Game 4- Minnesota Timberwolves 125 vs. San Antonio Spurs 129 (1-3) "Typical Minnesota Sports Team Loss" By Alec Schimke First of all this was not just another game. This game was much more than that. This game represented years and years of games that we are so accustom to seeing in Minnesota. This game was another game in which hearts were broken and spirits were shattered. Another one filled with the what if's and the good old line of "what could have been." Add these kind of games up in the history of Minnesota sports and it just gets old and harder to be a Minnesota sport fan. How do we as a state continue to put up with this crap? Whether it's the Timberwolves, Twins, Vikings or the Gophers, fate always seems to go against us. Throughout the final quarter of this game and even in the two overtime's, I just had that gut feeling that we would somehow find a way to lose this game. First of all we are the Timberwolves(masters at choking and giving up leads) and we were playing the Spurs who always seem to beat us no matter how good we play. As a state, it seems accustom to pride ourselves in our 2nd place finishes and to commend our players on their great effort. But doesn't that get old? And is it not it even more annoying to hear from the commentators after the game about how close we were and how we will soon win these games? First of all we just watched the game, we don't need to be told how close the game was and second of all I'm sick and tired of hearing that we, "are so close to becoming a team that will win these kinds of games." I've been hearing that same line from Timberwolves analysts for 10+ plus years now and guess what...we still can't win them. I think it's great what the Timberwolves have done to reform the way they are perceived with the new uniforms, a new court and of course the new players. But at the end of the day, all that matters is the result on the court and all that new stuff does not change the perception of the Timberwolves if they continue to lose like this. I know that there were countless Timberwolves fans like myself thinking of how are we going to lose the lead in the final minutes when we were ahead. Why? Because we are so used to it that its natural to think of ways that our Timberwolves will blow another great performance. (Quick Note: Great performance on offense end that is as we did give up 55 points to a point guard.) You could see how bad a guy like Al Jefferson wanted to win this game to get that monkey off of his back. What monkey? The monkey has been hanging on his back and the Timberwolves franchise in general the last few years for not being able to finish off the big games. How many times last season did we blow leads and lose in the 4th quarter? Last year was acceptable, but now it's just getting old and we are only 4 games into the season. We've already seen poor finishes in the Mavs and Thunder games and we barely escaped in the season opener against the Kings. How big was this game for the Timberwolves? It was huge and we blew it. Al Jefferson and the young T'Wolves needed this victory to get that monkey off of their back from last season and what a better way to do it than against the San Antonio Spurs and by beating them in two overtimes. They needed to prove to themselves that they can win close games against the best competition. They know they can win the occasional game against an average team but they need that confidence of knowing they can pull off a close game with a playoff team like the Spurs. How excited was Al when it looked like the Timberwolves were about to win after the first overtime? He was ecstatic because he had finally carried his Timberwolves on his back and lead them to victory in crunch time. But that confidence was stripped seconds later when Tony Parker hit a game tying jump shot at the buzzer to send the game into another overtime. Can you imagine what was going through this team's mind after that shot? Something on the lines of, are you serious or what do we have to do to win? I can't blame them, here they did everything they could to win this game, they came back from deficits and hit the clutch shots when they needed to. But somehow by a sick twist of fate or whatever you want to call it, it just was not enough. As a fan watching, I knew right away that the psyche of the Timberwolves in the 2nd overtime was not good. How much more could they put up with this San Antonio team that they just could not put away? Maybe it is just destiny that the Timberwolves were to lose. Maybe they haven't paid their dues yet and the Spurs have, but what more do we have to do as an organization to start winning these games? We bring in a brand new group of guys after the KG era and yet they are still the same old Timberwolves. Teasing us with great basketball only to painfully rip our hearts out at the end. I'll tell you right now that the guy that holds the key to righting this ship for Minnesota is Kevin Love. Kevin Love holds the fate of the Timberwolves. Here is a guy that has never been used to losing in his life. In high school and college he was a winner. He comes to Minnesota as one of the guys that has no past history of losing. He brings a fresh air to this team and we desperately need it at times like these. Al Jefferson, Mike Miller, Rashad McCants, Randy Foye and the other Timberwolves players all have had horrible luck with losing in the NBA. It is constantly in the back of their minds. While they may have been winners in college or high school, the years of losing in the NBA is eating them up and you can tell. Kevin Love has experienced none of it, except for 3 losses this season. Kevin Love has to be that guy that can hit that clutch jump shot for us, or grab that key rebound to change the attitude here in Minnesota. In his mind he isn't thinking about the worst possible situation like so many Timberwolves players are who have suffered so many tough losses in their careers. Love is used to winning and most importantly he brings a winning attitude to this team. Love was brought here to help change the culture of this organization just like Tim Brewster was brought in to change the culture of the Gophers. We didn't need a superstar in OJ Mayo, we've had plenty of them in the past in this state and look how that turned out for us. We needed a winner and that is why we drafted Kevin Love. Until this team starts winning everyone on this team even Al Jefferson are just mediocre players. Stars are born with wins. Unfortunately here in Minnesota stars are born and then go win somewhere else. To finish up this long spree of thoughts I just want to say that as frustrated as I am about the loss, I am still damn proud of this team effort tonight. Yes, I will sucker into the "Minnesota Nice" attitude and commend this team on their 2nd place effort. Too many times in this game it looked like this one was over but the Timberwolves fought back and did so with tenacity. It was something I didnt expect after a tough loss to the Thunder and it was very encouraging to see. Yes I know, now I sound like one of the FSN guys tonight after the loss. A lot of guys filled up the box score tonight and did some good things which has to be recognized. Hats off to Brewer, Miller, Jefferson, Love and Telfair for their huge performances tonight. And as much as Randy Foye struggled he showed some balls tonight by hitting those final few jump shots in the game despite having another pitiful game. At the end of the day you have to wonder if it is something more than the players? Is it Randy Wittman and his .300% career winning percentage? Do they not believe in him? I know I sure would not if i knew my boss only succeed in 30% of his job. Is it Kevin McHale and all the bad hype he has brought to this team? Or is it simply because we are the Minnesota Timberwolves and thats how we do things here in Minnesota? The questions will remain uncertain for now but we will have much more clear picture after the next dozen or so games.
This was an excellent read. I do feel bad for those players who are always stuck on poor teams. I think you guys are still a point guard away from winning games. If you guys get a star point guard to lead this bunch, those wins will begin to come. Just watch. Great read though, and I will continue to follow all my Bruin's progress
Poor tim...I know you were goin' crazy at that game. Can we catch a break? Time to use our abundance of 1st round picks and go after a stellar PG or hope we get good enough picks to Load up on a PG (Brandon Jennings or Ty Lawson) and an Interior presence on defense (Blake Griffin or Theebet) in the draft. As much as I love Jefferson....Tony shouldn't have been able to contstantly float inside...if only we had someone that could throw it back in his face once or twice and he wouldn't have been so casual about ripping us apart in the lane...=(
I know, right? I think I was depressed when I wrote it...lol. But after seeing Parker and watching Sac-town constantly beating it inside....it's obvious we need a defensive presence inside. As much as I love my T-Wolves...or defense is like a donut!!! lol
