<div align="center"><font size="2"><font color="DarkOrange">Golden State Warriors</font></font> @ <font color="Teal"><font size="2">Minnesota Timberwolves</font></font> Minnesota Timberwolves: 28-29 Golden State Warriors: 16-39 Game Info Date: Wednesday, March 2nd Time: 7:00 Minnesota Time TV: NBALP, FSNN Previous Games Blazers @ T'Wolves 91-83(W) Pistions @ Warriors 94-88(L) <font size="2"> Starting Lineups</font> <font color="Teal"><font size="2">The T'Wolves</font> Coach Kevin McHale PG: Troy Hudson (8.7ppg, 1.2rpg, 3.6apg) SG: Trenton Hassell (5.7ppg, 2.9rpg, 1.6apg) SF: Latrell Sprewell (12.7ppg, 2.6rpg, 2.2apg) PF: Kevin Garnett (22.2ppg, 13.8rpg, 5.8apg) C: Ervin Johnson (1.4ppg, 2.6rpg, .1apg) Sixth Man Wally Szczerbiak (15.9ppg, 3.7rpg, 2.3apg) <u>Injuries</u> F Eddie Griffin G/F Ndudi Ebi </font> <font color="DarkOrange"><font size="2">The Warriors</font> Coach Mike Montgomery PG: Derek Fisher (12.5 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 4.2 apg) SG: Jason Richardson (22.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.8 apg) SF: Mike Dunleavy (13.0 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 2.6 apg) PF: Troy Murphy (16.0 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 1.4 apg) C: Adonal Foyle (3.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 0.5 apg) *Sixth Man Baron Davis (18.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 7.2 apg) <u>Injuries</u> None</font></div> Series History Minnesota has the alltime lead in the series, 32-29. Minnesota has won the past three meetings with the Warriors. Minnesota has held the Warriors under 100 points in the last five meetings and are holding them to an average of 89.8 points per game in those five meetings. In their first meeting this season, the T'Wolves held the Warriors to 15 fourth quarter points to beat Golden State, 107-99. Cassell and Garnett were very close to triple doubles in that game, with Cassell scoring 26 points, grabbing a career high 11 rebounds, and dishing out 8 assist, and Garnett scored 17, grabbed 16 rebounds, and dished out 9 assists. Keys to the game <ul>Warriors new look: Just before the trade deadline, the Warriors made some new acquisitions. The traded away Speedy Claxton and Dale Davis and added Baron Davis. They also traded away Eduardo Najera and No. 1 pick to the Nuggets for forwards Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Rodney White. Obviously the acquisition of Baron Davis is huge. When him and J-Rich get going in the backcourt, it could be deadly. The play of the backcourt needs to be held to a minimum.[/list] <ul>Lack of size: With Olowokandi out, along with Griffin who has been recently placed on the injured list, we lose tons of size. Indeed, we add Madsen to the lineup, a big man downlow, but he does lack heighth. At times, we even have Wally at the four spot. We may get beat downlow, big time, with the height issue, but we need to keep on banging with Foyle, Murphy, and the rest of the crew.[/list] <ul>Play with intensity!: Many, many times I have said this, but I really mean it. It's a very depressing time right now. Injuries are plaguing us, and of course, as said many times, this season has been a dissapointment. We are coming off a win, which may help, but the team needs to keep playing with determination to win. So far, we have played well below expectations, and this game, though may seem easy because of the records, needs to be taken seriously.[/list] CUSA Fan's Prediction Although, we do lack lots of size downlow, I think we can pull this out. We are coming off of a win, while the Warriors are coming off of a loss. If Spree can continue to play like he wants to be here in Minnesota, then we can pull this one off. T'Wolves: 90 Warriors: 82 *I may be incorrect on the ruling of Derek Fisher as starter and Baron Davis coming off of the bench, but that's just the lineup I've heard they have currently. Baron, will, however, see good minutes off of the bench.
I dont beileve LA lost to NY that's very good for the wolves,the half to take advantage of that theres no games to waste...LA are 28-27 and were 28-29...we half to win this game! every game for a matter of fact... NEXY 5 FOR LA: @BOSTON VS. DALLAS VS. INDIANA VS. CLIPPERS @DALLAS NEXT 5 FOR WOLVES: VS. GSW VS. BUCKS @BOSTON VS. BOBCATS @MIAMI if we will be strong enough to win 3 out of the 5 say like GSW,BUCKS&BOBCATS we should be able to even the scores... GO WOLVES! DON'T TOTALLY FAIL US!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting CUSA Fan:</div><div class="quote_post">Series History Minnesota has the alltime lead in the series, 32-29. Minnesota has won the past three meetings with the Warriors. Minnesota has held the Warriors under 100 points in the last five meetings and are holding them to an average of 89.8 points per game in those five meetings. In their first meeting this season, the T'Wolves held the Warriors to 15 fourth quarter points to beat Golden State, 107-99. Cassell and Garnett were very close to triple doubles in that game, with Cassell scoring 26 points, grabbing a career high 11 rebounds, and dishing out 18 assist, and Garnett scored 17, grabbed 16 rebounds, and dished out 9 assists.</div> He had 8 assists. And great preview CUSA. This is winnable game. They just have to keep their leads and not waste them by letting the other team make a comeback. They've done that many times this season and has hurt them everytime. They have to rebound the ball well because the are missing some big men. Don't let Foyle have a good first half because the last time he did. Spree has been playing well lately and has lead the team in scoring for 4 of the last 7 games. But I doubt he will have a good game because he is very inconsistent. They have to play consistent defense and not have any breakdowns, especially against their backcourt. I predict the bench having a great game. This is very important for their playoff run because they are only 1 game behind the Lakers right now and they need to win more games to get closer. Every game is important. The Wolves win by 9.
It will be a close game. And once again it will come down to how well the Wolves execute down the stretch of the game. If the guards take a long time to setup the offense, like they have a tendency of doing leading to alot of fource shots at the end of the 24 second clock then they will be in trouble. At this point the Wolves are playing more against the bad habits they have picked up throughout the season then they are any opponent. They are playing against their lack of 4th quarter execution, ablity to limit their turnovers. And poor perimeter & interior defense cause these are the things that continously lead to their demise in games. So if the WOlves can have a solid night on the boards, execute in important spots. And insert some energy on defense especially at least try to keep Richardson and Davis out of the paint on penetrations then they should be able to pull this one out. But for this Wolves team that is much easier said then done. Also the Wolves have to find away to get to the line often enuff to offset Golden State's attempts from the strip cause that is another major problem for the Wolves. Anyway, nice previewe CUSA
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Linkin:</div><div class="quote_post">He had 8 assists. And great preview CUSA. </div> Thanks for the heads up on the correction. Just a little typo I accidentally made. I'll fix it.
Omg!!! We Lead All Game Long As You Said By About 9....we Got To To 4th Up By 5....in The 4th They Killed Us!!!! I Wonder How Down Will The Team Go How Can They Such Big Lossers!!! 22-6 They Went On Us! 116-2 Before Kg Nailed The Other Four! **** Me They Suck! 90-86 Right Now If We Win Ill Be Glad They Fought Back But I Beileve Gsw Arent As Lossers As We Are To Lose 4 Point Lead In A Minute... L!!!at Least Lakers Lost Too... I Feel Like Crying!!!
This is getting really frustrating. This must be the hundredth time they've wasted a lead at halftime. They just underestimated the Warriors after they got the lead and let them slowly comeback. The Wolves, led by KG, tried to get the lead back late in the game but the Warriors just dropped 3 pointers after another and killed our chances. But I still have to give credit to the Warriors for staying in the game and they won the game. This is another dissapointing lost.
What else is new? Another blown lead. Another choke job by the Timberwolves. Another meltdown in the fourth quarter. Another gutless performance in the fourth quarter. Another bad team beating the crap out of the Timberwolves. Sounds familiar, doesn't it. How many times have we seen this episode from our favorite basketball team this year? It has gotten old. I feel like shooting myself just seeing this. I am so tired of this garbage. The Timberwolves which was the best fouth quarter team last year is now one of the worst fourth quarter teams in the NBA if not the worse. This was an embrassing display tonight. Where was the defense in the fourth quarter? Did anyone saw how Fisher and Richardson had an easy time shooting and getting to the lane? UGH! It was s Knicks-like defense out there where other teams were able to go past the Knicks like a driver using an EZ-Pass (a machinery device that is used here) to go past the toll booth. The ignoimy of all this came when all five were trying to defend yet Jason Richardson somehow was able to get wide open and score. A friend of mine went to the game tonight and he was telling me how the atmosphere at Target Center was bad. Not many fans bothered to show up tonight. Lot of empty seats at Target Center and the crowd really did not made any noise. Sounds like fans just had enough of this team this year like me. As I said in another thread, the Wolves are shooting themselves in the foot for the last playoff spot. If they keep this up, they will lose the last playoff spot. It's now or never in March and it's not looking very good.
I just kinda shrugged when the final buzzer sounded. I felt like, we shouldn't be in this position (trying to catch up) in the first place. When the Wolves started missing all of those shots in the 4th, I just felt like it showed that we need a post-scorer. KG did better than usual in the post IMO, but he can't (how many times have we said this?) do it all himself. I don't feel that Wally and Spree were aggressive when it counted. I believe, in the future, the Wolves will listen to KG regarding player movement, but if it's not in the best interest of the franchise, inform him of what they will do. Kinda like the Flip firing. KG really wanted Troy here and I believe the franchise wasn't totally behind it, but he's already here and KG likes him, so sure. Of all of the current players, he'd be the one that I'd like to move most. I know there are sites that have a "Plus-Minus" gauge of the different players, but I just have an uncomfortable feeling when he comes unto the court. He's too erratic (dribbling and passing) and streaky (shooting) for my taste. I would rather have a consistent point. I hate to bring up his name, but Terrell Brandon was gold with the open shot. Oh well, I will always root for them as long as their brandish the MINNESOTA label. KG is the only one that I could cheer wherever. Oh yeah, and Madsen.
