups he sends to the floor. I think
there’s a whole lot of experimentation going on here, so I reserve judgment.

A coach needs to know what guys can handle and what they can’t handle,
especially in real-game situations; they have to know who can step up and who
can’t step up. Who has upside to be developed and who has reached his upper
limit. Who stays, who goes. Who is compatible with whom, and who isn’t.
That’s why he has to give quality minutes to slugs. Are they redeemable?

Stay with the system, junk the system? Fit the players to it, or fit it to the players?
Find players who fit the system & send others packing, or work with what you have?

The players have an easier job than Rambis. A coach wears more hats than
is usually perceived.

This a development team. We have little talent. You can’t just play our best
players. We only have two.