King James Does it Again
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On Saturday night at Target Center, the Minnesota Timberwolves had a gameplan, executed the gameplan, and still fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers 97-86. You may start to wonder how execution could equate to an 11-point defeat.
Until you realize that LeBron James was in the house.
Head coach Randy Wittman stressed that James would have to settle for jumpers for the Wolves to win. Check. James nailed 6-of-10 treys, including two daggers after the Wolves cut a 13-point lead to four with three minutes to go. LeBron succeeded in the lane only on six occasions.
“Our main focus is not letting anyone else have a breakout game,” said Wittman after Tuesday’s practice. “We can't have someone going for 20 or 25, in addition to what (James) puts up. Then it's very difficult to win.” Check. Second-leading scorer Zydrunas Ilgauskas only managed nine points. Mark Madsen, who just returned to the active list and missed time due to a shoulder injury, displayed his typical aggression and energy. Michael Doleac, who earned his first start as a Wolf, kept Ilgauskas out of his comfort zone down low.
The Wolves went big and small against James, sending the 6-8 Ryan Gomes, 6-4 Greg Buckner and, for a brief stint, even shooting guard Rashad McCants to guard the All-Star forward. On this night, it simply didn’t matter.
“That’s why, when all’s said and done, he’s going to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, who ever played,” Buckner said. “What we wanted to do was make LeBron beat us with jumpers, and that’s what we did.”
Like so many others this season, Minnesota was in a very winnable game. This time, however, they showed poise in the fourth. Despite a depleted lineup that did not feature Sebastian Telfair or Theo Ratliff, they fought until the end.
“The team made a run and we get in the habit of putting our heads down instead of keeping on fighting.” Al Jefferson said. “We have to be in a fighting mode 24/7.”
We also learned on Saturday why Jefferson has seen so many double teams on the low block. Ilgauskas matched up man-to-man against Jefferson for much of the first half, allowing the Wolf to get to the basket at ease and amass 18 by halftime—two shy of his season average. Jefferson tried to match LeBron point for point and fell 15 points short, but the newest Wolves superstar ended up with his first 30-point game in blue and green.
Gerald Green, who has seen limited minutes as he gets more acclimated to the system, provided valuable minutes off the pine. Green, who can be seen after every practice stroking hundreds of jumpers, found a rhythm and contributed with a season-high 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
“Like I said right there when Gerald came into the game and gave us that energy, we were still fighting and then LeBron hit two big 'threes' that hurt us so bad.”
Wittman was also impressed: "(Green) played well tonight. I thought for not playing and coming in, I thought he did a nice job. I thought he just kept playing. No matter what the score was or who was guarding him, he played.”
That will be key for the Wolves as they seek their second win of the season … to just play.
