The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Utah Jazz on Friday night to pull even at 9-9 on the season. The T-Wolves have won six of nine and they got another inspired performance from Kevin Garnett tonight.
KG scored 31 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, dished out just one assist, but added two steals and three blocks. At least two of those blocks were on Carlos Boozer and the Big Ticket did a fantastic job on the defensive end, completely shutting down Boozer. Boozer was averaging 22.7 points coming into tonight got just eight points on 4-17 shooting. KG frustrated Boozer all night and completely dominated the matchup. Boozer's gotten a lot press lately, but KG showed him that he's the vastly superior player.
Another good trend was the improved production of both Mike James and Rickey Davis. The Big Three combined for 80 points tonight, with James getting 28 and Rickey chipping 21. If these two guys can raise their game to play with the Franchise, we might just have something.
A very good win again tonight over a quality opponent. They are starting to suck me in again. Let's see how it goes in Chicago tomorrow night.
Not even a mention of the AI-to-Pups talk??
This Jim Gray scandal is hilarious.
He was duped, DUPED, I say!
I think McHale is dumb and desperate enough to do it. That's who the Sixers will be looking to trade with... dumb, desperate underperforming teams looking to grab a SUPERSTAR!! who makes oodles of money and likely won't improve a team's chances for winning anything significant.
The teams I'm hearing rumors about are Minny, the Clippers, and the Kings. All three are the definition of mediocre thus far this season, and all have hopes of being better than that this season. The Kings, however, are run by Geoff Petrie, who has proven to me that he is neither dumb nor desperate. He's been good at unloading his problems (i.e. Chris Webber) on other teams, not the other way around.
So that leaves LA and Minnesota. LA has better pieces to trade. Will Baylor/Sterling bite? They've been on a roll for the last 5 years, with some very good drafting, unloading Darius Miles at the right time, trading for Elton Brand for peanuts, signing Cassell, etc. I have to think that Sterling might crave the kind of "legitimacy" a top-drawer SUPERSTAR!! like Iverson would bring to LA. The Clippers have always been in the Lakers' shadow, and with Kobe still dominating the city's imagination, here would be a guy who could give him a run for his money. Actually, I have to admit that in a crazy way, it makes a lot of sense...
So I'd say it's probably Clippers most likely, Minnesota next most likely for a trade. Who knows though... it will probably be some crazy multi-team trade.
Let's get the record straight. Signing Cassell? Yes, they signed him after they unloaded Marko Jaric for Cassell and a #1.
I've said it a million times before, KG can play on my squad any day. No player in the NBA takes more undeserved potshots than him. He is in my opinion the most underappreciated player in the league. All I've heard over the past few years is how he's declining... it's over... bullcrap. The guy is not far -- if at all -- from his MVP season production. He brings it. People see the Wolves' place in the standings and draw some dumb conclusions.
31 points, 14 rbs. The team needs more of that, please.
Two games in a row, that I've watched, where several key players made big contributions and seemed to be pulling in the same direction. Nice. It will be interesting to see whether the guys just got up for two big home games or if the team has really turned a corner.
Let's see what happens in Chicago tonight. Back-to-back road game, Chicago played last night, but didn't travel (rare home and home back-to-back). Chicago's won seven straight.