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Let's start with this week's cute story. I thought I should write it up as an article yesterday, but then I remembered that I am a combination of Eeyore and Oscar the Grouch, so no.
Apparently, a kid from Washington who used to be a Sonics fan wrote to all the NBA teams asking for their best pitch on why he should adopt them as his rooting interest. The Wolves were the only team to respond, sending him a signed basketball and a letter (with some unfortunate misspellings) laying out the case for Wolves fandom.
So now the poor schmo is doomed to be a Wolves fan.
Nobody else? Really?
Meanwhile, in case you missed it, our friends over at Punch-Drunk Wolves wrote about what interests them for the final quarter of the season. The future of Zach LaVine, the questions surrounding the front court, and other issues are addressed with their usual interesting angles. Check it out.
Oh, also, yesterday:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Happy birthday to <a href="https://twitter.com/ZachLaVine">@ZachLaVine</a>, who turned 20 today, and to <a href="https://twitter.com/Twolves_PR">@Twolves_PR</a> guru <a href="https://twitter.com/Aaron_Seehusen">@Aaron_Seehusen</a>.</p>— Alan Horton (@WolvesRadio) <a href="https://twitter.com/WolvesRadio/status/575477381982384128">March 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
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No teenagers left on the roster for now.
The Wolves take on the Suns in Phoenix tonight in another late start. The Suns have faded to 10th in the Western Conference following their moves at the trade deadline, having gone 4-7 since then, and are looking at another season without playoffs, something we Wolves fans are obviously quite familiar with.
The Wolves beat the Suns in their last meeting just after the All-Star break in Minneapolis, in an exciting 111-109 game that included big nights from Kevin Martin and Andrew Wiggins.
New guard Brandon Knight has been struggling with his shot since joining the Suns. He's made only 37.6% of his shots starting along side Eric Bledsoe in a two point guard set up. However, Knight injured his ankle on Monday and is doubtful for tonight, meaning we could see a lot of multiple MPE'er Gerald Green.
I've been growing more and more frustrated with the offense recently, apparently having run out of energy to hate the defense.
It's not just the absurd number of long two point jump shots the team takes; it's that they have given up on running real pick and rolls with Ricky Rubio and Nikola Pekovic. That was a very successful staple last season, and while Pek is struggling this year and obviously they don't have Love to stretch the floor, it still works on the few occasions they have run it. But they don't do it nearly often enough.
I can't understand it. Pek remains one of the league's better finishers on the PnR, and while I realize that teams tend to cheat off Rubio, the fact is he can still deliver a pass in those circumstances, and Pek can still catch and finish. It's crazy how infrequently they run that action compared to how often a player like Adreian Payne or Gorgui Dieng winds up with the ball 20 feet from the basket off a "screen" and...drift.
Anywho, that's my complaint for the morning. Hopefully we'll see something better tonight in Phoenix. Kevin Garnett should be back in the starting lineup after not playing on Monday.
Today in history
1513: Giovanni de' Medici chosen Pope Leo X
1669: Mt. Etna erupts killing 15,000
1851: Verdi's opera "Rigoletto" premieres in Venice
1861: Confederate convention in Montgomery Alabama adopts constitution
1862: McClellan removed as head of Union forces
1941: FDR signs lend-lease bill
1982: Begin and Sadat sign peace treaty in Washington, DC
1985: Gorbachev takes over as Soviet leader
2011: Massive earthquake in Japan causes tsunami that kills thousands and major accident at nuclear power plant
Today's musical birthday is vocalist Bobby McFerrin, born in 1950
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Have a great Wednesday