Tuesday, Jan. 6 7:00 pm Preview by <font color="Red">twolvefan11</font> and <font color="Blue">the MDE</font> Starting Lineup: Backcourt Gary Payton/Sam Cassell Kobe Bryant/Latrell Sprewell Devean George/Trenton Hassell Frontcourt Horace Grant/Kevin Garnett Stanislav Medvedenko/Ervin Johnson ________________________________________________________ Laker Injuries: by <font color="Blue">the MDE</font> PF Karl Malone (knee) Rick Fox (IR) Jannero Pargo (IR) Shaq (ankle) Timberwolves Injuries: by <font color="Red">twolvefan11</font> Wally Szczerbiak (foot) Michael Olowokandi (knee) ________________________________________________________ Lakers keys: by <font color="Blue">the MDE</font> -Don't let KG rattle off a ton of boards. Keep him in the 10-14 range instead of the 18-20 range. -Let Kobe and Slava run the 2 man game. Slava is instant offense. -Keep the role-players invovled. Let them earn it on the DEFENSIVE end! They will be crucial on the road.. Timberwolves keys: by <font color="Red">twolvefan11</font> -Give Garnett a lot of looks. No one is there to stop him this game, so don't hold back. -Play solid defense. Contain Kobe and the game should be ours in a blowout. -Flip must rotate smartly. He has had trouble doing that lately. -Get all of the Big 3 involved. If everyone of them scores over 20, it should be ours. _______________________________________________________ X-Factors Lakers by <font color="Blue">the MDE</font>: Slava Medvedenko. It will be crucial that he play solid defense and grab boards against KG. Hopefully he can score around 20 points and grab about 6-8 boards. Timberwolves by <font color="Red">twolvefan11</font>: Kevin Garnett. Karl or Shaq isn't here to defend him, he will go off this game. Look for a triple double. _______________________________________________________ <font color="Blue">the MDE</font> Prediction: The Lakers are on the road. They need a win desperately. With Shaq AND Malone injured, it looks bleak. The T-wolves are coming alive, and the Lakeshow needs a big win to shut down their hot streak. Phil Jackson needs to make neccesary adjustments. We can't have Horace Grant playing 35+ minutes. Play the young guys. Brian Cook shows promise, and Slava can flat out score. T-wolves win by 6-8, but only because the Lakers have too many injuries and are on the road.. <font color="Red">twolvefan11 Prediction:</font> This should be an easy one for the Wolves. Shaq is absent with an injury, and Malone is on the IR. Payton and Kobe won't be able to do things by themselves. We just have to control the clock and the boards, and this game should be ours easily. I say Timberwolves by 6.
Since the Lakers are on the road and without two of their star players this should be an easy one for The Timberwolves. I say KG and the Wolves take this one by 9
It might seem like I am a bit obsessed with Slava's skills, but he shows promise. I like the dude. He can score, and even his defense is improving. EDIT: I screwed up the Laker injury report. Doh! It is Shaq's calf that is injured, not his ankle!
See what i mean? Keith actually played ALL his time with KG _and_ Spree. And it looked good. He was changed, had confidence and made a couple of good points. I can't believe my eyes. Flip actually learned something from the Dallas game. And even Sam struggled some with Hoi, Trent, Mad and Hassell on the floor. But this is the way to go Flip.
Timberwolves 106, Lakers 90 The Big Three had a great game, as did the rest of the team. Sam Cassell scored 19 in the first half, and ended up with 26 points. He also had 7 assists and 5 rebounds to go with that. Garnett had a near 20/20 game, but ended up with 26 points and 18 rebounds, and added 6 assists to that, not to mention some highlights. And Sprewell had a great game, scoring 30 points, and had 5 rebounds. Trent was the man off the bench, scoring 10 points and 5 boards. Mark Madsen scored 5 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in his first meeting with the Lakers since they failed to resign him after last season. On the other end, Kobe Bryant scored 20 points and had 10 rebounds. Rookie Brian Cook had a career game, scoring 16 points. Kareem Rush also looked good off the bench, scoring 16 points. Good game overall by the Wolves. Recap Box Score
Whoa I'm actually glad Shaq was injured, finally Cook got a chance to play. He was so great, what a shooter, 6'10"/6'11" to boot! Trent was awesome, he should get more minutes, he's got heart, power and inside tenacity and offense. The "three" were simply amazing, it was a shame Spree got his knees hurt. Slava was out of line.
