Yao! Rockets at Wolves tonight
Posted on December 20th, 2008 – 7:32 PMBy Jerry Zgoda
How often do you suppose Big Al Jefferson has felt small in his life?
“Not often,” Kevin McHale siad. “But he will tonight.”
McHale is keeping with his philosophy of sticking with his set rotations in every situation, which means 6-9 Jefferson draws 7-6 Yao Ming tonight.
McHale said he likely will have to play “some other guys” to help keep Jefferson out of foul trouble.
That means you might see Jason Collins for the first time since McHale replaced Randy Wittman or you might see Mark Madsen.
Or both.
Also, Mike Miller re-sprained that right ankle he hurt in Orlando a couple weeks ago in a nasty fall when he stepped on someone’s foot going for a layup. The word is his return is “questionable” tonight, but it looked bad enough that it might just keep him out like it did for four games recently.
36 Responses to "Yao! Rockets at Wolves tonight"
Is anyone actually watching this?
I am
Why no Collins tonight
I’m guessing the same reason he hasn’t played since McHale took over: The coach doesn’t think those 3 inches compensate for what he considers less talent and promise than Jefferson or Craig Smith. You know you’re in trouble when you start asking why no Jason Collins?
I’m Watching it as Well…still a proud member of the team of 1707.
Does anybody else miss Chris Richard? I always thought he could have been developed.
Yeah, we don’t have any athletic bigs, I wish we had a guy like Dalambert who doesn’t need to score but he blocks a lot of shots and is an athletic 7-footer.
Who would you guys rather pick with our 1st rounder next year…..Stephen Curry or 7 foot 3 Hasheem Thabeet.
What’s the latest on Miller’s bum ankle?
Right Ankle Sprain…Questionable Return….
Brandon Jennings or trade Jefferson and Love and lower 1st rounder to get Blake Griffin and Jennings and start all over.
Players like playing against us, they struggle offensively then like Head get 14 points in 14 minutes.
Where is Telfair in the game plan, and why did Love not get a single point. This team needs taller guards and more athletic forwards. McHale is too predictable in the draft. Short 6-9 to 6-7 forwards and 6-4 - 6-2 guards.
I would like to see the wolves get Thabeet, but if it means not getting Harden then I’d pass on him.
Jefferson is unstoppable. I watched him score at will tonight and as soon as they went away from him they lost control of the game. McCants thought he was channeling Kobe Bryant once again tonight, but he was wrong. Foye inexplicably played well. Miller hurt his ankle again….that sucked. Craig Smith looked great except on defense.
The T-Wolves actually forced a shot clock violation tonight, which is probably the first time all year. However, they still allowed Houston to spot up beyond the arc for uncontested threes. Love didn’t play much. Perhaps McHale finally realizes that his golden boy is not what he thought he’d be.
I don’t mind Ollie running the point, because he’s the only one who knows how to play D. Bassie didn’t play at all. Probably because he can’t hit a shot to save his life. I don’t about this team. I’m already feeling sorry for Jefferson.
Wow. I have never been to a Saturday game and seen such an empty arena. Is there going to be anybody in the stands come spring. This franchise is dying. Jerry - are the Wolves getting concerned about how few people are showing up?
I had no clue they were playing today and really I don’t care. Gopher’s won their 10th game today, probably more then the Wolves will win all year. My question is will the T’Wolves win more games then the Boston Celtics lose?
The Gopher’s game was great. Tubby Smith has really turned the program around. I don’t think the Wolves will win more that the Celts will lose.
Well to be fair, it is kind of a blizzard out there and the state police have basically said “don’t drive tonight”.
As for the game, it was pretty much a microcosm of what I predicted when McHale took over. We try harder, we still lose. Our roster is just too imbalanced and unathletic for sheer effort to close the gap on.
The rest of my notes I’ll save for the postmortem topic.
I took the rockets with a 5.5 spread. What was Vegas thinking? The twolves are not an nba team. They will not win until January. McHale has this team all screwed up with no confidence what so ever. Vote Glen Taylor as worst owner for NBA 2008. He still makes has money but he is running has team and fans away!
Are these bums tanking already? How can they accept money from fans? This is disgraceful.
I watch every game when it’s on 45 because it’s the only local basketball I can watch without paying for cable. The Gophers might have a good team and I’m rooting for them but they shut out a lot of fans by showing all their games on cable.
Foye can’t even crack the starting lineup playing for Tubby. If the Wolves play the Gophers, I take the Gophers, by 10. I even take the women’s Gophers, but only by 8.
Does anyone know if Foye sucks this much because his heart is on the wrong side? Like when KG pulls his jersey to show his heart and Foye does the same…. Foye has no heart where it should be. And by the way, Al Jefferson is the most selfish player in the NBA (McCants #2). I would trade Al for Kris Humphries (because the goal is to collect big white stiffs).
Can’t wait for the front court of Madsen-Cardinal-Collins to be unleashed.
Trade for Aaron Gray, Spencer Hawes, Rasho, and convince Keith Van Horn to un-retire. Mike Miller better go back to the Lynx.
Let McCants walk, trade Smith,Miller & Booth for - - whatever. They need to get some good picks, NON-McHale selected, and then in 2010 get Amare, Bosh or Wade to help kick-start the team.
The Warriors are said to be looking to deal Anthony Randoph. He is the “type” of player we could use. - Anthony Randolph is a 19 year old 6 foot 11 inch 220lb SF from LSU. Give McCan-not & something for him.
Too small, too slow, too limited athletically.
Just another night at Target Center.
52.7% shooting for the Rockets…and they had to travel on a back to back.
On another note,
Brook Lopez had 22 and 13 tonight for the Nets. That’s a seven footer who has upside (10th pick this year).
We didn’t need him either.
Eh. Timberwolves land.
mccants is a bust i think. no feel for the other players on the team. plus he shoots a low percentage. he was supposed to be an offensive machine.
garnett is the modern day bill russell.
mchale used garnett to get jefferson who is probably our only potential all-star.(foye i like but he has a long way to go) it looks like the garnett draft pick and the player we got for garnett(jefferson) is the only thing mchale did right.
when we drafted kg he was pretty much the consensus to take at #5 so it was just lucky for us kg turned out to be so good. not any real slick move by mchale.
conclusion; the wolves would have been much worse without kg and without jefferson we would be pitiful now. just follow the kg thread to quality.
Love, McCants, Foye… All garbage. This franchise simply has no interest in winning. They have no fanbase and make all their money off national TV deals so what difference does it make to them if they win or lose? They are stealing money from fans.
Yes, the big show down is Dec 29th. Mayo vs Love. I can already tell you it will be the first Wolves win since Nov or Mayo will walk all over the NBDL Wolves. I predict a Mayo spread! Glen and McHale need to get a room because there is too much love between them two.
I have tickets to that game. I expect a ton of cat calling directed towards McHale, especially if Mayo lights it up.
[…] On the Wolves – […]
I feel like the Timberwolves should refund my NBA League Pass.
I have no idea what I was thinking ordering it again. It was a moment of insanity.
Wolves need to cut ties with McHale now!
When will the McHale era end?
C’mon guys McHale is not that bad. Maybe just a few more years would pollish this gem of a team up. A few more last minute deals to acquire players of the talents of Foye. I can feel the immense tallent pool of players we have been selecting and holding on to. I actually miss Jaric and Ricky Davis.
