Well, at least Brooklyn can feel a little better.
Once again, the Timberwolves have successfully won a game they had no business winning. They were shooting 33%. They went down by 10. Their star player went to the locker room with yet another injury. And instead of folding, The Highly Unorthodoxes played 16 minutes of highly unorthodox basketball that would have made even Jack Sparrow proud.
Who knew you could play basketball by strapping sea turtles to your feet? So really, we're all men of our word. Except for PDGirl, who is, in fact, a woman.
PS, there should be a 'captain' in there somewhere.
If you really think about it, this game went to a pretty Motley Crew. A lightsaber wielding hobbit, a sub-6 foot kamikaze pilot, an undersized second-round pick who keeps showing up first rounders everywhere he goes, and a pair of Russians. Not exactly your prototypical powerhouse. But the Crazies have their way, and they keep winning.
Kirilenko has been this team's anchor all year, and his Russian mafia partner in crime has quickly proven himself as one the NBA's few young, awesome shooting guards. Cunningham once again made a massive impact out of nothing, Barea once again blitzkrieged the nylon in the fourth quarter, and Ridnour joined him with a flamethrower he apparently had hidden in his back pocket for just such a time. They're a weirdly balanced, compatible group. Cunningham's blue collar crashiness keeps Kirilenko from having to get shoved around. Kirilenko's random style blends perfectly with Shved's. Alexey's ability to facilitate lifts the playmaking burden from Barea and let's him go crazytown bananapants on the hoop. Which offsets perfectly with Luke's steady, by-the-book game. They're proving to be the ultimate ace-up-the-sleeve. When all else fails, throw crazy people out there. What team could ever prepare for that?
Considering 'Sota's Reliables....the Loves and Rickys and Roys and Pekovics.es....ses....of the world....have been anything but so far this season, it's nice to have a zoo crew that can do that kind of damage.
- Kevin Love. Has a hurt hand again. And...well, let's not overreact, but let's not under-react either. If one were to consider this a win without Love, then the Wolves are 7-5 when he doesn't play, and 8-9 when he does. There's basically no statistical difference between Love on the court and Love off the court, and individually, Love is grading out at a near-Derrick Williams level. His PER is down 7 points compared to last year, his WS/48 has been cut in half, and his Wins Produced is less than 1.0. He's shot 50% or above just twice, and 40% or below 13 times. If it's the hand, then I say sit him until it's not. If it's already not the hand...well, let's hope it's the hand.
- When Love went to the locker room, the Wolves were sitting at a collective 33% from the field. They finished at 45%. That means they had to shoot something like 60% the last 15 minutes or so of the game.
- Up until that point, the best looking jumper belonged to Andre Miller. Which is like saying the best looking dunks belonged to Steve Nash.
- When the Wolves first played the Nuggets this season, Andre Iguodala jammed up Kirilenko, then beat up Shved to the point Adelman was forced to bench him. In the second and now third meetings, the Russians have gotten the upper hand.
- PS thank the flying spaghetti monster that AI2 can't shoot free throws. 1-7 from the line. Ooof.
- One would think it'll be pretty much impossible for Roy to take his starting job back from Shved at this point. What that means beyond Shved being awesome is anyone's guess.
- How in blazes did this happen?:
name | points | rebounds | assists | steals | blocks | turnovers | fouls |
Nikola Pekovic | 11 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Kosta Kufos | 16 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
- Is there an object with even less basketball IQ than a folding chair. Because if there is, that object would still have more basketball IQ than JaVale McGee.
- Also, check this out - Nuggets with 2 blocks: McGee, Kufos, Mozgov, Lawson. One of these things is not like the other.
- Minnesota needs Chase Budinger to get healthy post haste.
- Marcus Camby and Tyson Chandler make a damn hard frontcourt to try and score against.
- Also: JR Smith