Line of fire: Nuggets top Wolves
Posted on November 30th, 2008 – 12:46 AMBy Brian Stensaas
I remarked to someone before tonight, er, last night’s game that if Chauncey Billups had a big game for Denver, it would be a good game story to write. However, this was before I knew the Nuggets’ star would take a side seat to his team getting to the free throw line 23 more times than the Wolves. Twenty-three times.
So you’ll read all about that in tomorrow, er, today’s Star Tribune.
Coach Wittman after the game was good not to knock all the whistles against his team. Instead, it was all about giving credit to Denver for being aggressive, driving to the hoop and getting the calls. With Al Jefferson double-teamed most of the night, the Wolves in turn didn’t penetrate the lane. Instead, they settled for jump shots. And it cost them. I would expect a lot of aggressive play Monday in Charlotte.
Randy Foye had a good night for Minnesota, as did Kevin Love. Perhaps I had something to do with Love’s night 
I talked with the rookie before the game for an early notebook I had to file for Sunday’s paper. Love seemed kind of down. He admitted that the first 14 games of his pro career weren’t the greatest and that he is just hoping to learn as much as he can every day. This was about an hour before tip, and already Love seemed to be a little beaten up. Emotionally, anyway. Well - maybe he was destined to turn it around. Nothing seemed to affect him once the game got going. He earned his first career double-double against the Nuggets, playing a particularly sound first half.
One quick observation: I know there is a book out there on this subject, but I wonder if anyone has ever looked at which NBA team has the most collective tattoos? I’ve only seen a handful of teams in my little bit of watching NBA teams this season. I would say Denver has to be in the running for tops (especially now that Dennis Rodman is out of the league; and even without A.I. on the team anymore). Chris Andersen and Kenyon Martin alone, I would bet, have more ink than the Timberwolves’ entire team.
Finally - even if he doesn’t read this blog, I would like to thank Rashad McCants for not spraying talc powder all over my computer. Prior to him checking into the game in the second quarter for the second time tonight, he got all set with a palm full. We had a brief stare-down, me covering a glass of diet Pepsi and he with a smirk. The smirk became a smile, though, and he simply wiped his hands on his jersey. Whew.
22 Responses to "Line of fire: Nuggets top Wolves"
Thats funny about Rashad, ahh, I’m going to miss him.
I actually noticed that haha, he did the huge powder throw the first entrance and I watched him come in the second time and noticed it was subdued. I am pissed that he is sucking and also getting jerked in and out of games by our crappy coach.
He gets yanked out of games because he doesn’t follow the gameplan. Doesn’t move the ball, turns it over trying to go one on three, jacks up treys 8 seconds into the clock with two guys in his face. He’s totally undisciplined. His numbers are down all across the board. It’s no coincidence that one of our wins he played just 7 minutes in and two of them he didn’t play at all. We’re a better team without him.
It’s hard to want him gone because he’s a supreme talent and one of just two guys on the team that can create a shot from nothing. But he’s also hot-headed and inconsistent, and has an attitude when he doesn’t like something. Ricky Davis v2.0
[…] On the Wolves – […]
Bryan,
Although I do not always agree with everything that you say, you do have good takes on most things that are current and in the past. You were attacked for your take on Brandon/Billups, but I notice that many people post things using hindsight for their arguments and do not consider what was actually happening at the time of past events. Keep up the good posting! Thanks
if only we still had Billups…he’s probably my favorite point guard in this league save for Nash.
Like a poster said on the strib article, Smith getting a lousy 11 minutes did not help. was he tired? who knows but the fact remains is that he was one of the main reasons we won the previous game and he goes from 30+ down to 11. was it to get love more minutes? sure he put in a good night, i get that, but they need to come up with some sort of consistant rotation. Smith has shown he deserves at least 20 a night. Say Al gets 30-35 minutes a night, that leaves 13-18 minutes at his position plus the full 48 at the other big man spot. thats over 60 minutes of playing time that should be distributed among Smith and Love to get optimum playing time. I’d say ~25 for each, then mix in Collins for more or less depending on the match ups.
As for McCants, I totally agree with what has been said. He needs a reality check, but I think we’d be better off giving his minutes (and shots) to Miller and Carney (he needs minutes, let him out Witt!) trading him for what we can get. We’ll have at least one good pick next year in the 1st round to get a stud 2 guard and try again.
medschool…craig got 2 really quick fouls, and then a third not long after before he came out the first time
ah, nvm then
shows I should pay more attention to the box score (i’m not able to watch the games)
Anyone listen to Sid this morning, he thinks the wolves should get Brad Miller. He’s right about the team needing a center but wrong about acquiring an over paid has been for future draft picks. I’d like to see the team do after Joel P?, or Thomas or Noah from the Bulls…Collins isn’t quite the answer in the middle.
Sid has been on the Miller bandwagon for the past four or five years. He would be an upgrade, but doesn’t have much left in the tank. There’s a rumor floating around that McCants could possibly be shipped to Charlotte in the very near future. Maybe we can find a way to get Ajinca from them.
McCants doesn’t follow the gameplan?? ha ha that’s funny that you think this team has a gameplan!
Did anybody else see the end of the game against the Thunder when they were double teaming Chris Wilcox and leaving Durant wide open for 3’s?? what a joke! This team needs a different head coach.
Thanks bert.
And for the record, I would have loved to have kept Billups. I wasn’t saying I wanted him gone, just that there were a lot of extenuating circumstances in that situation, so I understand why McHale and Saunders chose not to keep him.
Anyway, the rumor I’ve heard about us and the Cats is McCants, Collins and a 1st round pick (either the one from Utah or Boston) for Gerald Wallace. An expanded deal could include also shipping out Brewer for Raymond Felton.
Personally I’d love to have GForce here. Felton not so much. I think this team needs a point guard that has the potential for greatness, and that’s not Felton. He has a lot to work with in Charlotte, but the Cats have never been anything more than good.
This is the same reason I don’t want Hinrich either.
Plus, with McCants there, the Cats have pretty much reassembled the 04 UNC title team. That’d be phenomenal marketing for them.
Ha ha^ they would be stupid to take McCants and Collins and a very low pick for Gerald Wallace, and even sillier to take Brewer for Felton, Brewer wouldn’t be in the rotation for most teams. We should have just drafted Augustin or Lopez to fill a need, not a need for outlet passes. And how bad is it that everyone is excited for Love’s first double double, it took him all these games. That shows how low expectations ae for him now, when it becomes headline news that he could get 10 points and 10 rebounds when he doesn’t leave the paint.
Funny side note, Mayo is averaging more points than Miller and Love. He is also shooting the 3 better than Miller and shooting the 2 better than Love, just an FYI for those who like to look at that stuff once in a while.
Chris-
Ya great stats. Mayo is averaging 18 shots a game. Miller is averaging 9 shots a game and Love 7 shots. Do you think maybe that’s why he’s scoring more points?
FYI if your trying to imply that Mayo is a better 3 point shooter than Miller, then your dead wrong.Could he be better in the future? ya maybe, but i doubt it. Miller is a 40 percent 3 point shooter for his career and one of the best in the NBA.
18 shots to 16 shots but 1 more ppg, I would take Mayo over Love and Miller in a heart beat, homers aside how many other people would have liked to see Jefferson and Mayo for the next 5 years. Oh yeah, Love is great, not, just admit that McHale blew another draft pick/trade, Roy/Foye, Mayo/Love, Brewer stinks and McCants is on his way out and they didn’t play Green who has started for Dallas and they don’t even play Carney.
I am not implying this but saying Mayo is going to be better than Miller by the end of the year if not already and he will be 10 times better than Love.
Chris - Mayo has the benefit of a “run and gun” system. That wouldn’t be what he’d have here. He’d average less shots and less points per game in this system.
Yes…McHale has @$#%$#UP…Wolves need change starting at the top……if the team is content on dumping McCants they should at least acquire an athletic big rather than a SF or PG…I do like the thought of getting rid of Brewer, but with him playing less and less I do find him more tolerable to watch….also Blake Ahern is back in the D-league, must not have been that impressive for SA
The problem with acquiring Wallace is that you’re using up a good chunk of the cap space you’ve been trying to free up on a guy who is one concussion away from being out of the league.
Yeah, forget about Wallace.
Although that is the “type” of player we need…..just not him.
Mayo would score a lot in any offense.
