Thursday Practice Report

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Jonah Ballow
Wolves Editor/Writer
Email / Twitter

Kurt Rambis DOWNLOAD MP3 Oleksiy Pecherov DOWNLOAD MP3

Optimism reigned supreme at the practice facility today. The Wolves are holding their heads high after battling with Celtics last night. In the midst of a four-game losing skid, head coach Kurt Rambis continues to look forward as Minnesota prepares for Milwaukee.

"A lot of veteran teams and those coaching staffs would have probably taken it fairly lightly on the guys today but our guys need to continue to learn how to work. We need to continue to expand our offense, we need to keep adding stuff, so it's an educational process for them," Rambis said.

The Target Center fans caught a glimpse of the offensive potential from this team. Entering last night's game, Boston was only allowing 79.8 points per game but the Wolves scored 90 behind an explosive performance from Oleksiy Pecherov. The power forward has dealt with a variety of injuries in his short three-year career, keeping him off the court without time to showcase his skills. Unfazed by Kevin Garnett's theatrics and swarming defense, Pecherov found open spots on the perimeter.

"Nothing has changed," Rambis said. "Because of his shooting capabilities, he stretches the defense and 95 percent of the shots that he's getting is just straight out of our offense. He's just a unique player that can shoot the ball a little further out with distance than our other four-men can."

The injury to Kevin Love has presented a golden opportunity for Pecherov and Hollins to play substantial minutes in the Wolves frontcourt. When Love returns to the lineup, both big men will be prepared to contribute and Pecherov is earning the respect of the coaching staff.

"I just feel trusted. It's great to play basketball when you feel the coaching staff trusts you. They let you play your game, they give you some minutes on the court, and it's easy to play like this. You want to do the good things on the court because of coach's trust," Pecherov said.

Wolves' nation might be concerned with the dip in offensive production from Al Jefferson. Through the first five games, Jefferson is receiving double and triple teams while he attempts to recover from the knee surgery last February. Last night, Boston delayed its collapsing attack, which forced Jefferson to look for open teammates. He was decisive in making quality and quick passes for three assists.

"Sometimes, he let himself get pushed way to far off the block and that distorts our offense. Sometimes he made good passes and sometimes he didn't but that's what you get when you have somebody that is a scorer and they have a scorer's mentality. They want the ball in their hands and they are going to try and do what they can to score. You have to have guys like that on your team with that mindset. Some it I accept and some of it we continue to work with him on to get better at."

Big Al is now working on playing through an offense in contrast to the offense playing through him. Expect his conditioning to improve in the next couple of months and Jefferson will begin to post prolific scoring numbers.

The Wolves will shootaround Friday morning to gear up for the Bucks at 7 PM.

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