T'Wolves @ Blazers: Official Game Thread <div align="center"><font size="2"><font color="Teal">Minnesota Timberwolves</font></font> @ <font size="2"><font color="RED">Portland Trailblazers</font></font> Minnesota Timberwolves: 20-19 Portland Trailblazers: 15-23 Date: Saturday, January 22nd Time: 10:00pm EST TV: KSTC, NBALP Previous Games: T'Wolves @ Sonics 112-107(W) Cavs @ Blazers 107-101(L) <u><font size="2">Starting Lineups</font></u> <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: Sam Cassell (15.6PPG, 2.8RPG, 5.9APG) 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="Red"><font size="2">The Blazers</font></font> <font color="Red">Coach Maurice Cheeks</font> <font color="Red">PG: Damon Stoudamire (13.6PPG, 3.4RPG, 5.4APG) SG: Nick Van Exal (11.3PPG, 2.7RPG, 3.7APG) SF: Ruben Patterson (9.3PPG, 3.7RPG, 1.6APG) PF: Theo Ratliff (4.8PPG, 5.3RPG, .5APG) C: Joel Pryzbilla (3.2PPG, 4.4RPG, .6APG) Sixth Man Derek Anderson (10.5PPG, 3.2RPG, 3.3APG) Injuries: G/F Darius Miles F Shareef Abdur-Rahim F Zach Randolph F Viktor Khryapa</div></font> Series History: Tonight, the 'Wolves look to take a 3-0 season lead on the Portland Trailblazers. In the first meeting on December 14th, the T'Wolves won, 100-89, with Wally scoring 28 to lead Minny to a win. In the second meeting, which occured last week, the T'Wolves won on a final score of 92-84. In that game, a revived Sprewell scored a team high of 25 and led the T'Wolves to a win over the Blazers. All-time, the Blazers lead Minnesota in the series matchup, 43-18. Minnesota has won six of the last 9 games against the Blazers. Last season, Portland was the only Western Conference team to win a season series against Minnesota. This season, Minnesota seems to have dominated the matchup. Keys to the game: <ul>Dominate the boards: Portland is very thin on their frontline right now. With injuries to Darius Miles, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, and Zach Randolph, they are very weak against other forwards and centers. We can definitely take advantage of this. Last game, I don't think we really did, but we need to this time. We came away with the win last time, but it shoulder have been a bigger win than what it really was. This time, winning the boards battle should not be a problem with Garnett and Eddie Griffin leading the way for the T'Wolves.[/list] <ul>Return of Sam Cassell: Well, it looks like tonight, Sam Cassell makes his return. I could be mistaken, but he's not listed as injured on the Minnesota Timberwolves' website and I'm hearing he is making his return tonight. If this is true, how will this be for us? Hudson has scored 18 against Portland in the last meeting, 19 against Denver, and 20 last night against the Sonics. Those were all in the past five games, so it has shown he has been playing off of the bench. With the return of Sam Cassell, it will mean less minutes for Hudson and he will not be happy.[/list] <ul>Slow down the guard play: Portland has some nice guards in Nick Van Exal, Damon Stoudamire, Derek Anderson, and a nice rookie in Sebastian Telfair. Most of the scoring is coming from the guards, with Nick Van Exal really heating up. Zach Randolph was the main option for this Portland team, but with him out, the guards have been taking a big chunk of the scoring. They are all capable of having big nights (Damon Stoudamire already had a 50+ point game) and we can't allow them to have big nights tonight.[/list] Northwest Division play: It seems like, so far, we have had no problem against teams in our division. We have played the Trailblazers twice, the Sonics twice, and the Denver Nuggets once. In those games, we have a combined record of 4-1. The lone loss came against the Sonics. It is helpful to play good against the teams in your division, but losing games you should win against teams in the rest of the league is not helping us at all. We have lost against teams who were very badly at the time(ie Charlotte and Chicago), and there really is no excuse for it. We need to improve against teams in the rest of the league, though, our play in the division has been great. CUSA Fan's Prediction: Well last meeting, we only won by eight. This time around, we have Cassell back which is a huge boost for this team. We have been getting the production we need from Hudson and Wally off of the bench and it can really hurt Portland tonight, who is not deep with the injuries they have. The battle on the boards can also easily be won. I see us winning this game. T'Wolves:102 Blazers:90
Hey man your are really getting good at these. I think that the Wolves will win. Plain and simple... The wolves will win. KG will put up some great numbers and help lead this team to a victory.
Nice preview. I think the Wolves should take this one. We are finally getting Cassell back, and I think that will pump everyone up. Look for Szczerbiak to have another big night, and also Garnett. The Blazers are still way too banged up to think about sending out a guy that can run with Garnett. I'll take the Wolves in this one if we can stop Van Exel and Stoudemire from shooting the three!
If the Wolves shoot like they did last night, this one will be no contest. They are basically missing more than half of their team, anything less than a win will be a major disappointment Wolves 98 Blazers 83
I must say your previews are very GOOD...and generate thoughtful response so keep it up hopefully we will win tongiht..if we can stop the NVE and mighty mouse we should be able to win.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Coranor:</div><div class="quote_post">This is a must win, anything else than a blow out would be a disappointment.</div> Well I dont know about a blowout. The way this team is struggling to find a winning consistency, just getting the win is most important whether it be by 1 or 21. Lokking at the upcoming schedule this is a real chance to build on the Sonics victory with Sammy coming back. Anyway, Sammy probably picked tonight as his target date to return cause he loves to match with Nick Van Exel, they been going at it for years. And are basically best friends off the court. So Sammy is definately going to comeback tonight looking to get the job done. Anyway, Ratliff tends to do a good job on KG from time to time especially last year. But with the Blazers frontline so depleaded its hard to belive KG wont be able to control all inside play. Wolves win by 7.
Well, I what I really mean is, we need a blowout to build up our confidence. The last wins before the one against Seattle we haven't really looked that good, even the Seattle game could've been better since we let them nearly come back into the game in the forth as usual. So I think, against a team where most of the star players are out, a blowout is really needed. Though a win by one point is still a win but I wouldn't be too happy to win by one point against Portland without Randolph, Abdur-Rahim and Miles.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Coranor:</div><div class="quote_post">Well, I what I really mean is, we need a blowout to build up our confidence. The last wins before the one against Seattle we haven't really looked that good, even the Seattle game could've been better since we let them nearly come back into the game in the forth as usual. So I think, against a team where most of the star players are out, a blowout is really needed. Though a win by one point is still a win but I wouldn't be too happy to win by one point against Portland without Randolph, Abdur-Rahim and Miles.</div> Well, I guess its just a matter of opinion really, I think winning 2 games in a row with the fact that Cassell is back on the floor should be a confidence builder for this team. I live by the old saying a win is a win. And with every win comes more confidence, especially for a team that is struggling against everybody. Right now the Wolves arent battling their opponents so much as they are battling themselves. They are battling the pressure of being championship contenders, battling what the accomplished last season. So right now Wins in any shape form opr fashion are all equally important.
well guys the rumors werent built on much truth-cassel isn't back yet...9 games in a row...it's half time- we kind of fought it in the first quarter but manged to gain 10 pts. lead in 43-33. hudson is being pressured all game long but he's handling it well till now... hope we can build a lead that will take us to the W
T'Wolves win, on a final score of 92-83. Back to back road wins is very nice, considering how bad we are on the road this season. Another nice thing about this win is it's a win against a team that is in our division. This win improves our record in the Northwest division to 5-1, and this win also puts our season record against the Blazers to 3-0. As mentioned, Cassell did not play. I really thought Cassell would be playing based on what I heard. I guess we will jst have to wait again. One thing I find kind of pathetic in this game is that we lost the rebounding battle. With Shareef and Randolph hurt, you would think winning the rebounding battle would not be that bad at all. Another huge night from our bench players. The past two games have really showed how our depth can be dangerous. Last night against the Sonics, we had 72 points from the bench players. In tonights game against the Blazers, we had 59 points off of the bench. We havn't recieved good bench play that much this season, but it has really been effective in our last two wins, considering how many points they have been scoring. Hoiberg, Wally, and Hudson led the bench, all scoring in double figures. Great win T'Wolves. Any win right now is much needed, and winning two in a row, on the road, can be a confidence booster. Let's see what we can do against the defending champs on Monday.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Henacy:</div><div class="quote_post">Well, I guess its just a matter of opinion really, I think winning 2 games in a row with the fact that Cassell is back on the floor should be a confidence builder for this team. I live by the old saying a win is a win. And with every win comes more confidence, especially for a team that is struggling against everybody. Right now the Wolves arent battling their opponents so much as they are battling themselves. They are battling the pressure of being championship contenders, battling what the accomplished last season. So right now Wins in any shape form opr fashion are all equally important.</div> You're kind of right there, but against another struggling team, it should be a blowout. But since Sam didn't play, a win by 9 points is quite good, especially since this time we controlled the fourth quarter.
After a rough two games to start the week, the Wolves finish the week well by winning back-to-back game. Not bad. 2-2 on the week and 2-1 on the road trip. I will take it. Hopefully, this is a sign that things are finally getting better. They finish .500 on the week for two weeks now so I guess that's progress. Good to see Wally play well for the second straight night. He has to keep playing like that. He has been solid this year, but these two games, he has really stepped it up on offense. This is why I think Latrell needs to go. When you got Trenton and Fred getting minutes and being productive, this shows Latrell is taking some of their minutes. There is no excuse to why Fred has been getting minutes the way Nudui Ebi is getting minutes. It's inexcusable by Flip. Fred is really great and for him not to play lately is a disgrace. Hopefully, Flip will start playing him. I thought Fred was huge in crunch time.
I doubt Latrell goes anywhere, his stock around the league is low right now. And all teams are offering is bad contracts or wing players with their fare share of their own baggage like the Ricky Davis rumor. So Mchale wont dump him just to dump him unless it makes the team better in the long run. And their really isnt any deal on the table that does that, lets not forget that Sprewell is one of the very few playoff performers this team has...which means if the Wolves are going to get back on that Championship road Spree got to be apart of it. No disrespect to the likes of Trenton, Wally, Fred, I loves those guys. But if you ask me which guy on the wing I would go into a playoff war with its Spree hands down even with all his problems this year.
this was a very good win for the wolves. Maybe the scare that they recently had of dropping below .500 woke the wolves up. Sam i am still did not play in this game he was in street clothes, but i think flip'snew lineup changes have really improved the team overall. Freddy and wally have been playing huge and being consistent which is somethin i think this team was lacking at the beggining of the season. hopefully when sam i am returns they can keep it up.
Henacy: How do you know Latrell will step up in the playoffs? He has played like he does not give a crap this season since he felt insulted with an contract offer. What makes you think he will change come playoff time? He along with Sam has let their contracts get the best out of them this season. I could live with Latrell coming off the bench, but he is never going to like it and he needs his minutes so that cuts Trenton's and Fred's time which is why I really want him gone. I am sure some team wants him just for cap space. With that said, I agree the Timberwolves are not going to want garbage that has more than one year remaining not to mention the trade has to match salaries. They already declined to take Eddie Jones since he has more than a year not to mention he is awful. I agree with you, Henacy. We are stuck with him.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Timberwolf:</div><div class="quote_post">Henacy: How do you know Latrell will step up in the playoffs? He has played like he does not give a crap this season since he felt insulted with an contract offer. What makes you think he will change come playoff time? He along with Sam has let their contracts get the best out of them this season. I could live with Latrell coming off the bench, but he is never going to like it and he needs his minutes so that cuts Trenton's and Fred's time which is why I really want him gone. I am sure some team wants him just for cap space. With that said, I agree the Timberwolves are not going to want garbage that has more than one year remaining not to mention the trade has to match salaries. They already declined to take Eddie Jones since he has more than a year not to mention he is awful. I agree with you, Henacy. We are stuck with him.</div> Well I didnt say it was a garuntee that Spree steps up this year in the playoffs. I said that if I had to chose out of all the wing players on the Wolves roster, which one would I want come playoff time? It would be Spree simply because he has proven the ablity to step up his game in the playoffs in the past whether it be in New York etc. I cant predict the future, so I have to go on what has happen in the past. Wally S is a notourious playoff flopper. And Trenton doesnt have that much playoff experince, outside of last years run. So when it comes down to it Spree is the one constent when it comes to playoffs based on the past. But he could very well tank it in the playoffs as well this year, only the future knows that answer. Well I like EJ always have since he was a temple owl. But trading him for Spree doesnt make the Wolves better. While he is better defensively, he is another guy who is known to go south come playoff time. And doesnt look to assert himself offensively like Spree does...so I dont think a trade of Spree for him is a smart one. But neither is Spree for Ricky Davis. The only wing players the Wolves would get in return for Spree are wing players with their own fare share of baggage Jalen Rose, Ricky Davis etc. So I guess we agree 100% Spree likely isnt going anywhere.
