<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"I'll credit their defense," Webber said. "But I've never seen a defense hold all our guys under 50 percent shooting -- except the rookie. That tells me we missed a lot of open shots." To which the Wolves shrugged, nodded and encouraged the Kings to keep shooting. And missing. "They did miss shots," Wolves guard Fred Hoiberg said. "But a lot of the shots they missed were because we had a hand in their face. We talk about that daily: When a guy goes up to shoot it, don't ever quit on the play. Get out there, put a hand in the face, run at 'em, jump. Statistics don't lie -- shooting percentages go way down when you get out and contest a shot." As in 5-for-14 (Peja Stojakovic), 5-for-15 (Mike Bibby) and 5-for-16 (Webber). As in 3-for-10 (Doug Christie), 3-for-9 (Anthony Peeler) and 2-for-9 (Vlade Divac). Webber was right; only rookie Darius Songaila, of Kings players who played, took more than one shot and made more than half. The 74 points scored was Sacramento's fewest all season -- one shy of the 75 they managed against the Wolves on Feb. 19 at Target Center. Their 33.3 percent shooting in Game 5 (27-for-81) was nearly as bad as their season low of 32.9 vs. Portland on Jan. 20. Now check out these Sacramento numbers against the Wolves: A 95.8 scoring average, 40.0 percent shooting overall, 32.6 percent from beyond the arc and a 3-6 record in nine regular-season and postseason meetings. Five games in which Sacramento scored fewer than 90 points -- something it did only eight times in 83 games against other opponents. Four nights on which it shot worse than 40 percent -- compared to 14 out of 83 against others. Not bad for a Wolves team still known basically for its Manhattan White Pages-thick offensive playbook and a few gimmicky zone defense schemes. "Our history has been, we've always been an offensive team," coach Flip Saunders said after practice Saturday. "That's what we're still known for, but if you look defensively -- defensive rebounds, field-goal percentage -- we are in there with the elite defensive teams.</div> Link
It's been the key all year for the Wolves. And thanks to Hassell, Hoiberg, Madsen, Sprewell, and Garnett, our defense is one of the best in the league. And you could easily put Johnson on that list, he has been solid all year, too.
