didnt see a game log so here is one. Mountain time start for the Wolves.
Corey Brewer and Kosta Koufos play for Denver.
Category Archives: NBA
76ers @ Wolves 6:oo pm
The Wolves have a 15-16 record, but are only 8-10 at home. I guess the record could change if some of the bad bounces early in the season went the Wolves way. Tonight the Wolves face a tough Eastern Conference team in Philadelphia. They are a bit of a surprise with a 20-11 records and a bigger surprise (to me at least) is that Doug Collins is their coach and they havent completely flamed out. Thats probably a bit too harsh on Collins. He has a career .527 winning mark, but most of that can be traced to coaching Jordan and Pippen in Chicago in the 80's.
Looking at Philly's roster, they have a 'Wow, this guy is still around' player in Elton Brand and maybe Tony Battie (he hasnt played since Feb 2 though so he may be in a doghouse or something). The Wolves also catch a break because it looks like big man Spencer Hawes is still hurt. The way Pek! has been dominating lately, it could spell bad news for the visitors.
The Game is About Scoring Points and Stopping the Other Team from Scoring Points
When it comes to quantifying what a player's contribution is to a team, baseball is king. With its discrete events, it is relatively speaking, pretty easy to determine, statistically, who is contributing the most to a team's victory. Football, not so much. Basketball is somewhere in between and I think a lot of fun to discuss. Where the rigidity of baseball (pitcher throws ball to batter) and football (ball is snapped to QB and five of eleven players on offense never touch the ball when it is live) dictates offensive flow, any player on offense can contribute at any time, depending on the circumstances.
There are a lot of numbers that I like to look at, but one of my favorite is ORtg and DRtg. ORtg is an estimation of the number of points a player (or a team) generates per 100 possessions. Let's look at a couple of players from this season. I have added a "Difference" column, which is simply the difference betwen the ORtg and the DRtg.
Continue reading The Game is About Scoring Points and Stopping the Other Team from Scoring Points
Game 31 7:oo pm. Hey look! We play Houston again!
I dont have much to say about this because I am sick of seeing Houston. The other day, Wolves Radio play by play man Alan Horton tweeted some good Pek! stats
1st 11g of the year N.Pekovic played 4min total. Last 13g (MIN 7-6) he's averaging 29min 16pts 10rbs 62% FG with 3+ FTA/g. #twolves
Pek is shooting 61.3%, would rank 3rd in the #nba if qualified. But he's averaging 7 FGM/g in Feb, at that rate will qualify in 3gms.
Game 30: Charlotte Bobcats @ Minnesota Timberwolves
The Charlotte Bobcats are a bad team. They are 3-25 on the year and are on a 15 game losing streak and their last win was a month ago. They havent scored a 100 points since that win, and have only score 90+ twice on this losing streak. But, the Timberwolves are playing a stretch of bad basketball (4 straight losses) with tons of turnovers (20.5 p/g in that streak) and relatively poor shooting (41% down from their 42% season average...I was shocked that its 41%, but I am guessing Pek!'s high shooting percentage makes up for what seems like 100 misses from outside of 10 feet).
I guess my point is that the Wolves should win this one easily, but the Wolves are not a good enough team to commit 25 turnovers and win the game, even against the crappiest team in the league. Also, you might need a roster list because a bunch of their players are 'really, they are still in the league?!' and Kemba Walker
2012 Game Logs: Game 29 Minnesota @ Orlando
Below is a make believe conversation that may or may not take place after the Wolves beat the Magic tonight.
Jerry Zgoda: Dwight, there has been a lot of speculation as to where you might end up this season.
Dwight Howard: Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio are really talented players, they really impressed me tonight. I could see myself playing in Minnesota.
Jerry Zgoda: Umm...
Dwight: I am committed to giving it my all in Orlando though. I would never ask for a trade
Jerry Zgoda: Sure...
Dwight: It is just that sometimes, you know, I want to win championships and I don't know that if the team I have here in Orlando will help me in accomplishing that goal.
Jerry Zgoda: ....
Dwight: But yeah, I think that New York, New Jersey, LA, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Minnesota all present those opportunities.
Jerry Zgoda: So are you saying that you want to play in Minnesota?
Dwight: Look man, I don't know why you reporters keep asking me questions like this. I just want to play the game and help Orlando win a championship.
Tonight, watch Dwight Howard sullenly put up 20/13 while not interacting with his teammates in anyway what so ever.
Game 28: Knicks at Timberwolves 7pm
I dont have much to say about this. Linsanity has taken over, so Ricky Rubio has become a has been. The Wolves have been horrible turning the ball over the last few games, and combine that with poor shooting, it has led to some ugly basketball.
No local tv tonight, so that means Pek! is going to score 50
Go Wolves
Game 27: Dallas @ Timberwolves 7pm
It seems like the Wolves schedule is composed of playing Houston 20 times, playing Dallas 20 times, and the rest of the league 26 times. There are downsides to the compressed 66 game schedule. but the upside is that the Wolves are playing a lot of games per week, and when you have a fun or a winning team its nice. Its almost like MLB. Who know how long the players can keep up the pace? The Wolves have been shooting horribly from outside of 10 feet the last couple of games, and its a 50/50 chance the ball goes in the bucket from inside 10. In fact, the Wolves as a team are shooting .429 this season, which ranks them 22nd in the league. Its it tired legs, or are the Wolves composed of a bunch of poor shooters...its probably a little of both.
The Wolves get a rested Kevin Love back after his 2 game mandatory vacation, and Pek! gets the starting nod again because Darko is out with a sprained right ankle and bruised ego.
*note* tomorrows Wolves-Knicks (Linsanity!) tilt is not of FSN. Last year Kevin Love had his 30-30 game against the Knicks and that game was not on tv...might have to scoop up a ducat or two for that
2012 Game Logs: Game 26 Wolves @ Grizzles
Tonight I will be heading to see the local sports team, the Buffalo Sabres and their 22-24-6 record as they continue to hover around the .500 mark. Now, I don't know if they are above .500 or below .500 but one thing I know for sure is the Wolves are one game over .500.
The Wolves are going to need another Pekovician performance out of Nikola tonight if they hope to compete in the second game of a back to back against Memphis without Kevin Love. This isn't last year's Grizzles team, for sure, in fact while I know it might be a little early to say this but the Grizz and the Wolves might be fighting for a playoff spot come the end of the season as only one game currently separates the two teams in the standings.
Vegas has Minnesota as 8.5 dogs tonight. Time to shock the world-- or something.
2012 Game Logs: Game 25 Kings @ Wolves
If there was ever a team to play when your best player is suspend it would be the Charlotte Bobcats. Then it would be the Washington Wizards. Then I would probably want to play New Orleans or maybe Detroit. After that, Toronto would probably be a pretty good match up. But let me tell you, after that, the Kings are a pretty good team to match up against when you are missing your best player. With the Wolves playing the Grizz tomorrow night, this is probably Minnesota's best chance to win one without Love in the line up.
Sacramento has won their last 3 games including one game where Cousins put up a 21/20. I have a feeling that PEK! will take this as a challenge to his manhood and will respond not only by shutting down Cousins but by putting up a 20/20 of his own. Then again, with Love out, Pek might go for 25/30.
And the matchup chart from covers.com
Matchup Edge
| SAC | Edge in: | MIN |
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Points/Game |  |
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Field Goal % | |
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Free Throw % | |
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Defense | |
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Rebounding | |
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Turnovers | |
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Bench | |
Heh.
Alright, stop me if you have heard this before but good teams beat bad teams, especially at home. Time for the Wolves to show the league they are a good team.