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2008-09 Game 37: Miami Heat @ Minnesota

SBG January 13, 2009, at 6:00 pm 13 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

Miami Heat, 19-17
SRS: -0.28 (16th of 30) â–ª Pace Factor: 90.6 (18th of 30) â–ª Offensive Rating: 105.7 (19th of 30) â–ª Defensive Rating: 105.9 (12th of 30)

Minnesota Timberwolves, 11-25
SRS: -4.40 (24th of 30) â–ª Pace Factor: 92.1 (11th of 30) â–ª Offensive Rating: 104.9 (22nd of 30) â–ª Defensive Rating: 109.3 (23rd of 30)

<SBG> The Wolves put their five game winning streak on the line tonight against the Miami Heat at the Target Center. Miami isn’t what I would call a great team, but they are a pretty good one (actually, they maybe aren't even as good as the Milwaukee team that was just in town, if you look at their SRS) and they have an elite player in Dwyane Wade. Wade has returned to form after a lost season last year and he’s the type of player that I would really be conflicted about, if I were a general manager. On the one hand, there’s little to suggest that he’s anything other than a maximum effort type of guy and he’s an explosive player, to boot. On the other hand, he may take the effort to eleven a little too much, thereby risking injury. The NBA season isn’t the NCAA tournament. This thing is a long, hard grind and the playoffs are just about as bad. It makes sense to conserve oneself for the long haul. Perhaps Wade is learning these lessons – don’t go crazy trying to make a play in some random game in January. Make sure when you go up, you can come down safely. These are words to live by. Though, it must be said that if a guy’s biggest fault is that he tries too hard, well, that’s not the worst thing, ever, right?

Tonight also marks the first appearance of Mario Chalmers in Minnesota as a member of the Miami Heat. You might remember that the Wolves drafted Chalmers in the second round of the 2008 draft and traded him away for a pair of future second round picks. Finding a gem or two in the second round of the draft is a great way to inexpensively add depth to a club. Of course Mr. Chalmers isn't really "depth" seeing as how he's the starting point guard in Miami. And we have, who, exactly? Oh yeah, the sweet brick layer, Bassy Telfair and a 35 year old backup (now injured). Did I mention something about this deal before? Can't seem to recall.

Getting back to the Wolves, it seems that our guy McHale is doing a pretty decent job as a coach of this club. I’ve heard crap about his lack of knowledge of Xs and Os, but I’m not buying it. I never played organized basketball beyond high school, but I can sit down right now and diagram plays for a high school team. I would think that McHale can X and O a little bit. But, if it’s not his strong suit, fine, he’s got other guys on the staff for that. It’s hard to believe, having watched McHale play in the league, that he doesn’t know anything about how to coach the game. His game, at least on the offensive end, was flat out tremendous. Not tremendous in the I’m-a-singular-talent-type-of-tremendous like Bird or Jordan, but tremendous in his mechanics. He had the kind of footwork that every big man should have and if you look at a certain #25, he also exhibits that same kind of footwork. If McHale can’t draw an out-of-bounds play, but he can teach his offensive arsenal to guys like BAJ and Kevin Love, well that’s a trade off I’ll take.

More than that, though, McHale has been a huge improvement over Wittman in terms of how he handles his players in public. Hardly a day went by in the latter stages of the Wittman Era when the coach wasn’t taking some shot at his club. His histrionics on the sideline were tiresome. McHale is much better with that kind of stuff. I’m pretty sure his players like that. Plus, he’s also done a lot better job of allocating minutes. I don’t know if Wittman was under any pressure to play certain guys, so I can’t make any certain judgments, but I like that Brian Cardinal has gotten burn. (It should be noted here that the fact that a guy like Cardinal, who has been ravaged by injuries and wasn't really all that good in the first place, merits any playing time at all -- and he does -- says something about McHale, the GM.) I made fun of him earlier, but the guy knows how to play the game. He’s not talented physically, but he’s got a pretty high basketball IQ. I like that Shaddy McCan’t is playing as many minutes as I am when the game is actually in question. I wish that Love was starting (Free Love!), but he’s been playing and he seems to be finding his confidence. Plus, the guy is a rebounding force. If McHale can help him with his offensive game – and Love appears to be just the kind of guy that McHale can do some good work with – then we’re all going to be okay with shipping O.J. Mayo (and Marko!) out to get him.

So there you have it. A little love from me to the formerly Best GM in all of sports. I don’t know if the Wolves will win tonight, but the club has been fun lately, and that’s more than I was expecting, say, three weeks ago.</SBG>

<GreekHouse>Well wasn't that a thrilling win for the Wolves. It's been a great run this year. When watching the Oklahoma game, I remember thinking that I couldn't remember the last time the Wolves beat a team that badly. So I looked it up and it turned out to be the 2nd highest margin of victory ever for the Wolves. The highest margin of victory in team history came against the Bulls back in 2001. I was actually living in Budapest at the time, so that officially make last Wednesday's game the biggest Wolves win I've ever seen. It's hard to imagine with some of those good KG teams we've had that the Wolves were only once able to pull off a victory that big.

I know most of you weren't able to see the last game against Milwaukee, but it was quite the treat to watch. I think what was particularly enjoyable about it for me was that it seemed the complete opposite of almost every game the Wolves played to start off the season. They'd get a lead somehow and then the superior opponent would gradually (or quickly) grind us into oblivion. This time, the Wolves had a rough go of it in the first half. But they came back in the second half and ground out a tough come from behind win. I was nice to sit back even when the Wolves were behind and not just think that they were destined to lose.

So now the Wolves have won 5 straight for the first time since December of 2005. The last time they won 6 straight was 2004--the year that they won 58 games and had the best record in the Western Conference. Don't get me wrong, I'm not deluding myself into believing this is some team that's going to make a run at the playoffs. But it is nice to see a team that is playing much better. When the Wolves decided to trade Garnett and rebuild, I was hoping to see a young athletic team that even if they didn't always win, was at least fun to watch. Now, I'm finally getting that team. </GreekHouse>

2008-09 Game 17: T-Wolves @ Magic

SBG December 3, 2008, at 5:00 pm 6 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , ,

<SBG>Fresh off of a thumping at the hands of Michael Jordan's club (boy, that doesn't mean what it used to mean), the Wolves move from the frying pan into the fire and take on the Orlando Magic. The Magic got the stuffing kicked out of them by the World Champions the other night, but make no mistake, this is a good team. They've won 9 of 11 and sport a shiny 13-5 record overall.

The Magic are lead by Dwight Howard, a monstrous 22 year old who is clearly one of the best young players in the game. Howard's been an effective scorer and rebounder throughout his career and his potential is off the charts. Not only that, but he's the WWL's leading candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. Hollinger:

At worst, he'll rival Amare Stoudemire and Yao Ming for the title of the league's best center.

The only question, then, is how much of his mountainous potential he can achieve. If he improves from the stripe and cuts the turnovers, he's an MVP candidate. If not, he's merely a perennial All-Star.

Howard is almost a year younger than BAJ and he's better. Plus, the Magic have (a ridiculously overpaid) Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu on their front line. I'm thinking that's better than what the Wolves have to offer (BAJ, Collins, Gomes). Look for the Magic to assert themselves on the front line -- although, maybe not in the paint, aside from Howard.

Then again, the Wolves have won four of their last five in Orlando. I'm expecting that a pissed off Magic team will break that spell tonight.

Apropos of nothing else in this writeup, take a look at the Wolves depth chart: it must suck to be Brian Cardinal. He's listed as a fifth string power forward -- behind Mark Madsen! Oy. He'll have to console himself with the $6 million a year he's getting to side behind Mad Dog.

</SBG>

<GreekHouse>Speaking of Brian Cardinal, I've only got one real thing to say here. What the holy hell was Cardinal doing playing 9 minutes in the second half of a winnable game???

I realize that Brewer was basically the cornerstone of this franchise, but I didn't realize that he was so essential that the Wolves would have to resort to giving Cardinal meaningful minutes in a close game (Yes, I realize that makes no logical sense when you think about it). When asked about it after the game, Wittman said it was because the young players didn't understand the defensive scheme and they needed him for some reason. I'm paraphrasing a bit here, but the non-paraphrased version didn't make any sense either. My only hope was that this was a one time deal and that he only did it because Brewer's absence from the game was fairly short notice. The only reason getting Cardinal was good for this team was because his contract expires a year before Marko's. Putting him in the game does no good for anyone.</GreekHouse>