Szczerbiak is offensive option teams can't afford to ignore

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">PORTLAND, ORE. - No question, the Timberwolves' three-game winning streak (and seven of nine) owes much to the shooting of Wally Szczerbiak, a missing link earlier in the season in the team's offensive blueprint.

Over the past six games, Szczerbiak has averaged 22.3 points on 61.8 percent (47-for-76) field-goal shooting, compared to 13.6 points on 40 percent shooting.

So far this season, the Wolves are 4-1 when Szczerbiak is the team's top scorer and, over the past four seasons, 22-6.

Conventional wisdom is that opponents are forced to choose between covering potent power forward Kevin Garnett with a single defender, rather than using a second man on Garnett and leaving Szczerbiak, eventually, open from the outside. But does it really come down to an either/or choice? Why can't opponents double Garnett, assign one man to shadow Szczerbiak 24/7 -- the way the Wolves use Trenton Hassell against dangerous scorers -- and take their chances with Hassell or Marko Jaric geting those open shots?

"When you get a team scrambling in double-teams, we've got two or three options," coach Dwane Casey said. "Wally is probably the last option in our 'space' offense. You've got cutters, you've got penetrators, you've got the re-post. So you've got a lot of options. Fortunately, we've found Wally.

"If a team doesn't [rotate properly], then you've got alleys to drive, you've got alleys to cut. They've got to give you something if you do that."

Certainly, many of Hassell's points come when defenses don't respect his offensive game. Jaric -- until his 1-of-6 Monday -- had improved his shooting from 37.9 percent in a six-game stretch to 46.4 percent over the next five.

Michael Olowokandi simply is too close to the hoop to ignore, and besides, this stuff worked when Ervin Johnson played.

So sticking like glue to Szczerbiak and ganging up on Garnett is no panacea.

"Then they're playing 3-on-2," Casey said, "and you've got to punish them"

Milestones for Wally

With 26 points Monday, Szczerbiak took over third place on the Wolves' all-time scoring list. He broke his tie with Doug West (6,216) and trails Garnett (16,031) and Sam Mitchell (7,161).

Szczerbiak also has hit 301 three-pointers, second to Anthony Peeler's 465.</div>

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