Wolves: Winning?
By Stephen Litel
February 8th, 2010
The past week or so, I have found myself to be confused. You get used to certain things in your life, a unique cadence that gets you through your day. Even the smallest thing can upset the balance in your life and throw you off, leaving you confused and with an unsettling feeling in your stomach.
This is why the Timberwolves four-game winning streak is odd. As I said, you get used to certain things in your life and one of those for me is Timberwolves losses. After all, their record when I attend their games at Target Center is much worse than their overall percentage. Just as I was beginning to wonder if I was a bad luck charm for them, they win a fun game Saturday night against the Memphis Grizzlies, the most recent of the four-game streak.
“We’re just clicking,” said Kevin Love, prior to Saturday’s game. “We’ve really come together since the Cleveland game and we had a terrible game in Madison Square Garden against the Knicks, so we kind of just had a meeting after that. We got everything off our chests, the coaches did the same and we’ve been playing better since then.”
Love is correct. After the under-publicized team meeting, the Timberwolves decided to start over. They understand that they are not going to win many games this year, compete for a playoff berth or an NBA title and maybe they lost track of that. Normally, it is a good thing to have a confident team, a collection of players who believe they are the only thing that stands in their own way, but with this team, it is great that they are finally realizing who they are, where they currently stand in the league’s landscape and the plan for the future.
“As a team, I think we finally realized that if we’re going to win games, we have to play harder than our opponents,” said Corey Brewer Saturday night. “We have to play together, that’s what we’ve been doing and it’s been working.”
The team is slowly growing up, realizing that it takes more than individuals. It takes a team. Although the debate still goes on regarding whether or not Al Jefferson is a “franchise player,” it certainly helps when your best players buy into what is going on. Since arriving in Minnesota, the Timberwolves have been Big Al’s team, but his teammates are finally able to give him some of the help he needs and Jefferson is more than happy to acknowledge it is working.
“I think we’re just playing harder,” said Jefferson. “We’re not putting our heads down and we’re not giving up. When things get bad, we just keep playing instead of giving up. Ryan Hollins is a big reason because he brings us a lot of energy, he plays defense, he knows his role and he’s doing a good job. I think he has a lot to do with the bigs playing well. That three-man big rotation with me, him and Kevin Love has been big for the past couple weeks. It’s a mix of everything.”
But why is it happening now? What is causing the team’s better play of late, other than the obvious statistical areas you can read elsewhere?
“We just started playing with a lot of energy. We’re playing together and really executing our offense. Defensively, we’re getting a whole lot better,” says Brewer.
“The second unit is playing a lot better. In that first unit, Ryan Hollins really has stepped up and they’ve been clicking, so I think it’s balanced all the way around. We’re playing well in the first and third quarters, which we hadn’t had in previous games. That’s really been the change for us,” says Love.
“We’re getting comfortable with the offense and playing hard for 48-minutes. Most of all, it’s getting comfortable with the offense. We’re playing defense too. Sooner or later, we were going to start playing better and it was about this time last year we started playing well. This year, it’s a little bit later, but we’re playing a lot better and we need to continue to do it,” says Jefferson.
Of course, all three players are right. There are numerous noticeable differences in their play, such as a more-balanced rotation, their comfort level with the offensive and defensive schemes and, simply, playing with an energy level expected of professional basketball players. Forget wins and losses, they are finally playing the “right way,” giving a little bit of excitement to their supporters during the long Minnesota winter.
The problem, of course, is that if they continue along with their current winning ways, they will play themselves out of an incredibly high draft pick. However, that fact should not be in the minds of the players on this year’s squad. Leave the debate of tanking for a high pick compared to developing as much as possible this year to fans and, more importantly, to the management of the team. That should not be on the player’s minds now.
So then, let’s start the conversation. What is most impressive to you recently? Which players have earned a spot on the team in the future? Do you believe David Kahn will trade Jefferson over the summer since he states he will not do so before the trade deadline? Should Kahn trade Jefferson? Does the improved play of the young core of players make Minnesota anymore desirable to upcoming free agents?
