2008-09 Game 38: Minnesota @ Phoenix

Minnesota Timberwolves, 11-26
SRS: -4.37 (24th of 30) â–ª Pace Factor: 92.0 (12th of 30) â–ª Offensive Rating: 105.0 (23rd of 30) â–ª Defensive Rating: 109.4 (22nd of 30)

Phoenix Suns, 22-14
SRS: 1.89 (12th of 30) â–ª Pace Factor: 93.1 (9th of 30) â–ª Offensive Rating: 111.7 (4th of 30) â–ª Defensive Rating: 109.4 (22nd of 30)

<SBG> The Wolves get a Phoenix game coming off an overtime loss last night to the Denver Nuggets, a game in which Shaquille O'Neal did not play. It's hardly surprising to hear that Shaq missed a game during the regular season, after all, he's not played in even 70 games in eight seasons. Last night, though was a "maintenance game" as the Suns have decided to not play Shaq several times this year to give him rest. I can't say if this has worked to keep Shaq fresh or not, but let's just say this: the Diesel is playing quite well this year, thank you very much.

That wasn't a foregone conclusion, to be sure. John Hollinger of ESPN wrote the following about Shaq in his 2008-09 outlook:

Everything you need to know is under that column labeled TO, and it speaks to why the Diesel can't be a go-to guy on the blocks anymore. Shaq turned the ball over on 18.5 percent of the possessions he used, a staggering figure for a primary offensive weapon, and his turnover ratio was actually even higher in Phoenix than it was in Miami.

Only eight players had a higher turnover ratio than Shaq, and their names are a who's who of guys whose teammates try to make sure they never touch the ball: Alexander Johnson, Joel Przybilla, Jason Collins, Dominic McGuire, David Harrison, Kendrick Perkins, DeSagana Diop, and Hilton Armstrong.

[snip]

Unless O'Neal gets serious about improving his workout regimen -- something he's given no indication of doing -- the handwriting is on the wall. His numbers have been in rapid decline over the past two years, a scary thought considering he still has two years left on his contract at $20 million a pop. One shudders to ponder the possibility that a year from now one of the greatest centers of all time could be nothing more than an expiring contract.

That doesn't have to happen, though. With O'Neal's size and still-awesome strength, he can be a force in the paint if he's committed to the idea -- especially with Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire allowing him to focus on rebounding and defending. Whether this concept truly interests him or not is something we won't know 'til November.

Shaq's season so far has basically mirrored his second season in Miami, when the Heat won the NBA title. Which is to say that he's not exactly the Shaq that terrorized the league during the early part of his run with the Lakers, but he's also not playing like the guy Hollinger feared he would be. Most notably, Shaq has cut down on his turnovers (a career low 2.3 per 36 minutes! Take that Hollinger!) and he's shooting a freakish (for him) 62.3% from the line, a career high. (If that was his career average instead of his career high, he'd have 1023 more career points just on made free throws.) Phoenix has to be pretty happy overall with his play. I don't know if the Suns can make any noise in the playoffs this year, and that's really why they brought O'Neal and his $20+ million contract in, but they have a chance. And it's really fun to see Shaq play at a high level. He's certainly on the shortest of short lists when talking about the greatest talents ever to play in this game. I think he could have been a whole lot more had he taken care of his body a little more. But, even still, he'll rate as an all-timer -- that's for certain. </SBG>

<GreekHouse> I thought the Wolves played a pretty good game against the Heat. Unfortunately, they just couldn't find their shot in the second half. It seemed like they were getting good looks, but nothing was dropping. Mike Miller in particular had a really tough night going 1-7 from the field and 1-3 from the line--missing a lot of wide open shots.

One play that was particularly frustrating to me as a fan came in the first half. On the previous Heat possession, the refs had made a rather dubious foul call for Wade. Then, Carney reached in and cleanly stole the ball and the refs blew the whistle as if to call a foul. They then got together, realizing that they had called a bogus foul for the second consecutive possession, and eventually decided to call a jump ball. You would think they would have given it to the Wolves, but that's not what upset me. What upset me was that the whistle indicated to me that the refs were basically looking to give calls to Wade. I'm not sure how as a player you could even guard him after this, since you know that any sort of aggressive defense will likely earn you a foul call. To the refs' credit, they seemed to do a better job after this, although it did seem like he was able to get away with traveling quite a bit.

Foye had yet another tremendous night, and it's great to see him playing so well. I'm hoping that his mediocre play early was due to the fact that he was still not at 100% since his surgery and that maybe now he's back to full strength. It could just be that he's shooting unsustainably well and that's boosting his numbers a bit and making him seem better than he's actually playing. In reality, this is probably at least partly true, but hopefully he's actually just playing at a level that he hasn't been able to reach since he came back. </GreekHouse>