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I commend you to this excellent article at ESPN.com by Jackie MacMullan about Kevin Garnett's pluses and minuses as a leader.
In it, she describes his otherworldly intensity and work ethic, and his desire to help young players, but also how demanding he is and impatient for those he perceives as not able or willing to keep up.
While the article paints a so far positive picture of the relationship between Garnett and Karl-Anthony Towns, it also highlights the risk involved in exposing a young rookie to someone like KG and at least in part handing the reins of his development over to someone without brakes or a filter.
Meanwhile, the Wolves host the Atlanta Hawks tonight, their 2nd and final meeting between the teams this season. The Wolves got a big win in Atlanta earlier in the year, when the built a huge lead in the third quarter, only to see it all disappear before they finally took control down the stretch. That was the beginning of a downturn for the Hawks, who were 7-1 coming into the game, and currently stand at 10-6.
They will be on the second night of a back to back tonight, having blown out the Celtics at home last night behind 25 from Al Horford and terrific shooting as a team. Hopefully the 12-24 from three doesn't carry over to tonight. There is no doubt that the Hawks will be looking to get one back from the Wolves, while the Wolves will be looking to build on their win over the 76ers which followed a rough stretch of games that left them 5-8 on the season.
Tonight's tip is at 7:00 pm CST, after which the Wolves head to the West Coast for a quick Friday (Kings)-Sunday (Clippers) road trip before heading home for a four game home stand over the first nine days of December.
We'll be back later with a game thread.
Today's musical birthday is Tim Armstrong, best known as the front man and song writer for the punk band Rancid. He was born in 1965.