<div align="center"><font color="Indigo"><font size="2">Utah Jazz</font></font> @ <font color="Teal"><font size="2">Minnesota Timberwolves</font></font> Minnesota Timberwolves: 23-19 Utah Jazz: 15-28 Game Info Date: Friday, January 28th Time: 8:00pm EST TV: KSTC, NBALP Previous Games Hawks @ T'Wolves 104-87(W) Sonics @ Jazz 109-100(W) <font size="2">Starting Lineups</font> <font size="2"><font color="Teal">The T'Wolves</font></font> <font color="Teal">Coach Flip Saunders</font> " target="_blank">http://aol.nba.com/media/playerfile/latrell_sprewell.jpg"></a> <font color="Teal">PG: Anthony Carter(2,6PPG, .8RPG, 1.9APG) SG: Trenton Hassell (5.4PPG, 3.0RPG, 1.7APG) SF: Latrell Sprewell (12.9PPG, 2.7RPG, 2.1APG) PF: Kevin Garnett (23.2PPG, 14.9RPG, 6.3APG) C: Ervin Johnson (1.0PPG, 2.2RPG, .1APG) Sixth Man Wally Szczerbiak (15.8PPG, 3.7RPG, 2.2APG) Injuries: C Mark Madsen G/F Ndudi Ebi</font> <font color="Indigo"><font size="2">The Jazz</font></font> <font color="Indigo">Coach Jerry Sloan</font> <font color="Indigo">PG: Raul Lopez (4.7PPG, .7RPG, 3.7APG) SG: Gordan Giricek (9.4PPG, 2.2RPG, 1.8APG) SF: Matt Harpring (13.4PPG, 6.0RPG, 1.9APG) PF: Carlos Boozer (19.1PPG, 9.4RPG, 3.0APG) C: Curtis Borchardt (2.6PPG, 3.2RPG, .9APG) Sixth Man Andrei Kirilenko (13.8PPG, 6.4RPG, 2.5APG) Injuries: Keith McLeod Kirk Snyder Elden Cambell</font></div> Series History This is the T'Wolves first game against the Utah Jazz thus far this season. Last year, the T'Wolves split the season series, 2-2, with the Jazz. They lost the first two of the season against the Jazz but won the final two matchups. The T'Wolves have held the Jazz under 100 points in the past five meeting between the two teams. In that span, they were only allowing an average of 83.8 points per game to the Jazz. All time, Minnesota is 13-20 against the Jazz at the Target Center and the Utah Jazz lead the all time series, 45-20. Keys to the game: <ul>The powerforward matchup: I think this Kevin Garnett vs. Carlos Boozer matchup will be a very good one. These two powerforwards are two of the best in the business right now. Both are tremendous rebounders and very good scorers, with the edge going to Garnett in both categories. Both players are the stars of their respective teams and show great leadership. I'm definitely looking forward to these guys defending eachother and this matchup will be very key in this game.[/list] <ul>Wear out the pointguards: The Carlos Arroyo for Elden Cambell trade has kind of backfired and came at a very bad time for this Utah Jazz team. The reason for this, is the Jazz starting pointguard, Keith McLeod, went down with an injury a couple games after Carlos Arroyo was traded. McLeod will miss games because of a pulled hamstring. The Jazz basically lost two pointguards at once. They are now left with Raul Lopez, who did play well in his first game as starter this season, with Howard Eisley to be backing him up. We need to wear them down because they appear thin at the pointguard position.[/list] <ul>The return of AK: Well, Andrei Kirilenko is still making his return after a very hurtful injury that he suffered early this NBA season. When AK went down with the injury, the Jazz began to struggle very badly. Since AK's return, he has started to see an increase in minutes as he works on getting back to full form. His energy, defensive presence, and all around complete game, was missed very badly by the struggling Jazz who have been playing well as of late.[/list] Success of the new lineup Well since the roster move was made on January 14th against the Denver Nuggets, the T'Wolves have found an efficient amount of success. In the eight games played with the new lineup change, the T'Wolves have six wins and two losses. The main focus of the roster change is when head coach Flip Saunders inserted guards Trenton Hassell and Anthony Carter into the starting lineup. The lone losses in those eight games were to the Raptors and to the Lakers. In six of those eight games, the T'Wolves have played nice defense, holding the opponent to under 90 points. Guard Sam Cassell is back to help this team even more. CUSA Fan's Prediction The Minnesota Timberwolves and the Utah Jazz are both coming off wins. The win for the T'Wolves was their fourth in a row. The Jazz have been struggling as of late, with a couple nice wins, including their win recently against the Sonics. I see the T'Wolves winning this, with the bench production being very key, once again. T'Wolves:91 Jazz:81
Great preview CUSA. I agree on most of your points but I think this game will be closer game than a 10 point margin of victory. This game will be a physical as the Jazz play that way. The Wolves will be going to the free throw line because of that, so they will have to make those shots and continue to attack the basket. A important thing is they have to play with energy on both ends of the floor and make hustle plays. Play defense and try not to let too many easy baskets. They need to keep the Jazz under the century mark. The bench will also be a big factor in this game. Wolves win by 4 points.
I also think the Wolves will win because AK47 will still be rusty, I think KG will take care of Boozer, and that will mess up their offense. Wolves 92 Jazz 83
Don't forget this game will also be on KSTP-TV Ch. 5 in the Twin Cities. Ch. 5 will have Eyewitness News take place at Target Center before the game and you will hear Timberwolves sports wrap as the pre-game at 6:30 p.m. Minnesota time. I hope you enjoy it. It will be good to play on ABC5.
What a HORRIBLE 1st quarter 13 points?!?!?! 4-18 22% shooting?? Some guys score 13 points by themselves in a quarter. This has got to improve, geez
Anyone check out Kandi? Wow am I getting fed up with him. He's guarding Memo, Memo pump fakes, gets Kandi on his feet, and make the shot and finishes off the three point play at the freethrow line. Kandi is given the ball and the opporunity to get back at Memo, and what happens, gets his shot sent back right at him by Memo. Let's face it, Kandi is ridiculous. I say we drop his but and keep Thomas, although, we are thin on centers as it is.
I just saw Michael. Mehmet basically bitched Michael around as he would try to fake to shoot and Michael bit. Then Michael could not make a layup. What a piece of crap he is. The Wolves have done crap this entire first half. Lack of ball movement and all. Oh and is it me or does Sam seem miserable sitting on the bench.
HORRIBLE first half! we droped to 13 points deficit came back...droped back...and in the final stretch spree put a 3 pointer that cut the lead to 10 we had the ball 8 seconds to the buzzer in short timeout..did nothing...end of the terriable half for us 46-36... i had a unch we gonna struggle this game but i wanted to beilieve it's just scares to get back to lousy as we were...if we lose here i will be so down! GO WOLVES GET BACK ON IT WITH KG&WALLY&CASSEL&E.G.
5:56 TO THE FINAL BUZZER we are up 80-77 it's not over yet but if we do W this one griffin again has a lot to do with it great defensive moves!
yeah!!!! we won it!!! in a bite my ass situation really bad game for us but garnett took over in the stretch with cassel...gotta mention griffin being good to as for hoeibrg who tied the game 85-85 when we needed it...spree was GLAD WE WON IT! maybe the fact we took it by the teeth will make us better prepared to the kings on sunday...hope it will! yeah!!!
KG helped us with 25 points. If you were to tell me we were gonna win after our first quarter performance i would say your crazy. Congrats to Flip for benching the starters and giving them a tongue lashing to get them back into shape. Good come from behind win. to me when we put kandi on the floor we mind as well just play with 4 players instead of him. HES A LIABILITY
A win is a win. They started horribly but managed to comeback and win the game. It was a close game till the end. The bench was great again but the starting lineup is lacking in offense except for KG. That is a problem if they have to rely on the bench to score most of the points. They went to the line 36 times but missed 9, it's great they got some easy points but they have to make them. I'm happy they won and now they have to look forward to the game against the Kings and start getting back in form.
Great ending and a great 4th quarter. That's the Timberwolves I have grown to love. That was something else. They had that kick-butt attitude in that quarter. They were pretty ticked off and it showed. I liked how they played in the end. Typical of what you saw last year. Great defense, clutch shooting, free throws, and being in a position to shoot free throws helped the Timberwolves tonight. The Wolves 10-0 run in the third and Troy's last amazing shot of the third quarter set the motion for a great fourth quarter. Timberwolves was huge on defense as they forced the Jazz into lot of turnovers which turned into points for the Wolves. I believe the Wolves were able to score off Jazz 22 turnovers. Pretty good. Defense was the story there. I thought outside shooting helped us too in the Wolves comeback. Wolves got more free throws than the Jazz in that fourth quarter. To me though, the story of the fourth was the defense. Wolves got that win sealed when KG got that turnover and he passed it to Sammy for the dunk. It was good to see the team respond after a lousy first half. I thought it was going to be a blowout by the Jazz in the third quarter. The first half was bad. The ball movement was simply bad. The Wolves looked pathetic as they looked slow and disinterested. They just did not have that energy level. How bad was Olowokandi? UGH! He did not play much in the second half I think. He deserved to be benched. He did crap against Okur and Borchardt. Great win. The beat goes on. Let's hope they can complete the week with a win against the Kings.
Woot! What a win. We played horrible in that first half. I didn't think 36 first half points would be alright to have a chance to win this game. Our bench really stepped it up and played great. Five in a row boys, and it is feeling good. I still don't know if we are back on track, but if we can keep up the consistent play for a while, then I will say we are back on track. Last night's win would have been even sweeter if the Sonics would have lost(almost did), so we could have gained some more ground on them. We remain six and a half games back. By the way, anyone check out the sweet fake Cassell pulled last night with less than a minute to go? It was sweet, threw the defender off guard and made an easy bucket. Let's keep this wins rolling along. Next up, Kings.
I am going to the Kings game tomorrow!! I will post a review from the court perspective. But anyway, another great second half to lead us to a victory. Five in a row!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting CUSA Fan:</div><div class="quote_post"> By the way, anyone check out the sweet fake Cassell pulled last night with less than a minute to go? It was sweet, threw the defender off guard and made an easy bucket.</div> and on AK47 too!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting CUSA Fan:</div><div class="quote_post"> By the way, anyone check out the sweet fake Cassell pulled last night with less than a minute to go? It was sweet, threw the defender off guard and made an easy bucket. </div> That was the best move in the game. As someone mentioned, that was on AK47, probably the biggest shot blocker in the league. Sam made him look like an amateur right there, he got him off his feet in the fast break and spun and put it right in.
GREAT win! we won 5 in a row, and look ready for the kings. i was terribly dissapointed in the first half of the game and the wolves looked like the sorry team they were few weeks ago. however, after the slow but steady comeback resulting in Troy Hudson's hail mary from downtown being answered, we came back strong and got the game. it was a good win to silence any critics. btw, the fake cassell pulled on AK47 was sick. how the hell did sam see kirenliko running, popped the fake then turned over the left shoulder and drop the bucket? yet equally impressive was the steal that led to the bucket. i just cant stop grinning
