Game 3- Minnesota Timberwolves 85 vs. OKC Thunder 88 (1-2) "Randy Foye....Outplayed by Rookie Russell Westbrook" If the Timberwolves want to be a winning basketball team this season, this is the kind of game that they need to win. The Oklahoma City Thunder are easily the worst basketball team in the league right now and the Timberwolves have no excuse for heading back to Minneapolis with a loss. With a very tough game game up next against the San Antonio Spurs, the Timberwolves are on the verge of possibly starting the season 1-3. The T'Wolves let this one slip away in the 3rd quarter when the Thunder like the Kings in the season opener went on a big run to end the quarter to shrink the Timberwolves lead to single digits. Overshadowed tonight by the loss tonight are the great performances by Al Jefferson who put up 24 points along with 13 rebounds and the 20 combined points off the bench by Craig Smith and Rodney Carney(who by the way should have played a lot more tonight but Wittman has no clue how to rotate players). Standing out like a bright yellow shirt was the horrible/poor/hard-to-watch game of Randy Foye. Foye was 0-10 along with 5 turnovers in tonight's loss. That is not what you expect from your starting point guard. Sure we are only 3 games into this season but Foye's poor preseason and now the poor start to the regular season has to have the coaching staff worried. Foye showed no chemistry tonight with the rest of the starting lineup and no ability to finish at the basket. This floating lay-up crap has to stop from Randy and he needs to take that ball hard to the rim and get fouled. Randy is one of my favorite players on this team so its difficult to be hard on him but after a night like tonight its hard to say anything positive. Foye just cant seem to find his rhythm on offense at the point position as his offense is so passive right now its hard to watch. You look at a guy like Russell Westbrook who has been in this league for 3 games now but he completely changed the complexity of this game for the Thunder. Thats what point guard is supposed to do for a team. Foye is just there. Westbrook on the other hand was racing up the court pushing the ball and attacking the basket with a "you cant stop me attitude." What puzzled me the most was when we trailed the Thunder 88-85 with 10-some seconds left and Randy Wittman drew up a play that gave Randy the ball where he drove to the basket and threw up a wild layup. Why would you put the game in the hands of of Randy Foye after he had gone 0-9 in the game? Didn't we bring in Mike Miller for this sole purpose, to give us an outside shooting presence for situations like this. Down by three ,why not bring Mike Miller off a screen and give him a chance to tie up the game with 10 seconds left rather than trying for 2 points with "I can't make a layup" Randy Foye. I'm praying that the 4th quarter Foye that we saw in his rookie season comes back to life. This team needs some identity at the point guard position and if it doesn't come from Foye, expect Kevin Ollie or Sebastian Telfair to become the next starting point guard for the T'Wolves. That's all I have to say tonight, I'm very disappointed by the teams performance tonight and the fact that we will most likely start the season 1-3. I will end this recap by saying how impressed I was with Russell Westbrook. This guy is going to be a stud in this league with his ability to get to the basket. He is game-changing player and it won't be long before he is starting for the Thunder. Congrats Russell on the great game, you outplayed the entire Timberwolves backcourt despite being only 19. Stat of the game: Randy Foye 0-10 from the field MVP: Al Jefferson 24 points 13 rebounds
