Again: I'm very happy to see the team ending the season on a winning note. However, for a second there right before the 1/2 I thought that they had found a new way to utilize Mark Madsen's amazing tanking abilities: the little-known you-can't-come-off-the-bench-with-your-shirt-untucked technical. At that point in the contest I started to prepare myself for a 4th quarter full of an unkempt Madsen making his way off the bench for 30 second increments, possibly jacking up a few 3s in the process.

Last night's game was the 3rd statistical oddity in a row. Here's how the 2 teams stacked up in the 4 Factors:

The Wolves::

• FG% (eFG): 51%
• TO: 13
• Offensive (and total) rebounds: 24-62
• FT: 11-16

The Grizz:

• FG% (eFG): 44%
• TO: 7
• Offensive (and total) rebounds: 17-45
• FT: 26-43

While I'm clearly not part of the "tank it" crowd, and I love to see the team do well and win, if anything is to be taken from last night's victory in Orlando, it is that we may have to change the name of the team to the Blind Minnesota Timberquirrels.

Last night, the team with the worst free throw shooting discrepancy, fewest FTMs, 2nd worst FTAs, 8th worst 3pFG%, 6th worst 3pFGM, and 6th worst 3pFGA went 17-20 (85%) from the line and 9-16 (56.3%) from beyond the arc.

Actually, I shouldn't get too caught up on the attempt side of things. The Wolves pretty much hit their attempt averages for both FTs and 3pFGs. What they did do was increase their makes by nearly 4 beyond the arc and by nearly 2 at the line. All in all, good shooting brought about 14 additional points with essentially the same number of total shots.

TV gone 'gainst Clips
Heat and 9 wins are vanquished
Ping pong disappear

It happened!!! With Randy Foye on the court, the ball was entered to Big Al, Foye cut to the hoop, and the defender followed, allowing Al a 1-on-1 attempt at the hoop and the harm. Usually, Big Al gets double/tripple teamed in situations like that.

Sorry, I just had to lead with that because the home game against the Bulls may be one of the ugliest basketball games you can ever hope to witness and that was the only bright spot I can remember. 14-8 after the 1st and 46-47 with 5 minutes to go in the 3rd; there’s not a whole lot of good things you can say about this mess.

Getting back to the return of Randy, the NBA released the list of players in the upcoming Rookie/Sophomore game. Even more disturbing than the fact that there were no Wolves on the list was this:

Kevin Durrant- Seattle
Jeff Green- Seattle
LaMarcus Aldridge- Portland
Brandon Roy- Portland
Ronnie Brewer- Utah
Paul Milsap- Utah

That’s 6 players in the Wolves’ division. If you add in Mike Conley, Juan Carlos Navarro, Luis Scola, and Jordan Farmar that’s 10 out of 18 players from the Western Conference. Say what you will about the number of draft picks coming up for the Wolves, if past performance is any indicator of future success, be worried; no matter how well the FO performs, they're a long ways behind the young teams in the division.

Random thought: the MVP of the 2 game home-and-home against the bulls was Shaddy’s flu bug. That little critter is my hero. Someone should write a poem about him.

Shaddy, in bed sick
Flu bug manning the 2 guard
Beats the shiitety Bulls

(Hat tip to Greek House for the inspiration.)

SBG gets in on the poetry action as well:

The flu bug nailed poor old number one
His stomach was weak, that ain't no fun
Tonight he was a scratch
Missed the Chicago match
With him they lost, without him they won.

How bad was Shaddy in Chicago? Against Andres Nocioni, Shaddy gave up 10 and 3 with a –6 in 10:00 first quarter minutes. Upon being switched out for Brewer, Noc scored 1 point with a –6 in nearly 10:00. Against the Nets, Shaddy lasted all of 3 minutes against Richard Jefferson before getting the hook. We won’t even speak of the defensive effort against Boston vis-à-vis Corey Brewer. It’s going to be interesting to see how Foye’s return affects the minutes of Bassy, Marko, and Shaddy. Even though Bassy had a bad game in Chicago, he’s shown signs of improvement as well as being able to control the tempo of the game. Marko is Marko and…well, if I were a betting man I’d say that Shaddy will see his minutes take a hit if he continues to be a matador on d. (That being said, Foye took minutes exclusively from Bassy in his first game back.)

Speaking of Bassy, let me take a quick moment to talk about the game in Chicago. All-in-all the away game was one of the most disappointing performances in recent memory. It was 1-on-1 ball against a team every bit as crappy as the Wolves, and every bit as incapable of dealing with Big Al in the post as the Nets. The most frustrating part of the endeavor was listening to the Bulls announcing crew wonder out loud when Randy Wittman was going to call a time out and remind his players that the Western Conference Player of the Week was on the court and that he needed the damn ball. The team eventually got around to doing so, but only in the middle of the 4th while down by 15. To be fair to Witt, every time Al got the ball, 3 or 4 Bulls collapsed on him. Actually, they were collapsing on him before the entry pass was ever made, as there was no need to stay out on the perimeter where the people making the entry passes were busy going 0-10 from 3 (Jaric, Bassy, Shaddy). There were possessions in the 3rd and 4th where Kirk Hinrich was literally giving Bassy, a lighting quick guard with impressive handle, 10 feet off the ball. When taking the ball to the hoop, Bassy was 3-4 while drawing 3 FTA. Closed circuit to Bassy: No more 3's!!!

Since I was out and about on Monday, here’s this week’s Mega Deal Monday on a Wednesday:

To the Nets:

1. Theo Ratliff
2. Lamar Odom
3. Javaris Crittenton

To the Wolves:

1. Nenad Kristic
2. Kwame Brown
3. Lakers 1st round pick

To the Lakers:

1. Jason Kidd

(If the Lakers feel like they need another big, send Krstic to LA; the money still works. For another deal, try Cleveland, the Wolves, and the Nets.)

Why it works?

The Lakers immediately get a 2-year championship window while giving up very little in return. Brown is expiring, Crittenton hardly plays and Kidd would replace Odom. The Nets get about as good a return as possible for the expensive Kidd. They can’t deal him to a crappy team and the good teams won’t give up much in return. They get a decent player in his prime (Odom), a point with a lot of potential and they clear a ton of cap space by getting rid of Ratliff and Kidd’s contracts. The Wolves get 2 young big men with no years left on their deals. Krstic was a promising big man before last year’s injury but the Wolves could keep him or not. Salary-wise they maintain Ratliff’s money coming off the books while gaining a late 1st round pick. Everybody’s happy.

There’s been some talk about a Dallas/New Jersey/Portland trade involving Kidd but it doesn’t sound realistic at all. First of all, the money doesn’t work with the trade machine. Secondly, the Nets don’t need another wing player. Thirdly, they don’t need Channing Frye to go with Sean Williams and Nenad Krstic in the frontcourt. There’s a few other killers in there but for the most part the trade doesn’t pass the smell test. The Wolves have an $11 million expiring contract with 2 young expiring contracts (Green and Smith) and 2 future first rounders (from Miami and Boston). They could be major players in deals with New Jersey and…say, Cleveland or LA. Anywho…

Finally, in draft-related news, Michael Beasley just went for 25 and 6 against previously unbeaten Kansas.

Oh, I lied. I almost forgot to mention the biggest and most important thing about the victory over the Bulls. Unless the Wolves end the season on a 0-36 run, they will have a better W-L record than the 1972 Sixers. WE'RE NOT THE WORST!!! WE'RE NOT THE WORST!!! WE'RE NOT THE WORST!!!

How about that?! 2 in a row. Not only did the Wolves win their 2nd home game against the best team in the West, but they did so in...wait, it's kind of weird to say this...dominating fashion. With 13 and 8 from Bassy, 15 and 10 from Marko, 13 from Corey Brewer off the bench, and 39 and 15 from Big Al, it was a top-to-bottom thing of beauty.

I'm not sure the small-ball lineup will work against teams not named Phoenix or Golden State, but it was nice to see a crisp 8 man rotation that maximized the talent on the floor.

There were a few statistical points of interest during the game: the Wolves went 46-92 from the floor while Phoenix was 42-75. For the Wolves, this has typically meant that they got blown away at the line but they out-dueled the Suns at the charity stripe (22-34) to (13-13). The Wolves absolutely slaughtered the Suns on the boards, grabbing nearly 20 more than the visiting club. They also won the turnover battle 16-10. In short, they out played the Suns at their own game; a quick pace matched with few turnovers and a high FG%.

Finally, despite his 39 points and 15 rebounds, Big Al was -4 for the night. In 35:18 Big Al racked up a negative +/-. How does that happen? It gets even weirder when you consider that Marko was +8 in 45:38. Oh well. We all know he can't play defense and I'm not going to dwell on a negative after 2 in a row.

Speaking of bad things to say, I was all set to run my mid-season awards in this morning's post but since the team won I don't want to put any negatives down. Sooooooo...here's a few of the awards; the good ones:

• Wolf of the Year- This one’s a no-brainer. With 20 ppg, 12, rpg, and a PER of 22.1, Al Jefferson is far and away the best player on the Wolves squad. It isn’t a competition. The man is a beast and when allowed to play his natural position, he has shown signs of being the type of player you can build a franchise around. Just keep him away from the 5. RUNNER UP: Ryan Gomes.
• Biggest Surprise of the Year: We all know the Wolves front office has some serious issues. For whatever reason, the team entered the season with Randy Foye and Marko Jaric at the point. When Foye went down with injury, Marko showed us once again that he wasn’t up to the job and in stepped Sebastian Telfair to bail the team out. A career 38% shooter, Bassy is currently flirting with 40% from the floor while giving the team 6 assists and only 2 turnovers a game. Widely viewed as a left-over in the KG trade, this 22 year old point has shown drive and improvement during his first year in a Wolves uniform and even though the team is only 6-34, he bailed out the failings of the front office more than any other player. I’ll make no bones about it: Bassy is my favorite Timberwolf and he deserves a good look at a 3-4 year deal this off-season. RUNNER UP: Antoine Walker.
• Coach of the Year: Jerry Sichting. With head coach Randy Wittman out with a back injury, Sichting led the Wolves to a near miracle comeback against Atlanta and the win-of-the-year against the Suns. The rotations were sensible, the matchups were sound, and the Wolves were competitive. RUNNER UP: Antoine Walker. (Seriously, have you seen what Gerald Green does when they’re on the court together? Plus, I can’t in good conscience give this award to Witt.)
• Best Starting Lineup: Sebastian Telfair, Rashad McCants, Ryan Gomes, Al Jefferson, and Theo Ratliff. Unfortunately, Ratliff has been out nearly the entire year, leaving the most functional lineup as Telfair, McCants, Brewer, Smith, and Jefferson. Of course that little ditty only works against Nelly Ball and Phoenix so the actual starting lineup award goes to Bassy, Jaric, Shaddy, Gomes, and Big Al...which again only works against Nelly Ball.
• Individual performance of the year: Would it be too homerish of me to give another award to Bassy? Well, tough. During the Dec 21st victory over the Indiana Pacers, Bassy scored 27 points on 11-18 shooting; dishing out 11 assists with only 1 turnover while guiding the Wolves to their largest scoring total of the year (131 points). Oh, he also played all 48 minutes. Amazingly enough, this game wasn’t the result of Bassy playing out of the box; he did not attempt a single 3 and the majority of his shots were in the lane. This game shows what Bassy can do when he trades the outside shot for penetration, mid range jumpers, and collapsing the defense. RUNNER UP: Big Al’s 32 effort against Phoenix on December 8th.
• Four Factor of the Year: Rebounding. Thanks in large part to Big Al, the Wolves average 42 boards/game, 12.4 of them on the offensive glass. All in all, the Wolves hold a 0.4 rebounds/game advantage over their opponents. Imagine what they’d do with a real center.

Until later.