Wolves Win a Thriller at Phoenix
KG blocked the heck out of a Shawn Marion push shot at the buzzer to save a 103-101 win for the Wolves. Fans in Phoenix and the Suns players thought it was goaltending. It was definitely close, but having seen several replays of the block now, I'm comfortable with the call. Even before the critical block, KG came up huge down the stretch. After sitting the first few minutes of the 4th with 4 fouls, he scored his first points of the half on an alley-oop with a a few minutes left. He aggressively switched out to guard Steve Nash on pick and roll plays. I'm often skeptical of this play because I've seen Nash back off Garnett before and then shoot over him. But tonight, the play worked very well. Nash took a couple of uncomfortable looking shots, made some awkward passes and only found the mismatch in the post once or twice. It was a great physical and symbolic happening. The Wolves best player took on the Suns best player, despite being a 7-footer guarding a 6'1" point guard. In the last few Wolves possessions, Garnett made a pair of tough jumpers to extend the lead to 3 points after the Suns twice cut it to 1. This was the first game in a while that KG's action hero persona from his Adidas commercial has made a late-game appearance. That guy's good -- they should call his number a little more often.
This game had all kinds of interesting points, but the most important involved the rotation. Griffin and Jaric did not start for the first time in many games (for Jaric, it was his first non-start this season, I think). In fact, they didn't play, even with Mark Blount playing only a few minutes with neverending foul trouble. Madsen and AC started in their places, and Marcus Banks and Justin Reed got a lot of playing time. The starting unit played pretty well, but more importantly stayed aggressive and continued to play through an early Suns run that saw the Wolves trailing by 9 during the first quarter. I'd read from Coach Casey that they'd simplified the playbook and focused on a few plays. After being critical of his coaching for a few games, I now wonder again whether it really will simply take time for the Wolves to learn the system. The plays didn't look elaborate or special tonight, but they were run more cleanly. I can't think of any shot clock violations or glaring examples of hoisting up a bad shot just to beat the buzzer. Marcus Banks and Rashad McCants both played great on offense and really hustled on defense. McCants stayed away from the stupid fouls and turnovers that have marked his play most of the season. Justin Reed played solid defense on Marion and Boris Diaw, both of whom are really difficult to defend. Blount, as mentioned earlier, didn't play much because of foul trouble, but the other new guys were great.
But despite the heroics of KG and the great play of the new guys and the rookie, the game ball should go to Trenton Hassell. He's clearly growing into more of a scoring role with the team which is great. His moves seem predictable, but he plays well from the post and gets enough separation to be a pretty reliable scorer -- if he doesn't draw too many travelling violations on his spin move in the lane. But more importantly, he seems to be the one guy other than KG who really understands the offense and how to distribute the ball. When Banks was on the floor, it was Hassell who played more of the traditional point guard role. And in the 4th quarter when Garnett reentered the game, it was Hassell who found him for the alley-oop dunk that ogt him back into the offensive groove -- after going 5 for 6 in the first half, KG missed his next 3 shots before connecting on the dunk for his first points of the half with 5 minutes or so remaining. I've long referred to Hassell as Baby-G (H) -- there's no actual G in his name, but he plays like a smaller version of KG. He's intense, he's a great defender who works hard, and he's got a strong, if laboring, offensive game, like the Ticket. Last year when things wre going badly with the Wolves, it was reported that KG gave Hassell some harsh words for not playing as hard as he could be and should be. He seems to have responded and will be a big part of any success the Wolves will have for the rest of the season.
I'd forgotten what it felt like to be a happy fan. Consecutive losses make you need to deinvest from the team a little to avoid compounding sadness. But after the game-clenching block tonight I was elated and had lots of nervous energy. I miss that, so let's keep it coming Let's build on this, Wolves, and keep improving to be ready to take the West by storm after the All-Star break.
This game had all kinds of interesting points, but the most important involved the rotation. Griffin and Jaric did not start for the first time in many games (for Jaric, it was his first non-start this season, I think). In fact, they didn't play, even with Mark Blount playing only a few minutes with neverending foul trouble. Madsen and AC started in their places, and Marcus Banks and Justin Reed got a lot of playing time. The starting unit played pretty well, but more importantly stayed aggressive and continued to play through an early Suns run that saw the Wolves trailing by 9 during the first quarter. I'd read from Coach Casey that they'd simplified the playbook and focused on a few plays. After being critical of his coaching for a few games, I now wonder again whether it really will simply take time for the Wolves to learn the system. The plays didn't look elaborate or special tonight, but they were run more cleanly. I can't think of any shot clock violations or glaring examples of hoisting up a bad shot just to beat the buzzer. Marcus Banks and Rashad McCants both played great on offense and really hustled on defense. McCants stayed away from the stupid fouls and turnovers that have marked his play most of the season. Justin Reed played solid defense on Marion and Boris Diaw, both of whom are really difficult to defend. Blount, as mentioned earlier, didn't play much because of foul trouble, but the other new guys were great.
But despite the heroics of KG and the great play of the new guys and the rookie, the game ball should go to Trenton Hassell. He's clearly growing into more of a scoring role with the team which is great. His moves seem predictable, but he plays well from the post and gets enough separation to be a pretty reliable scorer -- if he doesn't draw too many travelling violations on his spin move in the lane. But more importantly, he seems to be the one guy other than KG who really understands the offense and how to distribute the ball. When Banks was on the floor, it was Hassell who played more of the traditional point guard role. And in the 4th quarter when Garnett reentered the game, it was Hassell who found him for the alley-oop dunk that ogt him back into the offensive groove -- after going 5 for 6 in the first half, KG missed his next 3 shots before connecting on the dunk for his first points of the half with 5 minutes or so remaining. I've long referred to Hassell as Baby-G (H) -- there's no actual G in his name, but he plays like a smaller version of KG. He's intense, he's a great defender who works hard, and he's got a strong, if laboring, offensive game, like the Ticket. Last year when things wre going badly with the Wolves, it was reported that KG gave Hassell some harsh words for not playing as hard as he could be and should be. He seems to have responded and will be a big part of any success the Wolves will have for the rest of the season.
I'd forgotten what it felt like to be a happy fan. Consecutive losses make you need to deinvest from the team a little to avoid compounding sadness. But after the game-clenching block tonight I was elated and had lots of nervous energy. I miss that, so let's keep it coming Let's build on this, Wolves, and keep improving to be ready to take the West by storm after the All-Star break.
posted by Big Ticket Fan at 10:09 PM
1 Comments:
I told you we used up all your bad basketball karma in the overtime loss earlier.
-Casey
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