Another practice today, and more lectures on fundamental theory from Kiki and Del. The Nets were gearing up for Wednesday's game against the 5-23 Timberwolves (Buy Tickets), their first opportunity to show whether any lessons have been learned, and they're likely to have Yi Jianlian back to help, albeit in limited minutes.
Though Yi's midrange shooting could prove a key component to spacing the floor for Brook Lopez and Devin Harris, the 7-foot forward's most important role Wednesday might be providing another capable rebounder for Kiki Vandeweghe to call upon. Though Minnesota is among the league's bottom five clubs on offense and defense, they are a top-10 outfit on the boards.
Led by low-post savant Al Jefferson (9.2 RPG) and second-year forward Kevin Love (12.9), who missed six weeks with a broken hand and would be tied with Dwight Howard for the league lead with enough games played, the Timberwolves pull down .500 of available rebounds. They total 43.2 (8th overall) with 12.1 coming on the offensive end (9th).
"Well, look – they’re going to get rebounds," Vandeweghe said. "They’re big, good rebounders. They rebound against everybody in the league, and they’re obviously a lot better with Kevin Love. To me, what we have to do is make sure we still focus on what we want to do. We’re building now. We’ll play the games, we’ll do our best, but we’re going to focus on ourselves and getting to the things we do well. The opponent is the opponent."
That doesn't mean they won't be game-planning for Jefferson, even though the 6-foot-10 big man has struggled somewhat while recovering from the blown ACL he suffered last season. He's averaging only 16.9 points on .464 shooting, down from 23.1 on .497 a year ago. And in what's a sure sign of athletic unease, his blocked shots have dropped by nearly half, to 0.9 from 1.7 per game.
Love, however, has stepped up his efficiency, shooting .491 in 10 games and adding the three-point shot to his repetoire, hitting 9-of-16 already after a 2-for-19 showing all of last season. The frontcourt duo is complemented on the back end by rookie point guard Jonny Flynn, who's averaging 14.2 points and 4.1 assists. Flynn's judgment is improving: in his second month as a pro, the PG's turnovers have gone down (3.4 to 2.5) as his assists have gone up (3.7 to 5.0).
"I remember him a lot from the first time," Harris said. "I know what he's capable of doing. Hopefully, me being 100 percent, it'll be a better matchup this time. I look forward to it."
Love & Basketball
Lopez and Love have a friendly rivalry that goes back to AAU play, and was steepened when they attended Stanford and UCLA, respectively. Lopez plans to hit up Love via text while the 'Wolves are in town, but knows it'll be all business as the Nets attempt to even the season series at 1-1.
"No question," Lopez said. "It’s going to be tougher now that he’s back, though it’ll make it that much sweeter."
Injury Update?
Nope. All status quo: No CD-R or Jarvis tonight. Keyon and Rafer sat out, but there was no indication they'd miss any time.
Lee Looking for the Knockout
As practice came to a close, the Nets lined up at the three-point line for a game of "knockout." Laughing all the while, it came down to Terrence Williams, Courtney Lee and ... Josh Boone. No, really.
But Boone was quickly eliminated after airballing his opening three, leaving Williams and Lee to duel, with Williams shooting first. Lee was unconscious, hitting three after three, but Williams was athletic enough to recover from any miss in time to rebound and sink a tip-in or dunk before Lee's trey ripped through.
This went on long enough that Keyon Dooling jokingly asked Vandeweghe to bring in the huddle. But one of Williams' threes bounced high off the back rim, and Lee's three-pointer swished underneath Williams' futile dunk attempt. Here's to hoping Lee's hot shooting carries over to tomorrow – the kid could use a game where they all go down.
... and so can the Nets. Remember what happened last time?
