I don't want to jinx anything, but Ricky Rubio is the next great Timberwolf. For reals, guys.
62 thoughts on “December 27, 2011: Ricky”
I come to work today and notice that the ramp is pretty empty. The week between the holidays is always pretty light so I take note but not really as I'm in kinda early (7:00a). Get to the my floor and not a soul around and the lights are out. Again it's 7:10, but some people get to work around 6:30. Now I'm starting to wonder. Turn on the lights, fire up my computer and in the 10 minutes or so, no one else shows up. So I check the Human Resources web page and sure enough, today is a paid floating holiday.
Since I'm already here, I'm going to do some cleaning and organizing and I will leave in a couple of hours but I could still be in bed sleeping.
You could use the time to read up on what will be the greatest Werewolves game yet and decide to make your triumphant return after New Year's!
It's going to be hard to beat the last three in terms of nail-bitery. That game's going to give me a heart attack one of these days.
Wes Johnson is a total bust. It wouldn't hurt my feelings if he never played for the Wolves again. He's a complete non-entity. No one is more invisible out there than he is. Malcolm Lee, you are going to get your shot. Be ready, kid.
How fun was it to see Darko level Kendrick Perkins and just stand over him and stare? Perkins is a thug and it was great to see Darko stand up to him. Maybe Darkomcan transform himself into a physical low post presence. That would be awesome. Like manna from heaven. :p
Ridnour is third best PG on team. Kahn said that Johnny Flynn and Rubio could play together. What he meant was Barea and Rubio could play together. Dos Lobos.
Ricky was very exciting. I hope he's taking 1000 jump shots a day, because he's going to be wide open a lot until he shows he can make them. But, wow, the court vision. It was really fun. And yes, this team will actually be able to run now. And score off the break.
If Love has his normal game last night, they win. He was missing some easy ones, but he appeared to be much better around the rim offensively. If he can finish at the rim, watch out.
I know Beasley was hoisting it a ton, but they were running clear outs for him. At least twice he followed his own miss with a rebound put back. The Wolves were 3-22 from three. That wasn't all SCB. Yeah, I didn't like the ball in his hands at the end, but then again, I don't think the Wolves have a lot of half court sets figured out right now. That spot is probably where I would want Ridnour in there, because he can shoot. Or give it to JJ, have him drive, collapse the D and dish to an open dude.
It was a thrilling game and I have hope that the long nightmare is over.
BTW, Love was 6-14 from the field and D-Will was also 6-14. Put that together and you get 12-28, almost exactly the same as what SCB shot. True, Love got to the line a ton, but putting everything on SCB is not a fair analysis of what happened. Tha Wolves front court didn't shoot well. That's what happened. Also, 3-22 from three and a lot of them on open looks. The ball just didn't go in.
SCB looked poorer than his line to me because so many of his shots seemed ill-advised. He had the game's ugliest moments, for me.
Overall, though, this team might be worth getting excited about. That was an awfully good team we almost beat out there, and I'm already antsy for game two tonight in Milwaukee.
The Bease does what the Bease does. He did have some really nice moves in there, too. If he'd take it to the rim more often, he might be more efficient. That said, I have no idea why he was tasked with guarding Durant. Couldn't that have been Wes's one usefull thing? That said, there's not really anyone that can guard Durant anyway.
No one else on the team creates their own shots. That's why we'll have to live with a few SCB wild-a-thons for a while. I expect after a while that the team will find better shots in the half court set, but for now a work in progress. And a handful of SCB OMG plays a game. If this team had guys that had hit threes last night, they would have killed the Thunder.
I cannot believe how much I've missed the league. The NBA, I love it. Christmas Day was fantastic. Last night was thrilling.
Just a note on Adelman. He sat the team down and told them why they were bad last year. An easy task to do, obviously, but here's one thing he told them. They took a full second longer to get back on defense than they did to get up the floor on offense. 1) That will kill you in the NBA. 2) How awesome is it that he and his staff pulled tape and came up with that? 3) Kurt Rambis, you suck. The two worst coaches in team history, brought in from the Celtics (Rodgers, not McHale) and Lakers.
I am suffering from irrational exuberance.
Wow, that is awesome. Where did you find out he did that?
I'm far more excited about the NBA than I have been in several seasons, too. Sure, the team looks better, but I watched all or most of every game on Christmas, and watched the Wolves, then finishes of three other games, last night.
I don't remember. I'll try to find it.
Zgoda had it in his Strib blog.
No one else on the team creates their own shots.
True. I didn't have a problem with the shots in the last 10 seconds of the shot clock. It was the ones he took in the first 10 seconds that bothered me.
That sequence by Ridnour over the last 30 seconds of the first half that Spooky's feed conveniently allowed him to miss had me scratching my head. But other than that, I think he'll end up settling into a useful backup role to give Rubio and Barea a breather, so I'm not too worried about how bad he looked at times.
And I don't know about anyone else, but I held my breath every time Rubio came down with the ball to start a fast break. That's gotta be fun for the other guys out there knowing their about to make the highlight reel. Does anyone know if Buffalo has found an apartment in the TC area yet?
I might have to finish the basement for him. Do you need an egress window? 'cause that's gonna cost you a little more beer each month, Buffalo.
Zero turnovers from Rubio and several OMG passes. WoW.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, if Rubio can keep his assists/TO ratio high, profit! So far he's done very well.
to my untrained basketball eye, it looked like when Ridnour was running things, the offense became sluggish. Maybe I wanted to see Rubio out there all the time
Moss went to an NBA game for the first time in about 8 years. The only thing more enigmatic than Wes Johnson was the officiating. It is impossible to figure out what they will call and what they will not call.
The Darko/Perkins play stood out for sure. In Moss' opinion, and based only on live action (no replay), that could have been called an offensive foul. Darko was set at the free-throw line and Perkins tried to go directly through him. Darko did lower his shoulder, but the contact appeared to be fully initiated by Perkins. He's a complete thug.
The Ridnour play to do a 2-for-1 was ridiculous. What good does it do to take two crappy shots in exchange for one good shot for the opponent? Just a dumb sequence. Would have been a lot better off with one good shot after 24 seconds, and forcing the opponent to take one rushed shot.
Rubio was fun to watch, but he was unbelievably soft on the defensive end. If he can't play defense and can't shoot/score, he's going to be pretty limited.
Do you think Love maybe lost a little too much weight? He almost looked like he's too slender now. He was getting bounced around by the big boys.
On the other side, Durant was so smooth, and Westbrook was awesome. They've got a couple very nice pieces there. And then Cook comes in and hits two threes to seal the deal. Instant offense. They could be quite tough this year and for a few years to come.
Moss went to an NBA game for the first time in about 8 years.
Same here.
Rubio's defense wasn't good but I think he could still be a decent player. He is definitely fun to watch and I'll take fun to watch at this point. I don't think we've had anybody I've enjoyed watching since Garnett and Garnett wasn't a real flashy player to watch.
I don't think the net moved on a few of those Durant shots.
That Ridnour 2 for 1 at the end of the half was infuriating. WTF was he thinking on that one? I have never liked him much. His decision making is poor.
I think Darko gave Perkins a pretty good shot on that one. Good to see. Perkins was intent on mauling him, but Darko showed a little backbone.
Love had an off night last night. I think he will be fine, though. He was having some trouble boarding in the first half, but still 12 rebounds. Plus, he got to the line a ton and seemed a lot quicker and more explosive at the rim. So, I'm okay with him at this weight, I think.
OKC is potentially set for a long time. Their core players are all about 23 years old. Durant is signed for five seasons. The winning is going to start now.
only if Westbrook can deal with being the number 2 guy.
Yeah, they've been giving Truman quite a lot of grief for that one.
That was a fun game to watch last night. Mizzou has another in a string of really good QBs in Franklin. And local boy TJ Moe also had another great game with a flea-flicker TD pass and some excellent runbacks.
It's been a mild winter, but I still extremely dislike having to stand outside for 15 minutes in a t-shirt during a fire drill. It is December.
another good sports night tonight: Gophers at Illinois at 6:30 and Wolves at Milwaukee at 7:30
Gophers cant seem to hit a shot and a ton of turnovers. They are on verge of being blown out before halftime. Only down by 10, but if feels like a 30 point lead.
flipping between Wolves of Gophs, Gophs turned up the pressure and the Illini have no answer. Gophs down by 3
Gophs up by two with 18 secs left and the Illini throw it away. oy
onto double OT
I'm enjoying the Wolves on the free trial League Pass. I'll enjoy it more once the games are out of the blackout area for me and I can watch the video instead of just listening to audio.
I come to work today and notice that the ramp is pretty empty. The week between the holidays is always pretty light so I take note but not really as I'm in kinda early (7:00a). Get to the my floor and not a soul around and the lights are out. Again it's 7:10, but some people get to work around 6:30. Now I'm starting to wonder. Turn on the lights, fire up my computer and in the 10 minutes or so, no one else shows up. So I check the Human Resources web page and sure enough, today is a paid floating holiday.
Since I'm already here, I'm going to do some cleaning and organizing and I will leave in a couple of hours but I could still be in bed sleeping.
You could use the time to read up on what will be the greatest Werewolves game yet and decide to make your triumphant return after New Year's!
It's going to be hard to beat the last three in terms of nail-bitery. That game's going to give me a heart attack one of these days.
Wes Johnson is a total bust. It wouldn't hurt my feelings if he never played for the Wolves again. He's a complete non-entity. No one is more invisible out there than he is. Malcolm Lee, you are going to get your shot. Be ready, kid.
How fun was it to see Darko level Kendrick Perkins and just stand over him and stare? Perkins is a thug and it was great to see Darko stand up to him. Maybe Darkomcan transform himself into a physical low post presence. That would be awesome. Like manna from heaven. :p
Ridnour is third best PG on team. Kahn said that Johnny Flynn and Rubio could play together. What he meant was Barea and Rubio could play together. Dos Lobos.
Ricky was very exciting. I hope he's taking 1000 jump shots a day, because he's going to be wide open a lot until he shows he can make them. But, wow, the court vision. It was really fun. And yes, this team will actually be able to run now. And score off the break.
If Love has his normal game last night, they win. He was missing some easy ones, but he appeared to be much better around the rim offensively. If he can finish at the rim, watch out.
I know Beasley was hoisting it a ton, but they were running clear outs for him. At least twice he followed his own miss with a rebound put back. The Wolves were 3-22 from three. That wasn't all SCB. Yeah, I didn't like the ball in his hands at the end, but then again, I don't think the Wolves have a lot of half court sets figured out right now. That spot is probably where I would want Ridnour in there, because he can shoot. Or give it to JJ, have him drive, collapse the D and dish to an open dude.
It was a thrilling game and I have hope that the long nightmare is over.
BTW, Love was 6-14 from the field and D-Will was also 6-14. Put that together and you get 12-28, almost exactly the same as what SCB shot. True, Love got to the line a ton, but putting everything on SCB is not a fair analysis of what happened. Tha Wolves front court didn't shoot well. That's what happened. Also, 3-22 from three and a lot of them on open looks. The ball just didn't go in.
SCB looked poorer than his line to me because so many of his shots seemed ill-advised. He had the game's ugliest moments, for me.
Overall, though, this team might be worth getting excited about. That was an awfully good team we almost beat out there, and I'm already antsy for game two tonight in Milwaukee.
The Bease does what the Bease does. He did have some really nice moves in there, too. If he'd take it to the rim more often, he might be more efficient. That said, I have no idea why he was tasked with guarding Durant. Couldn't that have been Wes's one usefull thing? That said, there's not really anyone that can guard Durant anyway.
No one else on the team creates their own shots. That's why we'll have to live with a few SCB wild-a-thons for a while. I expect after a while that the team will find better shots in the half court set, but for now a work in progress. And a handful of SCB OMG plays a game. If this team had guys that had hit threes last night, they would have killed the Thunder.
I cannot believe how much I've missed the league. The NBA, I love it. Christmas Day was fantastic. Last night was thrilling.
Just a note on Adelman. He sat the team down and told them why they were bad last year. An easy task to do, obviously, but here's one thing he told them. They took a full second longer to get back on defense than they did to get up the floor on offense. 1) That will kill you in the NBA. 2) How awesome is it that he and his staff pulled tape and came up with that? 3) Kurt Rambis, you suck. The two worst coaches in team history, brought in from the Celtics (Rodgers, not McHale) and Lakers.
I am suffering from irrational exuberance.
Wow, that is awesome. Where did you find out he did that?
I'm far more excited about the NBA than I have been in several seasons, too. Sure, the team looks better, but I watched all or most of every game on Christmas, and watched the Wolves, then finishes of three other games, last night.
I don't remember. I'll try to find it.
Zgoda had it in his Strib blog.
No one else on the team creates their own shots.
True. I didn't have a problem with the shots in the last 10 seconds of the shot clock. It was the ones he took in the first 10 seconds that bothered me.
That sequence by Ridnour over the last 30 seconds of the first half that Spooky's feed conveniently allowed him to miss had me scratching my head. But other than that, I think he'll end up settling into a useful backup role to give Rubio and Barea a breather, so I'm not too worried about how bad he looked at times.
And I don't know about anyone else, but I held my breath every time Rubio came down with the ball to start a fast break. That's gotta be fun for the other guys out there knowing their about to make the highlight reel. Does anyone know if Buffalo has found an apartment in the TC area yet?
I might have to finish the basement for him. Do you need an egress window? 'cause that's gonna cost you a little more beer each month, Buffalo.
Zero turnovers from Rubio and several OMG passes. WoW.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, if Rubio can keep his assists/TO ratio high, profit! So far he's done very well.
to my untrained basketball eye, it looked like when Ridnour was running things, the offense became sluggish. Maybe I wanted to see Rubio out there all the time
Moss went to an NBA game for the first time in about 8 years. The only thing more enigmatic than Wes Johnson was the officiating. It is impossible to figure out what they will call and what they will not call.
The Darko/Perkins play stood out for sure. In Moss' opinion, and based only on live action (no replay), that could have been called an offensive foul. Darko was set at the free-throw line and Perkins tried to go directly through him. Darko did lower his shoulder, but the contact appeared to be fully initiated by Perkins. He's a complete thug.
The Ridnour play to do a 2-for-1 was ridiculous. What good does it do to take two crappy shots in exchange for one good shot for the opponent? Just a dumb sequence. Would have been a lot better off with one good shot after 24 seconds, and forcing the opponent to take one rushed shot.
Rubio was fun to watch, but he was unbelievably soft on the defensive end. If he can't play defense and can't shoot/score, he's going to be pretty limited.
Do you think Love maybe lost a little too much weight? He almost looked like he's too slender now. He was getting bounced around by the big boys.
On the other side, Durant was so smooth, and Westbrook was awesome. They've got a couple very nice pieces there. And then Cook comes in and hits two threes to seal the deal. Instant offense. They could be quite tough this year and for a few years to come.
Moss went to an NBA game for the first time in about 8 years.
Same here.
Rubio's defense wasn't good but I think he could still be a decent player. He is definitely fun to watch and I'll take fun to watch at this point. I don't think we've had anybody I've enjoyed watching since Garnett and Garnett wasn't a real flashy player to watch.
I don't think the net moved on a few of those Durant shots.
That Ridnour 2 for 1 at the end of the half was infuriating. WTF was he thinking on that one? I have never liked him much. His decision making is poor.
I think Darko gave Perkins a pretty good shot on that one. Good to see. Perkins was intent on mauling him, but Darko showed a little backbone.
Love had an off night last night. I think he will be fine, though. He was having some trouble boarding in the first half, but still 12 rebounds. Plus, he got to the line a ton and seemed a lot quicker and more explosive at the rim. So, I'm okay with him at this weight, I think.
OKC is potentially set for a long time. Their core players are all about 23 years old. Durant is signed for five seasons. The winning is going to start now.
only if Westbrook can deal with being the number 2 guy.
/stephonmarburyisanidiot
Oy.
http://t.co/hVvnWAeW
So moral of the story: Don't let your kids play hockey or American football.
I saw that. Boy doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. He seemed out of it in that interview!
Yeah, his eyes really weren't in focus...
Missouri mascot breaks trophy
Yeah, they've been giving Truman quite a lot of grief for that one.
That was a fun game to watch last night. Mizzou has another in a string of really good QBs in Franklin. And local boy TJ Moe also had another great game with a flea-flicker TD pass and some excellent runbacks.
It's been a mild winter, but I still extremely dislike having to stand outside for 15 minutes in a t-shirt during a fire drill. It is December.
another good sports night tonight: Gophers at Illinois at 6:30 and Wolves at Milwaukee at 7:30
Gophers cant seem to hit a shot and a ton of turnovers. They are on verge of being blown out before halftime. Only down by 10, but if feels like a 30 point lead.
flipping between Wolves of Gophs, Gophs turned up the pressure and the Illini have no answer. Gophs down by 3
Gophs up by two with 18 secs left and the Illini throw it away. oy
onto double OT
I'm enjoying the Wolves on the free trial League Pass. I'll enjoy it more once the games are out of the blackout area for me and I can watch the video instead of just listening to audio.
*cough*
If I wasn't at work I'd be all over that, but the company firewall seems to have a problem with it for some reason.
Ooh, I'm about to get a Telly Hughes sighting on my Bucks feed. I wonder if he knows anything about them.
Kevin Love might set a record for FT attempts this game.
most makes is 28, most attempts is 34, both by Wilt Chamberlain (different games)
I'd ask why Wes Johnson is leading the team in minutes, but I'm not sure I want to know the answer. I'll assume it's because Adelman isn't there.
He also leads the team in Total Uselessness!
He's got some competition for that stat tonight.
Yeah, this team badly needs Adleman to never not be there again. Also, some defense.
I am here for the comeback.
The Rubicon Stat line is not looking as Rubio-esque tonight.
Derek Williams LOVES the under handed scoop layup. He is going to get a lot of those blocked this season.
He seems to also like traveling while doing the scoop.
Mrs Buffalo " how did that little guy get a job playing basketball?"
Ugly. This is an ugly game.
Adelman should fine players for taking 18+ footers with 15+ seconds on the shot clock.
holy cows, this Wolves game is some ugly basketball
*edit* should of hit refresh before posting
it can't be said enough
And they are about to turn this into a one possession game.
I'll say one thing about Beasley. He tends to follow a lot of his awful shots.
Follow them with more awful shots.
Le sigh.
So, will Beasley or someone else make the final miss?
I watched the last 4 minutes of this game, and my throat got all tight every time Ridnour or Beasley had the ball. Good lord are they ever chuckers.
Wolves earned that loss.
Love with a pretty nice stat line, that last shot excepted.
26 turnovers and 12 missed free throws will sink ya
give them credit, the pulled themselves off the floor and made it a game