Even though you did some of it already, I will do my thing. Key Matchup- Gilbert Arenas vs. Sam Cassell. As I have stressed before, Cassell's defense has been nasty this year. Arenas is having an All-Star year, and can easily torch Cassell, whether it be shooting from outside, or driving hard to the lane. I don't think Cassell will guard Mr. Arenas, but this is just the battle of the point guards. Arenas has been known to be "turnover-happy", but it looks like he has improved this year. Keys to Victory- We really need to just give it to Garnett down in the post. The Wizards really don't have a very good big man, and no one should be able to stop Garnett. I think the guard game will be pretty unproductive tonight, because Hughes is a very good defender, and Cassell is still in a slump. So, we just have to get Olowakandi and Griffin involved in the offense, and we should be good. What Could Hurt Us- Sprewell still has not fully recovered, so don't expect much out of him. Last time we played the Wizards, Kwame Brown lit us up, we can't let that happen again. Perimeter defense is key; Washington has some deadly outside shooters, and if we can't rotate fast enough, they could kill us.
First off, I wish everyone had a good Christmas weekend. Great win tonight. I was very pleased with the win and I was pleased to see how they played the game. I like the fact that everyone got involved tonight. It was nice to see 4 starters in double figures and it was great to see the bench really contribute. I liked how the Wolves played defensively in this game. This was their best defensive performance of the year. How about the play of Anthony Carter? It was good to see him out there and it was good to see him make the most of his opportunity. Maybe this will wake up Troy Hudson, who quite frankly hasn't been great. Flip talked about some changes and I think you saw that tonight with Anthony playing and getting a lot of minutes. Wally has been playing very good in the last couple of weeks. I am really happy for him. He is one guy that has earned his salary this season. What I liked about this win is that they never let up. They just kept playing for 48 minutes. Great game and a great win all around. I hope they can duplicate this heading to Wednesday night at MSG in NYC. On another note, I won't be getting any Wolves games on League Pass anytime soon since Time Warner finally found out I got games for free. It will be awhile since I see the Wolves so it's back to listening to KFAN for some games. UGH!
I am just going to talk about Wally for a little bit here. I am glad to see him doing so well this season. He worked hard in training camp, and earned his starting spot. We all knew he could score lights out, now he is just reminding us of that. But this year he has showed me some new things. He is showing a lot of hustle on loose balls and such. And the biggest thing is his defensive effort. It seems like he is playing hard-nosed defense, and actually being quite effective. This is the All-Star Wally I remember, it's glad to see him back in full swing. A much needed win for the Wolves, even if it wasn't a powerhouse team. I agree with what Timberwolf said, we never let down! That has been some of our problem this year, we come out soft in the second half, then get pounced all over, then in the final five minutes start playing, and by then it's too late. As for Anthony Carter, is was funny because just yesterday on another forum, I said we have to give him some playing time. Cassell's defense has been sickening so far, and Hudson has been plain out streaky. I said we have to give Carter some quality minutes, and Flip must have listened. The great thing about Carter is: He will never turn the ball over, and he has some great defense. He won't light it up on the offensive end, but when we have guys like Wally, Griffin, Sprewell and Garnett on the floor, why would we need any more offense?
Limiting turnovers was the key to this ball game. The Wolves did a horrible job of protecting the ball against the Spurs. And coming into last nights game where Arenas & Hughes really like to get in the passing lanes and cause turnovers to get out in the opencourt, so protecting the ball was a must. And the Wolves did an excellent job of that only 1 turnover in the entire 1st half. Guard play was key you knew if Cassell & Spree could offset Hughes & Arenas, that would allow the frontcourt edge KG & Wally had to put the Wolves over the top. Its funny how everybody says Cassell is slumping and granted he had some bad games, but I think the fact he doesnt shoot anymore is present more then him slumping cause he still shoots about 48% from the field. Anyway nice guts by Flip to use AC as the backup in the 2nd half cause the way Hudson checked in the game throwing up shots in that 2nd quarter would have really came back to haunt the Wolves. Soon as he checked in the game, that good ball movement the Wolves had going early completely stopped for awhile. His 1st two shots was deep three point attempts that he missed. I think Flip should try AC as the extended minute backup over Hudson for awhile, the Wolves need some defensive mind set behind Cassell anyway
Pure: One thing I like about Wally is that he has attack the rim and try to score from the paint in recent weeks. That's been one of the big reasons why he has played well. We are going to be seeing a lot of AC as long as AC plays well. As for Troy, I hope he gets his act together because he has been awful in the last few games.
