Minnesota Timberwolves (10-12) vs. New Jersey Nets (8-15) at Prudential Center

Right now, the New Jersey Nets are a team of uncertainty. How will the team fare if and when it finally moves to Brooklyn? Will a trade for Dwight Howard ever happen? Is Deron Williams going to remain with the team or opt out and choose a new team this summer? Depending on the decisions of a couple of different people over the next six months or so, the direction of the franchise could change quite significantly.

The Timberwolves, meanwhile, are a team that has a pretty clear future. Kevin Love is certain to remain with the team for at least three more seasons and keep up his All-Star level of play. Ricky Rubio looks certain to become one of the league's top point guards and win the hearts of basketball fans the world over. Wesley Johnson will continue to provide fans with new ways - statistical and otherwise - to declare how historically bad he's performing this season.

Let's take a look at tomorrow night's matchup:

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From Casey Jacobsen at Slam Online's Yearbook Awards:

Weirdest teammate… in a bad way: Darko Milicic

It’s nearly impossible to explain the weirdness that is Darko, but he told me one time that he did not keep his money in any bank, nor did he invest in stocks or bonds. "I just keep it," he told me and then turned away. Looking back, I should have asked a follow-up question. I don’t know if I believe him, but he was making over $6 million that season. That’s a lot of cheddar to stash underneath a mattress! On another note… that was easily the longest conversation we ever had, and that was how he preferred it.

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via cdn0.sbnation.com

Everything that is woeful or disheartening about the beloved team fronted by Prince Rebound and the Magical Unicorn was brought back into sharp focus by the recent Pacers smackdown and the return of David Kahn’s habit … and I am just going to say habit … of producing some incredibly scary and incredulous statements about all things Wolves or basketball-related.

I’m feeling fairly negative about this team right now, but I don’t want to talk about those things today, at least not in this post (which might make for a very short thread). And so with apologies and all due credit given to the-Poor-Dick-who-is-AWOL … I’m going to pull an Alexander Haig and take it upon myself to bring back Feel Good Friday, if only just for this week.

Here’s what I got, which is admittedly not much:

• We are one-third of the way through the season and the Wolves had two opportunities to get to .500 this week. Although the team failed both times, it has been about 5 years since (the Casey curse) the Wolves have even sniffed that opportunity this late in the season.
• We have Rubio, Love and Pekovic … half of an NBA playoff-caliber starting lineup in place, two banana sandwiches plus half of the center position figured out. We thought we had at least that much to start the 04-05 season and haven’t since, until now. Yippee!
• The trade deadline is only 6 weeks away. With tradable assets and the inconsistent-at-best contributions from our wings (he said, displaying a Ruthian level of kindness in assessing the situation) … I have to believe that Adelman will demand at least one move that will at least bring marginal improvement at the 2/3 spots.

That’s all I can think of at the moment. Your turn. Glass half-full time.

Remember that game against the Heat last year where Miami just toyed with the Wolves and we all got to see what it would look like if a Flyweight went up against a Heavyweight?

The Wolves have stepped up a few weight classes since that tilt and last night's beat down at the hands of the Indiana Pacers showed all of us what it is like to see a cutesy Middleweight get beat the you-know-what-down by a grown ass man Middleweight.

The Pacers entered last night's tilt with a single goal: to beat the living hell out of Our Beloved Puppies.

Mission Accomplished.

Here's what I think was going through the head of each and every single Indy player:

"You want to run the pick and roll? We'll crush the pick. You want to throw your body around on the defensive glass? We'll grab at you until we get called. We'll poke, pry, hustle, and hack and we'll beat your finesse. We'll beat you because you're soft. We'll beat you because we're better. We'll beat you because our bigs are bigger and our wings can play. We'll beat you because our coach has an edge."

Last night's tilt was the first time I got the sense that the Wolves need something more than an above-average wing player to really compete. When Kevin Love got tied up with Danny Granger on a frustration foul at the end of the 3rd quarter, Granger got riled up and Love rolled over. Michael Beasley took some grief from the play-by-play as being "the Bad Beasley" but he and Martell Webster seemed to be the only Wolves on the court to sense what that play actually meant. Love got called out and he stepped down. Indy went on a 22-10 run to put the game away. Granger led the way.

Yes, the Wolves shot like crap. Yes, Rick Adelman couldn't find a lineup that could play defense and score. All of that comes into play, but what really matters is that a young team on the rise who is in the same weight class as the Wolves came into Target Center and knocked the Wolves the f**k out.

Until later.

So, I don't want to do grades for this game. I mean I really DO NOT want to do grades for this game. As a former resident of the state of Indiana I was all ready to do an entire Hoosier's related post. Instead, it was like watching Ricky Rubio get knocked into a trophy case for two and-a-half hours while Mrs. Gastrovan yelled "please let this game end before somebody gets hurt". All I can say is "my team is on the floor".

Now, on to the grades

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Why doesn't anyone talk about the "Indy Model"?

Here they are. You know the drill: no illegal feeds, pics, or gifs.

Our blogging buddies for the night are over at Indy Cornrows.

Be excellent to one another.