Kings-Timberwolves Preview

By JEFF BARTL
Posted Nov 01 2012 4:35PM

The Minnesota Timberwolves fell apart last season after Ricky Rubio went down with an injury. How they'll fare with both him and star Kevin Love sidelined to begin the 2012-13 campaign remains to be seen.

Brandon Roy and a host of newcomers make their team debuts Friday night when Minnesota hosts the Sacramento Kings, who will look to clean up their play after dropping their opener.

The Timberwolves were 21-19 and tied for the Western Conference's final playoff spot heading into their March 9 game against the Los Angeles Lakers before Rubio tore his left ACL in the final seconds of a 105-102 loss.

Minnesota proceeded to drop 20 of its last 25 to finish 26-40, its seventh consecutive losing season. Rubio won't be back until at least mid-December, and the team received more bad news when Love broke his hand doing an in-home workout Oct. 17.

Love finished fourth in the NBA with 26.0 points per game while placing second with an average of 13.3 rebounds last season, but he'll miss at least the first month.

"It is a big hole in our lineup, but we have guys that are going to commit to do their job, and we have to find a way to win," coach Rick Adelman said. "That's just the way it is. A lot of teams are facing the same thing. We are no different."

Love said he still plans to be around the Timberwolves while he rehabs.

"I'm going to stay in shape as much as I can, and I'm just going to continue to stay with the team and keep being a leader," he said.

Roy is no stranger to battling through injuries after the three-time All-Star for Portland was forced to retire prior to last season due to multiple knee problems.

Minnesota, though, decided to take a chance when Roy began his comeback, signing him to a two-year, $10.4 million deal. The Timberwolves also added former Utah standout Andrei Kirilenko, Chase Budinger, Dante Cunningham and Lou Amundson in the offseason.

"You don't ever have to apologize for an injury. He didn't want this," Roy said of Love. "It's just our job to do the best we can early in the year and try to stay above float, because you know when we get him back we've got a really good team."

Sacramento coach Keith Smart believes he has a solid squad as well, though it committed 21 turnovers in a 93-87 loss at Chicago on Wednesday. Tyreke Evans scored a team-high 21 points while Marcus Thornton added 15 off the bench and DeMarcus Cousins finished with 14.

"I'm still proud of our guys because I thought they withstood a lot of things that happened on the floor," Smart said. "We gave up 25 points off turnovers. If we cut that in half, we have a good opportunity to win the game.

"If we just continue to duplicate what we did here, we can be a team that has a lot of success this year."

The Kings, though, will need to cut down on miscues going forward after committing nearly seven more turnovers than last year's 14.4 average.

"Unacceptable," Thornton said. "I know it was our first game, but we can't use that as an excuse."

Evans scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a 116-108 home win over Minnesota on April 2 to earn a split in the four-game season series.

Barea, bench spark Wolves in 92-80 win vs. Kings

By DAVE CAMPBELL
Posted Nov 03 2012 12:04AM

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The Minnesota Timberwolves are playing without injured stars Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio, so they might not be flashy for a while.

That was fine on opening night. They had hustle and defense, which is exactly what they tried to add for this season.

J.J. Barea had 21 points and five assists in 28 minutes, helping the Timberwolves overcome a shaky shooting performance and beat the Sacramento Kings 92-80 on Friday.

"The bench did a great job," Barea said. "We came out with a lot of energy."

Brandon Roy pitched in 10 points, six assists and five rebounds and Andrei Kirilenko added 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists as both players returned to NBA action for the first time since the end of the 2010-11 season. But the reserves were the stars of the sold-out show for the Wolves, who survived a 2-for-17 performance from 3-point range by holding Sacramento to 15 fourth-quarter points.

"This team is deep. We have a lot of guys that are just raring to go at any minute," said Dante Cunningham, who grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

Isaiah Thomas had 14 of his 20 points in the third quarter for the Kings, who trailed for most of the game but overtook the Wolves for a stretch after halftime. Reserve Marcus Thornton had 15 points, but DeMarcus Cousins and Tyreke Evans were quiet. The Kings were called for 34 fouls compared to 17 on the home team.

"Very frustrating. It's even more frustrating when the types of fouls that you're getting aren't really physical fouls," Cousins said, adding: "It's just tough for me because the time I am able to play, I'm just all out of whack."

Greg Stiemsma had something to do with that, too. Giving Nikola Pekovic a break, he hounded Cousins around the basket and had nine points, seven rebounds and four blocks in 16 minutes. Kirilenko said he thought Stiemsma intimidated the Kings on a couple of possessions.

"That's my job. Come in, block shots, get some rebounds. Just be a presence in the paint. Just let guys know that I'm there," Stiemsma said.

The Wolves built a 45-27 lead, but they started to let the Kings turn their misses into fast breaks and suddenly found themselves in a scramble midway through the third quarter after a 31-9 surge by Sacramento spanning intermission gave the Kings a five-point lead. Just seconds later, however, Cousins drew his fifth foul and had to sit.

The reserves led the Wolves on a 12-0 spurt to regain command of the game. With Stiemsma's long arms and soft touch in the post, Barea's quickness and confidence and the varied contributions by Cunningham and Chase Budinger, the second group sure looked sharper than the first. Minnesota's bench outscored Sacramento's 46-28 and held a 26-17 rebounding edge, too.

"Part of growing up with this team is not to take the quick shots at that particular point, to focus on what you need at that moment, and obviously it didn't happen," Kings coach Keith Smart said.

He was happy with his defense. The Kings were by far the easiest team to score against in 2011-12, allowing an average of more than 104 points per game.

"Once we attack the basket, I think we can get more fouls," Evans said. "That's what they did: They attacked the basket, and they got a lot of calls."

Cousins had just 11 points and four rebounds. Evans, who had 21 points and eight rebounds in Sacramento's opener, finished with six points on 3-for-14 shooting.

The Kings have a streak of six straight losing seasons that coincides with the amount of time since coach Rick Adelman was fired. Now he's with the Wolves, trying to turn them into the perennial playoff team he had in Sacramento. If he can pull this off without Rubio (left knee surgery) and Love (broken right hand) for at least the first month of the season, the job will be all the more impressive.

The sharp-dressed men behind the bench - Rubio was in a charcoal suit coat; Love wore dark gray - didn't see the prettiest performance. But they saw some real grit.

"We just picked it up, didn't let it bother us and we went on a run of ourselves. That's the NBA game right there," Barea said.

NOTES: Roy played 30 minutes. "It's good to know that I was able to handle it well. My knees felt great, besides some cramps. First game back, I'm excited going forward," he said. ... Kings swingman John Salmons has rejoined the team after a two-week absence to be with his wife and newborn child, but he's not ready for game action yet. Smart said his conditioning needs to be built back up before he'll use him. ... This was the fourth time in seven years that the Timberwolves opened their season at home against the Kings. Sacramento was the opponent for six of the franchise's 24 openers.

Notebook: Wolves 92, Kings 80

Phil Miller, for NBA.com
Posted Sat Nov 03, 2012 12:07 AM - Updated Sat Nov 03, 2012 12:07 AM

THE FACTS: Two players who sat out the 2011-12 season, Andrei Kirilenko and Brandon Roy, scored 10 points apiece in their return to the NBA on Friday, and point guard J.J. Barea scored 21 points and sparked a second-half rally as the Minnesota Timberwolves opened their season with a 92-80 victory over the Sacramento Kings. Both teams made less than 37 percent of their shots, but Minnesota took advantage of the Kings' foul problems and rode a Barea-directed 12-0 run late in the third quarter to pull ahead for good. Sacramento scored only 15 fourth-quarter points to fall to 0-2 on the season. Both teams were led in scoring by their smallest players, Barea for Minnesota, and point guard Isaiah Thomas, who had 21 points on 7-for-13 shooting.

QUOTABLE: "At the end of games, there are a lot of arms up there, but two of them are mine." -- Wolves' Andrei Kirilenko, who had three rebounds and a block in the final five minutes.

THE STAT: 23.1 -- Sacramento's shooting percentage (6-for-26) from the moment it opened their widest lead, 61-56, with 5:26 to go in the third quarter, to the end of the game, a stretch in which the Kings were outscored 36-19.

TURNING POINT: The Kings had rallied from an 18-point deficit to overtake the Timberwolves midway through the third quarter, when Sacramento center DeMarcus Cousins stepped in front of Barea and turned his shoulder to draw contact as the point guard tried to drive past. Cousins was whistled for his fifth personal foul, and was quickly removed from the game. By the time the Kings' center returned to the game eight minutes later, Minnesota, which kept driving to the basket in Cousins' absence, had retaken a five-point lead and was rolling toward a victory.

QUOTABLE II: "Hey, Tornado! Tornado! Or maybe Tasmanian Devil -- we've got to give him a nickname." -- Wolves guard Will Conroy, on hyper-energetic Barea, who led Minnesota with 21 points in 27 minutes.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Roy's jumpshot appeared a little rusty in his first NBA game since April 28, 2011, but coach Rick Adelman urged him to continue shooting, and he finished with 10 points on 4-for-14 shooting. With Kevin Love injured, Adelman said Roy will be counted on to provide fourth-quarter scoring in close games.

INSIDE THE ARENA: The Timberwolves announced a capacity crowd of 19,356, the second straight season their opener has sold out. Minnesota filled Target Center 11 times last season, the most since they had 15 in 2003-04.

GOOD MOVE: Adelman said he made the surprise decision to start Derrick Williams over Dante Cunningham at forward because he felt Cunningham would provide more energy off the bench. He was right; Cunningham, along with Barea and center Greg Stiemsma, helped power Minnesota to a 46-28 scoring advantage over Sacramento's bench.

BAD MOVE: Sacramento exploited an 8-2 advantage in fast-break points in the third quarter to rally from an 18-point deficit, but the Kings stopped pushing the ball down the stretch, choosing a series of one-on-one plays and jump shots in the fourth quarter. Without a fast-break point, Sacramento managed only 15 fourth-quarter points.

ROOKIE WATCH: Neither team's lone rookie had much effect on the game. Kings forward Thomas Robinson, drafted fifth overall last June, scored two points on a pair of free throws in 12 minutes, though he did have two steals and two rebounds. Minnesota guard Alexey Shved went scoreless in 15 minutes, missing all three of his shots.

NOTABLE: Kings swingman John Salmons returned to the Kings after a two-week absence due to the birth of his third child, a son he named Caleb. Sacramento coach Keith Smart said the 10-year veteran would need several days to work himself back into game shape before he can play again. ... Sacramento made only 36.0 percent of its shots, the best showing by a Wolves defense since Washington made 34.5 percent on Jan. 8, 2012. Minnesota led the NBA in scoring defense (80.9 points) and opponent field-goal percentage (38.3 percent). ... Kings point guard Isaiah Thomas scored 14 of his team-high 20 points in the third quarter on 5-for-7 shooting, including 3-for-5 from 3-point range. ... The Wolves improved to 16-8 in home openers. They have opened 12 consecutive seasons in Target Center. ... Forward Chuck Hayes came off the bench to grab a game-high 11 rebounds for the Kings.

UP NEXT: For the Kings, Saturday @ Indiana, Monday vs. Warriors, Wednesday vs. Pistons. For the Timberwolves, Sunday Toronto, Monday @ Brooklyn, Wednesday vs. Magic.

• Kings: Salmons
• Timberwolves: Love, Rubio

• Kings: --
• Timberwolves: --

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 0

• Arena: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
• Officials: #49 Tom Washington, #74 Curtis Blair, #33 Sean Corbin
• Attendance: 19356
• Duration: 2:17