Time for Miller: Wolves beat OKC 105-103 on final shot
Posted on November 29th, 2008 – 1:38 AMBy Jerry Zgoda
It’s been a long 19-hour day that started with a 4:30 a.m. wakeup call in Minneapolis this morning, so I’m going to keep this short and sweet.’
Wolves avenged their loss here at Ford Center a month ago and this time held on to win on Mike Miller’s winning shot that went down with one-tenth of a second left after the Wolves trailed by a point and led by two in the final 65 seconds. They also extended the Thunder’s losing streak to a franchise-record tying 14 games and made sure that the only team that has lost to this crew this season at least hasn’t done so twice.
Craig Smith provided 23 points off the bench on a night when Randy Wittman turned to him, Al Jefferson and Kevin Love to keep the Thunder from clobbering them on the offensive boards like they did the last time: On Nov. 2, Oklahoma City won that contest 19-9. This time, the Wolves prevailed, 13-7. Four of Smith’s eight rebounds were on the offensive boards.
The Wolves now have won three of five after losing eight of their first nine and flew home after Friday’s game to play Denver tonight at Target Center.
OK, I need some sleep. You all talk amongst yourselves…
16 Responses to "Time for Miller: Wolves beat OKC 105-103 on final shot"
I’m still a little worried about how badly Foye did against Westbrook. Russell hasn’t been shooting or passing well most of the season, but he just exploded both games against us now. If quick, athletic point guards are going to be a problem for Randy, then we’re in a lot of trouble because there’s a lot of them out there.
I wasn’t very impressed with Gomes either. He got that big rebound and free throws at the end, but he had a hard time guarding both Green and Durant and didn’t shoot all that well overall.
But Mike was tremendous and Craig was a monster drawing fouls and actually hitting his free throws.
This is the kind of game we can get from Mike every night, so hopefully the coaches have figured out how to get him involved with the offense. He shot one under 50% and rebounded well too. He needs to bring the turnovers down, but he’s not turnover prone, so that’s probably just this game. But he definitely needs to be the #2 option on offense every night because he’ll hit a high percentage of his shots when he gets them and can move the ball well if the defense covers him.
Ultimately this game shouldn’t have been as close as it ended up being, but hey, a win is a win and there were a lot of good things to take from tonight.
Also, Jerry, is there a reason Rodney Carney doesn’t play more? The guy is talented and athletic, and with McCants out, I would think he’d get at least 10 minutes of burn. Is something going on in practice? Some part of Rodney’s game that Witt doesn’t think is good enough? (kind of like how Green’s basketball IQ kept him off the court)
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Is Corey Brewer’s game advancing? I haven’t watched the game yet but he seems to be knocking down more shots.
Westbrook has been playing well all season so not sure what Bryan is talking about. He put up similar numbers two games ago against Steve Nash and earlier this season against Chris Paul.
Westbrook is a madman in both a good and a bad way. He is so explosive but also prone to mistakes right now.
Wilcox always seems to kill us and I think that the only thing that could have stopped him last night was double teaming him which worked at the end.
Brewer did look good last night as a role player and looks to have good confidence in his shot. Hopefully that will continue.
Miller finally looked aggressive in looking for shots. We’ve needed more of that.
I just read the headline article and saw that McCants sat on the bench all night. Hmmmm, and we won. But didn’t he have a great shooting performance the previous night (and we lost). I’m starting to have a real love/hate relationship with that guy.
Mike Miller is the type of player that we need to keep, if we are going to build a decent enough team to attact a quality free agent in 2010. Good to see McCants sitting on the bench, contributing to the team winning that way. If we had some of his typical turnovers and one-on-three offense where he ends up throwing up a shot as he is triple-guarded, we would have lost another tight game like this.
It was a nice win for the team. Smith played awesome….Brewer also stepped up, even though his minutes are down. Wittman is a little more practical in how he plays him….tonight Gomes needs to step up if the team has a chance against Denver
Westbrook is shooting 34% from the field this season. That’s worse than Corey.
2-7 against Houston
4-13 against Boston
1-8 against Utah
1-10 against Indiana
3-19 against Orlando
3-12 against Philadelphia
5-14 against New Orleans
4-14 against Cleavland
Still think he’s tearing it up? Look, bottom line is Westbrooks’ best games have been against us, and that’s a problem. I think we’ve seen between him and Rondo and Tony Parker that Foye just isn’t quick enough to stick with the fast point guards in the league, and there’s a ton of them….Westbrook and Rondo and Parker and Chris Paul and Devin Harris and Jordan Farmar and Aaron Brooks and Louis Williams and Jerryd Bayless and TJ Ford and Jameer Nelson and DJ Augustin and Derrick Rose….I mean, the only up and coming point guard that isn’t blindingly fast or athletic is Deron Williams. So if Foye can’t stick with anyone except Deron Williams, we’re in a lot of trouble.
I thought Bassy looked great in there last night. He did everything a PG needs to do. He set up the offense and the guys looked more comfortable with him running the show. Then he even hit a couple big 3’s. If Love or Smith could dunk the ball he would’ve had 3-4 more assists. His defense is still a little suspect but he looks like he could be a solid back-up PG for us long term and if he continues to improve his shooting he could be a quality starter.
Also, don’t misconstrue what I just said as not liking Westbrook. I actually love the guy, and it’s to a point where I’m thinking we should have drafted him. His aggressiveness and athleticism remind me a lot of Wade is his rookie year, and he has that attitude of taking over a game, which is what we need. He’s going to be an incredible player….Presti definitely knew what he was doing. But ya, right now Russell’s shot is definitely pretty bad.
Westbrook, Mayo, and Gordon (and, of course, Rose) all look like the real deal. I wish we would’ve drafted any of those guys to shore up our backcourt (especially Westbrook because he looks competent at the point and is a great defender). It makes me feel almost physically ill to watch Love struggle so badly and to see all these guards playing great, especially given that Love doesn’t have a natural position on this team. Westbrook would’ve been great here, and his athleticism could’ve really changed our team. His shooting isn’t great right now, but he does so many other things that it really doesn’t matter. I agree that he looks a bit like Wade did during his rookie year.
Did we even bring in Westbrook for a workout?
well I hope everyone had a nice thanksgiving…as for myself, I was in Philly w/ the wife and her family for the week. nice to see the wolves have won another game…and funny to see how mccants’ roll has dwindled w/ the team…
Was just lurking around here to see what you all are saying about our boy Kevin Love and have a couple of comments:
It was obvious to everyone in Westwood that Westbrook would be a solid NBA pro — he’ll soon make All Defense teams, can handle/distribute the ball playing the “1″, has the size/body to play the “2″, a decent jump shot with range. Taken at #6 might be a little high, he may not be all-star, HOF calibre, but he’s going to be solid, top-level NBA starter.
OTOH, to those who watched with their heads and not their hearts, Kevin Love appeared to have multiple problems projecting his game to an NBA level. He’s 6′8″, plays below the rim and has no discernible inside or outside offensive game to get his own shots. The rebound putbacks he got in college would come back in his face in the NBA. His decent, though not great, outside shot is easily defended because he’s no threat to drive around the defender. He doesn’t command double teams, negating his supposed great passing ability (0.9 Assists/gm to date). In short, you can’t run offense through him.
On the defensive side, well, 6′8″, slow, unathletic, can’t jump, below the rim guys don’t have a prayer checking the likes of tall “4s” like Stoudemire, Duncan, Wallace, Garnett, Gasol etc., and won’t fare much better against ’shorter,’ athletic “4s” like West, Boozer, Brand, Aldridge (watch out for Portland), etc. Most PFs in this league should have no problem going right over and right around Love.
NBA greats like Karl Malone and Chris Webber were rendered ordinary when leg injuries brought their game below the rim. Love’s (alleged, not yet proven) skills alone are not enough to make him a serviceable, let alone lottery pick, “4″ at the NBA level.
Love is the next Kevin McHale only in their mutual misjudgment of his abilities. I feel for the T-wolves fans — you deserve better — however as an LA guy who HATES McHale I couldn’t be happier that he’s the one who got duped.
I actually think Love will be an ok pro. Not a guy you can build a team around, but a solid second option and reliable scorer. Most of his struggles right now is just a bad situation. McHale must have been smoking something when he decided a duo of two unathletic, ball-dominant, undersized post players was the way to go.
But then again, McHale is always making bad calls like that.
I think if Love were on a team where he could be the full time power forward and have the post offense run through him, he’d do ok. He’d be great in a system like Utah’s or San Antonio’s where his lack of athleticism won’t matter much. His game is almost identical to Boozer’s anyway.
But ya….I think he’ll pan out as a worthwhile pro. Just not on this team.
