| Minnesota Timberwolves Five Vibe Games 11-16 Authored by Adam Winegarden - December 5, 2005 - 11:58 pm
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1. Highs and Lows
The high point of the session was easily the Timberwolves impressive victory over the Sacramento Kings. In spite of the fact that Kevin Garnett had a very rare off night, the Timberwolves were able to get an early lead and manage the game positively. Wally Szczerbiak and Troy Hudson led a balanced effort that took advantage of a very unproductive offensive night by Sacramento.
Sam Cassell’s continued revenge was the definitive low point of the session. In spite of what the media called “flu like symptoms” Cassell helped to stop a Wolves comeback and spoil an excellent night by Eddie Griffin. Griffin had his best game of the year with 14 rebounds and only 1 personal foul. However, it was not enough to overcome Cassell’s timely shooting and another impressive night from Corey Maggette. I get the eerie feeling that these two teams are destined for a playoff tussle.
2. Casey Consequences
While not showing a more consistent rotation, Casey has been able to pull the Timberwolves out of their road woes. The Wolves have shed their early season travel fears and managed to win their last three on the road, going into another road contest with Utah. Casey has varied his rotations according to the match ups that he perceives. While this may seem at times random, it has at least lately seemed effective.
3. Surprise Stud
Wally Szczerbiak emerged from his season long shooting slump and finally put together a string of impressive scoring outputs. In the five game session, Wally World averaged 21.6 points per game. Not unrelated the Timberwolves went 4 and 1 in that stretch. In order for the Timberwolves to win the Northwest division, Szczerbiak must be a consistent scoring threat. If he can maintain a 17 to 19 point per game output, it should create enough of a distraction to open the floor for his teammates.
4. Rookie Report
Bracey Wright is lighting up the NBDL, but doesn’t seem to be getting any time as the primary distributor for the Florida Flame. He certainly can score against NBDL competition; unfortunately it doesn’t seem that the Flame is going to allow Wright to develop much as a point guard as long as Andre Barrett is around. This highlights one of the major flaws with the current minor league system. As long as these teams are trying to win and not develop players, it’s not going to be what NBA teams want; it will simply be just another place to stash a player.
Rashad McCants has been one of the main victims of Casey’s rotation revolver. Since his best game against the Charlotte Bobcats, McCants has only reached double digits in minutes played once, in the loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. In fact he notched his first DNP-CD against the Kings. It seems that McCants will continue to remain on a rotation yo-yo depending on how Casey feels about his defensive effort. We can only hope that his positive attitude towards this roller coaster ride can continue. There will come a point in the season where McCants scoring ability may be needed very much.
5. Statistic of the Session
16 rebounds (6 offensive) and 13 points – Dwayne Jones’ line against Roanoke on November 26th, 2005
With the problems the Timberwolves seem to have consistently rebounding the ball, here’s to hoping that this is one of many such productive rebounding nights for Mr. Jones. |
