A run for the ages

This may be the worst stretch of basketball that I have ever seen a professional team play.  The only possible good thing I can say about their play during this 6+ minute run is that they had a really nice offensive rebound rate on shots that actually made it to the rim and were not swatted away by a Bobcat defender.  33% , hooray!!!

No matter how far they are into the rebuilding process, no matter what the roster looks like, no matter who is coaching or putting the team together, this 6+ minute stretch was unforgivable.  It featured the worst 2 minute stretches of ball you will ever see (via Jonny Flynn), Corey Brewer's worst stint of the year (career, really; he was there for almost the whole thing with a -18),  and a sinking feeling for each and every single Wolves fan watching the action that their perimeter players were not playing the same game as the guys in the white uniforms.  

Did you know that the Bobcats had a 36% block rate during their 20-0 run?  They almost had more blocks than the Wolves had non-blocked missed shots.  

What is especially remarkable about the 2nd quarter run is that it occurred almost entirely without any of the little guys in blue trying to get the ball to the big guys in blue.  Al Jefferson had one of his better quarters of the year in the 1st quarter and he was being single-teamed until he started to make his move towards the basket.  What was nice to see from Al in the 1st quarter was that he was quick with the ball and the double team couldn't come quickly enough.  As many of you will remember from the last game against the Bobcats (and against many other opponents this season, as it seems to be "the book" on Jefferson), Charlotte would let Big Al take a slow back-step or two (sometimes waiting for him to put his head down) before sending Boris Diaw, Wallace, or Captain Jack at him from up top, knowing full-well that he wasn't going to be able to make the right pass with his mind already made up to take it to the hoop.   

Last night in the first quarter, Al was decisive with the ball.  He went quickly and he even did away with some of his old-man rec-league moves for some season-best displays of quickness and power.  When was the last time we saw the guy snap the rim with a two-handed power dunk?  

During the 6+ minute run, Big Al left the action for a breather with the score 43-36 in the Wolves' favor.  He re-entered the game with the Cats up by one at 43-44.  For the remainder of the run, the none of the little guys in blue saw fit to dump the damn ball down to the one guy who had it going.  Corey Brewer was the worst offender, posting an amazing one minute stretch of 3 straight offensive possessions that went like this: turnover, bad pass, blocked lay up.  After that last blocked lay up, the score was 43-52 without a single Big Al shot since he left the game with a 7 point lead.  

There are some pretty basic concepts in life, business, the NBA, whatever.  One of them is that when things go bad, you go back to the basics--you do what you do best; you do what has worked until you can figure out how to adapt. Your Minnesota Timberwolves  apparently haven't read this memo.  With Stephen Jackson, Ty Thomas, Gerald Wallace, and Boris Diaw running all over the damn place, the Wolves tried to match the energy and chaos of the athletes and ballers they simply didn't have the horses to run with and they went away from the only grouping that can keep it close with a team like Charlotte: Big Al, pinch post with Love, and Darko.  Big guys.  Big guys who don't screw up the transition defense by making kamikaze drives to the hoop leaving 3/4 of the court wide open for upper-level athletes like Jackson, Thomas, Wallace, and Diaw to go hog wild towards the other rim. 

During the run, Charlotte made an amazing 7 layups (missing 3 more).  They shot 2-3 from inside of 10 feet.  Raymond Felton absolutely shredded Jonny Flynn.  Larry Hughes got into the action.  Jackson, Thomas, Wallace, and Diaw got in their sprints for the night.  

I'm sure there are plenty of other terrible run-related items that I'm missing here.  It was a simply stunning run.  

Random thoughts:

• My first game note of the night: "Flynn is actually making quick decisions in the 1/2 court; he's not pounding the ball into the floor."  Flynn had a really nice 1st quarter.  He was bringing the ball up quickly and making a pass within 2-4 seconds of bringing it past 1/2 court.  The offense didn't have the (relative) "click" that it sometimes does with Ramon Sessions out there, but it was noticeably better than what he was doing earlier in the year.  
• Favorite play of the game/capsule of the problems with this team: On a 3-on-3 transition opportunity (in, I believe, the 2nd quarter run) with (I think) Flynn on (or near the ball),  Darko marking the streaking Cats headed down the center of the lane, and Damien Wilkins on the wing, a Bobcat came through Wilkins' area of responsibility and darted directly to the left block.  Somewhere along the line, Wilkins appeared to have simply stopped running, thinking that Darko (who was rightfully interested in protecting the rim/paint) would pick up a guy that Wilkins should have stuck with.  The pass went directly to the open Bobcat for the layup.  Thankfully, Wilkins didn't have to leave his area of the court so the Wolves could set up in their 1/2 court defe...wait a minute.  No communication, no smarts, no effort, no win....and no fans if they continue this type of ridiculous play that has nothing to do with the talent level on the squad.  You can get junior high players to communicate better in transition defense than what the Wolves do.  
• The Wolves had an eFG of .625 in the 1st, .25 in the 2nd, .579 in the 3rd, and .441 in the 4th.  
• Speaking of part of the Four Factors, I'm not so sure FTAs mean what we think they mean for the Wolves.  Charlotte only attempted 16 FTAs last night, mostly because their attempts in situations that normally draw fouls were nothing other than open runs at the rim.  Sure, this padded Charlotte's eFG, but even if the Wolves matched their effort from the field (say, 42-82 with one more 3), they still would have come up short. Of course, there's always offensive rebounding, but it is interesting to see how FTAs for bad defenses might be devalued just by a tiny bit compared to other franchises who can play things straight up.  Just a hunch.  It probably doesn't work itself out over a large sample size.  I just continue to be amazed by the ways in which the Wolves can make me rethink the philosophy of suckitude in the NBA.  
• Is Corey Brewer's reputation as a defender deserved?  
• Has Ryan Gomes punched his ticket out of town?