Regular Season Game #72, Home Game #35: Miami 92, Minnesota 77
1. The Fab Five Strike Again
The Timberwolves were being blown off the court by the supposedly aged Miami Heat. In the space of 67 whirlwind seconds, the Heat had stolen passes, leaked out on Minnesota’s missed shots, and just generally hustled themselves into four layups, turning a three-point deficit into double digits in a blink, running the score to 10-21 with 3:26 to go in the first quarter. It was the latest shoulda-been embarrassment for the club that knows no shame.
Trenton Hassell was the designated scapegoat, banished to the bench after that flurry, never to return. Never mind that point guard Jason Williams assisted on three of the hoops (not counting the two he dimed before the run) and scored the fourth, while Minnesota point guard Mike James was…where? Never mind that Ricky Davis was guarding either James Posey, who had four points (two of those leak-out layups were his) and one assist, or Eddie Jones, who had six points at the time (Hassell had the other one in non-zone situations). This isn’t to defend Hassell, who played like crap, but did manage to have two points (and a pair of missed FTs) and an assist, plus a rebound and a turnover. James? He went scoreless–not just in the first quarter, but in the entire 19:22 *he* was allowed to play–but had two assists and zero turnovers at the time Hassell was benched. And Davis had zero points, zero assists and a turnover at that 3:26 mark when Trenton was banished.
Asked after the game if the flurry was why Hassell didn’t return, coach Randy Wittman, without mentioning Hassell, said, “Those four guys I just mentioned came in and gave me effort. Those are the guys who were going to play.”
Ah, those aforementioned four guys Wittman called out by name–Jaric, Foye, Smith, and McCants–who teamed with KG. *That* lineup: the one that won the game against Indiana in the 4th period and has been used only in high-substitution situations or garbage time, at best, ever since. The lineup that is so obviously meshes best in the present while building for the future, to the point that Wittman’s aversion to it has led to the suspicion that this squad is tanking games to ensure they keep their draft pick. That Fab Five did eventually play together–with 9:31 to play in the second period, a good six minutes after Hassell was given the hook.
Here’s the way Wittman got to that five: Jaric for Hassell with 3:26 to go in the first. Foye for James, and Smith for KG, with 1:33 to go. End of first period with Minnesota down 11, 14-25. Then, after Antoine Walker hit a six-foot bunny, Posey glided in for another layup, repeated it for a reverse layup, followed by a Udonis Haslem slam, all within the first 2:22 of the second period, Randy Wittman decided to use his most effective lineup down 16-33 with 9:31 to play in the half. He subbed in McCants for Davis, and KG for Mark Blount.
Boom. McCants drove for a layup. Garnett fouled Mourning, who hit both free throws, but then KG nailed a 17-footer, stole a pass from Walker and fed Foye for a layup as he was fouled (Randy completed the three point play), and McCants blocked Mourning’s shot. A slightly nervous Pat Riley subbed Shaq back for Zo and Eddie Jones in for Posey, which didn’t prevent KG from nailing a 21-footer off a feed from Smith; Garnett making another steal off a Haslem pass and eventually hitting another long J on an assist from Foye, and then, to top it off, Garnett barreling down the floor and just before he was about to go up dumping it back to a roaring Smith, who tomahawked home a slam dunk. That’s a 13-2 run, folks, cutting the lead to six, and although the Heat quickly doubled it on successive treys by Williams and Jones, the tenor of the game had changed from the absurd blowout that was brewing before the Fab Five were allowed to reunite.
Miami’s lead was 10 when Mark Madsen replaced Smith with 3:47 to go in the half, followed a minute and a second later by Davis replacing McCants, and 59 second after that by Blount subbing in for KG. We wouldn’t see that lineup again. Oh well: Wittman said those guys who gave effort were going to play–he didn’t say they were going to play together. Because you can’t have *too* much effort in one place when your personnel guy has fumbled away a draft pick if you play too well. Miami won going away, 77-92, making Minnesota a net -195 versus their opponents over the course of 17,388 minutes thus far this season. Because the Fab Five got to play a whole 5:44 together tonight and were a +7, that makes them a +46 in 64 total minutes of play this season. That works out to a 34 and a half point win per 48 minutes of play. And, not incidentally, it unites and energizes the team’s superstar by playing him alongside the team’s top three draft picks from the past two years, and a complementary player already signed through 2011.
When it was noted after the game that this Fab Five seems to have a nice rhythm and flow going whenever they do get the chance to play together, Garnett replied, “They do have a nice flow but if it ain’t on the floor, I have to flow with what’s out there. It is more of an energy group. They are agressive, they play with a lot of energy and a lot of confidence.” And KG, who had 22 points and 20 rebounds in the 15-point loss, mostly had to “flow” with the likes of Blount (33:02, 4 rebounds, -18), Davis (35:14, 5 turnovers, -22).
2. Tick Tock
Coupled with the Clippers win, the loss to Miami puts the Wolves five games behind the 8th and final playoff spot with 10 games left to play. Minutes for Foye: 28:38. For McCants: 15:14. For Smith: 14:31.
3. Talk Amongst Yourselves, or Chime In On the Diamond Diablog
There will not be a trey following the Wolves-Orlando game on Sunday. Instead, I will post a “diablog” between myself, David Brauer (former sports columnist for the Twin Cities Reader among many other things), and Brad Zellar (the author of the baseball blog Warning Track Power at this rakemag.com site) about the upcoming Twins season on Monday morning. Use the comments section vent and wax eloquent about tonight’s game and the Orlando tilt. Rest assured I’ll be posting Three-Pointers on most of the rest of the Wolves games this season, and into the NBA Playoffs. But this blog has a sort-of generic name for a reason: I’ll be posting about the Twins as well during their season, and if the response is good, may just keep it going until the suddenly coveted NBA draft and beyond.
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