After the Wolves emerged from Seattle with their third-consecutive road win, the team hopped on a quick flight to Portland for a Saturday night tilt with the Trail Blazers. What follows is a complete summary of the road trip's happenings:
MARCH 15 -- Game Day @ Portland
On the second day of a back-to-back, NBA teams generally don't shoot around in the morning, but instead align for a breakfast meeting at the team hotel. Such was the case in Portland for the Wolves, who finished up around 12:30 p.m in time for Minnesota's road staff to enjoy the delectable spread. Afterwards, we sat down with color analyst Jim Petersen for a Portland edition of Wolves Wrap.
In addition to discussing Wolves and NBA issues with Pete, we took a look at the 6-10 former NBA player's laptop, which features a slingbox and wireless internet card so that he can watch games and shows he DVRs at home, and examine his intricate system of links that allow him to find every possible piece of information pertaining to his preparation in two or three clicks. It's pretty impressive, and one of the reasons why he's able to offer insight across such a wide sphere of influence when on the air.
CLICK HERE for Portland Wolves Wrap.
The first bus to the game leaves at 4:45 p.m. Pacific, and we'll check in from the arena once we're set up.
Wolves vs. Trail Blazers @ Rose Garden
Pregame Notes: - As the players shot around before tipoff,
Mark Madsen said that while Portland is a nice arena with a good crowd (20 straight sellouts), his favorite place to play on the road is Toronto*. Mad Dog also spoke of
Chris Richard's nice game last night in Seattle, in which the second-round pick scored six points, grabbed four rebounds, had two assists and a steal in 18:30. That Richard's playing almost ensures that Madsen is sitting on the bench, but Mad Dog could be seen rising to cheer upon any good play Richard made. "I remember when I was in his shoes," said Madsen.
*Jim Petersen likes the Rose Garden the best of any arena. Petersen's sitting next to us in press row (no TV tonight), so we'll be citing him periodically.
- Richard's college teammate
Corey Brewer, after going through his regular pregame workout with assistant coach
J.B. Bickerstaff, caught up with us in an audio piece. The synthesis was that he was really happy to see Richard's success yesterday ... He also confirmed that Richard, in fact, is a good cook (as Richard stated before we left on the trip).
CLICK HERE for Brewer pregame sound.
- Finally, Bickerstaff and
Marko Jaric had a little trick shot competition, in which each guy was afforded five shots while sitting on the scorer's table, the winner to receive an undisclosed prize. Bickerstaff - clearly duping Jaric - nailed his first attempt. "When you don't have skill, you have to come up with tricks," said J.B. "I got lucky, but I knew what I was doing. When I was in Charlotte, I used to try and make one before every game." Touché.
OK, game time. We'll stick with our A, B, C and D:
First Quarter
A) The game's first bucket came when
Joel Pryzbilla got called for goaltending on
Al Jefferson's shot near the bucket. In related news, Portland calls him "The Thrilla," and plays Michael Jackson's "Thriller" whenever he does something good. Whatever.
B) Blazers head coach
Nate McMillan called a timeout at the 8:13 mark, clearly dissatisfied with his team trailing the Timberwolves 11-4. The result was five quick points, first an and-1 from
Pryzbilla (we're not calling him "Thrilla") and second a
Brandon Roy J.
C)
Jefferson seems to have the least success against big NBA centers who simply sit on him and don't go for pump fakes, such as
Pryzbilla. When Jefferson goes on attack mode and takes a bigger player to the hoop immediately, he's terrific, but sometimes he waits for a few breaths, allowing the double-team to come and generally eliminating the play. That's what was going on for most of the first quarter, when he had just two shot attempts. More on this from Pete's perspective in a bit.
D) Friday night in Seattle,
Ryan Gomes was terrific with 12 points and nine boards in the first quarter. Tonight? Another excellent first period: 12 points, four rebounds and an assist to lead Minnesota to a 29-28 advantage after one. "He has a big on him and he can shoot the perimeter jump shot, so he has a mismatch," explained Petersen. "That's to his strength."
Second Quarter
A) During a timeout, with Minnesota up 35-32, we learn about Pete's great mascot mind: Portland's version of Air Crunch, the huge bubbly thing (Blaze), was going through a routine similar to the one we've seen in Minnesota. First were a series of dance moves, followed by the obvious messing with security guards and licking fans. Then, Pete said, "Now comes the silly string." Sure enough, Blaze sprayed the first row with string. "Hilarity ensues whenever Blaze comes out," Pete concluded.
B) The game's best shooter at the 5:35 mark of the second quarter? You guessed it,
Corey Brewer. It wasn't just that Brewer hit 4-of-5 shots, it was that each came immediately after he caught the ball, and none was closer than 17 feet.
C) Why does
Jefferson have just four points and four boards? We asked Petersen: "Portland did the same thing to Jefferson at Target Center, and they do one of the best jobs of double-teaming in the NBA. They come with another big, instead of sending a point guard, which is more effective ... They do a great job of sealing off the middle from him with the primary defender, and then taking away the baseline from him with another big by coming right up next to him." However, the fact that they are doubling so hard has resulted in several open perimeter looks for the Wolves, and Minnesota is knocking them down. Point being, it's good to have a guy that demands a double, even if he's not scoring himself.
D) Minnesota amassed 16 assists in the first half (including five from
Foye, on pace to surpass the season high (29), and turned the ball over just four times, but Portland played equally well on offense (17 assists, five turnovers) and claimed a 54-53 lead heading into the break.
Roy and
LaMarcus Aldridge combined for 31 points on 13-of-20 shooting.
Jaric added 13 points to 14 from
Gomes and eight off the bench from
Brewer to pace the Wolves.
Third Quarter
A) Portland was all over the Wolves for a good four-minute stretch of the third quarter, racing to a 79-67 lead capped by
Steve Blake's jumper. This was the point where you wondered if the Wolves were starting to get tired - considering the Seattle game - but to their credit, the Wolves scored the next five points to stay in the contest.
B)
Foye was on triple-double watch after a rebound and bucket near the quarter's close: Nine points, nine boards and seven assists with 1:30 remaining in the third. The three assists needed could be tough...
C)
83-74 Portland after three. A big difference in the game through three quarters was 3-point shooting. Minnesota had missed all nine of its attempts, while the Blazers converted 6-of-12.
D) The Wolves shot only two free throws in the third quarter.
Jefferson was better, however, as he totaled 10 points, two boards and a dime.
Fourth Quarter
A) Portland's
Travis Outlaw made a few tough, contested jumpers from the perimeter early in the period that made it tough for the Wolves to stay in the game. Outlaw has attained a reputation for hitting shots in the fourth quarter, evident again on Saturday. His third J of the fourth came at the 5:50 mark, putting Portland up 100-87.
B) Instead of regressing,
Brewer stepped up and hit two more perimeter jumpers in the quarter (12 total points), and had grabbed seven boards to couple two assists.
C) An interesting point from Petersen: One of
Nate McMillan's philosophies is not to foul. Since they want to play up-tempo, and keep themselves out of the penalty. Tonight, Portland committed just 12 personal fouls. Pete also noted that the Blazers do a great job of keeping the weak side defense occupied with their movement off the ball. For example, Portland's two weak side offensive players will often criss-cross, which means the Wolves can't just stay put in the zone.
D) After getting some rest to begin the quarter,
Foye didn't check back into the game until the 4:33 mark, which proved too little time for him to get the triple-double.
Final Score: Portland 107, Minnesota 96. Time to run to the bus.
MARCH 14 -- Game Day @ Seattle
Game day means morning shootaround, afternoon rest and a 5:15 p.m. bus back to Key Arena in preparation for the 7:30 p.m. (Pacific) tipoff against Seattle.
Shootaround - Trash Talk
Fact: NBA players talk a lot of junk. That's just how it is when you put so many strong, generally confident personalities together in a constantly competitive atmosphere. Alas, even during a shootaround in which Minnesota's coaches align to prepare the Wolves for dealing with Kevin Durant and his 17 shots per game, or how to defend a specific inbounds play, the players are constantly jabbering, barking and hollering at one another.
The disclaimer is that most, if not all, of the trash talk seems good-natured. These guys genuinely like each other, and enjoy - in different degrees -giving one another a hard time. So, instead of giving away any of the overheard strategy against the Sonics and risking a beat-down from the staff, let's talk about trash talking. We asked several of the guys to name the best and worst trash talkers on the squad:
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Chris Richard: "The best is probably Rashad or Buck. The worst? That's Kirk Snyder. He terrible. You heard some of his jokes?"
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Greg Buckner first abstained from answering the question, then noted the skills of Michael Doleac and Antoine Walker. "One of those Miami guys. They're pretty good."
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Marko Jaric doesn't talk a lot of junk, and said he wasn't sure who the best or worst is. He did, however, give me some helpful tips about playing FIFA08 on Playstation 3. Jaric used to play FIFA against Kevin Garnett in the locker room all the time, and almost always won. He said KG won once in a while, if Jarib were playing with a second division team and Garnett had Barcelona or Manchester United.
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Ryan Gomes immediately said that McCants is the best talker, and that Corey Brewer is the worst. "Brewer doesn't talk at all," added Snyder.
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Randy Foye said that McCants was the worst, though Richard quickly explained that Foye was just trying to rile McCants up by saying as much. "That means I have to start trash talking Randy," said McCants.
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Mark Madsen, whom everybody loves talking to, said that guys will often rib him about who's better 1-on-1, or who gets more minutes. BUT ... "I just ask them one question: How many rings do you have?" In the NBA, that's the trump card, Mad Dog. You got it. "There's no good answer for that one," Dog concluded.
Voice of the Timberwolves
Upon returning to the hotel, we sat down in the lobby with Mr. Tom Hanneman, the voice of the Wolves, a man who's been with the franchise since its inception when he handled sideline reporting duties alongside Kevin Harlan and Len Elmore. In fact, Hanneman was on the sideline for the first Wolves game ever, which happened to be right here in Seattle, in 1989.
Hanneman reflected on some old times in Seattle, talked about the seemingly imminent move of the organization, and delved into his preparation for tonight's game. Take a listen:
CLICK HERE for Hanneman audio.
SuperSonics Pregame Breakdown
No one follows the SuperSonics more closely than supersonics.com reporter Kevin Pelton, so we sat down with KP to discuss Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and the Sonics leading up to tipoff.
CLICK HERE Sonics Audio.
Wolves @ Sonics
Game time. During each quarter, we'll take a look at a few key points from our perch at midcourt directly above radio broadcasters Billy McKinney and Alan Horton. A few key points to remember: the Wolves generally struggle against Seattle for whatever reason, losing six straight and all three times this year, including a 111-108 OT loss at Target Center on Mar. 2. However, the Wolves destroyed the coffee drinkers in the paint on that night, going for 64 points, the most the franchise had scored since 1996 against Boston. If they can do that again ... No way Minnesota loses this time it gets so many easy hoops.
First Quarter
A)
Dealing with Durant: How did Minnesota want to defend
Kevin Durant on Friday? Well, Durant's struggled all season to make shots, having hit just 432-of-1,058 (40.8 percent), but he still jacks up 17 a night, meaning he's going to get his (average = 19.5). That's almost twice as many attempts as
Chris Wilcox takes (611), which is second on the Sonics. Alas, at shootaround, the Wolves' coaching staff explained to
Marko Jaric - charged with guarding last season's college P.O.Y. - that it is important to keep Durant out of the paint, to be physical with him and to make sure to contest each one of his jumpers. In the first, Durant managed six points on just 2-of-6 shooting, pretty par for his course. Jaric (and
Rashad McCants) did a solid job of limiting him primarily to perimeter looks.
B)
Sonics start hot, Wolves answer: The Sonics opened the game with a 9-2 run, forcing
Randy Wittman to take a timeout at the 9:13 mark. However, the Wolves responded by immediately getting the ball to
Al Jefferson on the low block, which is always a good idea (like flossing, or exercising). Jefferson laid it in for an easy baseline bucket. Good play call from the Wolves, who were much sharper after the languid start.
C)
Both baskets ... Open to visitors: Minnesota went small in the first quarter, with
Ryan Gomes playing the four, and Seattle took advantage by scoring several easy buckets near the rim. However, Seattle's defense was equally porous, and the Wolves were able to score 32 points of their own, including several easy layups. One such came from
Randy Foye in the final seconds of the quarter, after Foye Boy (that's what's inscribed on his Nikes) picked off a pass and soared in for his fourth dunk of the season. Seattle's
Nick Collison managed his second put-back of the first with under a second remaining to pull Seattle within two (32-30) at quarter's end.
D) Seattle's crowd, while not full, is actually quite loud. There were rumors of possible on-court protests, or at least, a block of fans standing with their collective back to the floor in quiet protest ... But neither happened. Several extra police officers, however, were present just in case.
Second Quarter
A)
Gomes has monster first quarter: Looking back at the first period quickly ... If
Gomes keeps it up, he'll finish with 48 points and 32 rebounds tonight. The Providence grad was everywhere in the first, grabbing eight boards (three offensive) and scoring 12 points on 5-of-9 from the field. He looked like
The Rhino against a boys high school team. By the way, does anyone else think
Al Jefferson could go for 48 and 32 some night?
B)
Go Gators: What up Florida? On a day after their two-time defending national champion Gators were most likely eliminated from NCAA contention by losing to Alabama in the SEC Tournament, Wolves rookies
Corey Brewer and
Chris Richard hooked up on a beautiful second-quarter play. First Brewer picked a long pass in transition, gave the ball up to Richard near midcourt, streaked to the basket and ultimately got a pretty pass from his good friend for a big flush at the rim. Take that, Crimson Tide.
C)
Paint points out of control: At the 5:33 mark of the second quarter, the Wolves had already scored 30 points in the paint, to 20 for Seattle. That's crazy high, as Minnesota averages 42.5 a night, good for ninth in the NBA. Minnesota would finish with 38 on the quarter, to Seattle's 24, but trailed the Sonics 60-57 after two.
D) Minnesota allowed Seattle to shoot 63.6 percent in the first half, just a tad better than the 44.4 averaged by the Sonics throughout the year.
Wilcox was the only player over 10 points, with 11, while five other players had at least six points. Minnesota was led by 12 from
Gomes, all in the first quarter, while
Brewer had a nice second quarter en route to 11 points.
Third Quarter
A)
McCants continues with the +: The +/- of
McCants has been very good of late, and Friday night was no different. At the 1:56 mark of the third, for example, he was a game-high +21 after hitting a triple for his 11th point. More impressively, he had seven boards and two dimes despite missing 5-of-8 shots.
B)
Gomes ties season-high on the glass: At the 3:47 mark of the third quarter,
Gomes grabbed his 15th rebound to tie a season-high. Perhaps he stopped by the fish market (pictured) earlier?
C)
Wolves go nuts in second half of third quarter: After falling behind 72-68, the Wolves absolutely caught fire, going on a 29-11 run to finish the quarter up 97-88. They scored - you guessed it - 40 points in the period, tying a season-high attained vs. Indiana on Dec. 21.
D)
Jefferson held in check through three: Due in part to
Gomes's success on the glass, and some solid minutes off the glass from
Richard and
Smith, Jefferson had just 12 points and two boards through three quarters.
Fourth Quarter
A)
Sonics crawl back: After the Wolves extended their lead to 105-92 at the 8:32 mark of the fourth, Seattle went on a 8-0 run to get within five, forcing another Minnesota timeout. As they had in the first quarter, however, Minnesota went right to
Jefferson down low out of the timeout for a quick bucket.
B)
Big Al, again: An even bigger
Jefferson bucket came in direct response to a
Durant and-1 at the 5:18 mark to push Minnesota's lead back to six. Durant had actually made six straight shots at that point, perhaps in response to our constant chatter about his poor shooting.
C)
Gela - who? Seattle forward
Mickael Gelabale had a few important buckets in the fourth quarter, including a jumper to bring Seattle within four near the 4-minute mark. But the answer came this time from
Kirk Snyder, whose aggressive move to the hoop resulted in a Wolves and-1 at the 3:25 mark to make it 113-105.
D)
Jefferson, Gomes close it out: We mentioned that
Jefferson had been held in check throughout the first three quarters, but in the fourth he scored four big points late and grabbed three key defensive rebounds to help quell Seattle's push to get back into the game.
Gomes also made a big shot with under two minutes to go, giving him a terrific line of 23 points and 15 rebounds, and our game MVP honors.
FINAL SCORE: Wolves 121, SuperSonics 116
Wittman had this to say about Gomes after the game:
"“The guy who was solid all night was Ryan (Gomes). I thought he was the glue for this team the whole night. In the 1st half he was a monster on the boards, activity, helping, diving on the floor…as well as in the 2nd half. He was probably our most consistent player and just had a monster game. I couldn’t ask Ryan to do more at either end of the floor."
Foye was solid with 21 points and seven assists, while
Brewer and
Richard had arguably their best combined effort of the season. The bench as a whole, in fact (Florida plus
McCants and
Smith was outstanding:
"I thought our bench really gave us a huge lift, especially in that third quarter," added Wittman. "We weren’t defending at all and Chris (Richard) came in and really solidified things for us in the paint. We were able to get up 13. Corey (Brewer) in both halves I thought was solid."
Here's the Wittman audio from Minnesota's terrific offensive effort (including getting to the line 37 times), and not-so-terrific defensive effort (giving up 116 points on 52.3 percent shooting).
CLICK HERE for Wittman postgame audio
On to Portland
Immediately after Wittman's last word, it was a rush to the first bus, which took off almost immediately for a 10-minute trek to the airport. 15 minutes later, we were in the air for a short 45-minute flight to Portland, where the Wolves face the Blazers in the second half of a back-to-back Saturday evening. We'll check in from Oregon tomorrow. What up, Blake Hoffarber. Respect.
MARCH 13 -- Travel Day
Having arrived in predicatably rainy Seattle, we wanted to check in with a report just about 24 hours in advance of Minnesota's tipoff against the SuperSonics.
Barring unforeseen or unusual circumstances, NBA teams always leave on the night before a road game, primarily so that the players and coaches can establish their routine in a given city that allows for the highest possible degree of normalcy heading into a game.
On this particular trip, the Timberwolves boarded their charter plane that left Minneapolis at 3 p.m. Central, arriving in Seattle at 4:45 p.m. Pacific. We'll get there in a moment ... But before the team left (OK, yesterday), we recorded a video scouting report with assistant coach J.B. Bickerstaff that you can view right here:
CLICK HERE to watch.
By the way, J.B. Bickerstaff must be leading the NBA assistant coaches in contributions to a website, for which we're eternally grateful.
Moving forward, now, after Thursday morning's practice, which started at 11 a.m., we spoke to Sebastian Telfair to hear about his ankle:
Telfair Ankle Update
While MRI results earlier in the week were negative - which is a positive, of course - Sebastian Telfair's ankle remains sore, and he's staying in Minneapolis to continue rehabilitation with assistant trainer Anthony Aldridge instead of joining the team on the trip to the Pacific Northwest.
"It's still very sore and there's a lot of swelling," Telfair said subsequent to Thursday's practice, which he watched from the sideline. "But it's getting better every day."
Telfair's sporting a large protective boot, which he said helps minimize the pain he feels, and he wears a tight sock at night intended in part to reduce swelling.
Also after practice, head coach Randy Wittman concluded that Telfair is sore but improving.
Flying to the Emerald City
Of course, it was gorgeous in Minneapolis on Thursday for the first time in 2008, meaning we had to get out of town. After driving to the airport, at least one team reporter forgot his cell phone and wallet at security before walking towards the plane and realizing as much 15 seconds later (though at the private terminal, security is a 30 second walk from the plane). However, saving the day was Ryan Gomes (pictured above prior to boarding), who emerged from security with essentials in hand. Good lookin'.
The only two important events on a smooth flight were:
A) The terrific meal - P.F. Chang's Mongolian Beef, and...
B) The fact that I got TV color analyst Jim Petersen into the best TV show in history, HBO's "The Wire." Season one, episode one. This will surely come up in future Wolves Wraps with Pete, and probably take away from how much we talk about basketball. Oh well. What can you do?
Chat with Chris Richard
Time to catch up with one of the guys. Center Chris Richard recently returned from the Wolves' NBA D-League affiliate in Sioux Falls, S.D., and we started our conversation about how he's happy to be back on Minnesota's charter plane. However, the chat quickly turned towards the culinary, as Richard claimed and then defended that he's the best cook on the squad. "I think I might nominate myself ... I can cook whatever." Particularly for a lady he may be trying to woo.
To listen to our complete conversation, click below.
CLICK HERE to listen to Richard
Halfway through, Gomes stuck his head in: "Gomes just wants all the attention," said Richard, obviously joking. "He wants to cut in on my interview ... He wants all the shots, all the minutes, all the blocks, all the assists. He wants everything."
Seattle, Washington
Before traveling to Seattle, word had it that the Emerald City was beautiful, geographically unique and .... well, rainy. Each proved true, as the Wolves learned on the plane while descending from the clouds straight through some massive rain clouds.
After hopping on the bus for a short ride to what proved to be a gorgeous downtown hotel just blocks from Puget Sound, players, coaches, broadcasters and staffers will either work, eat, rest or a combination of all three. Then it's back to the bus in the morning, destined for Key Arena, where shootaround should begin at 10:30 a.m.
We'll check back in afterwards with more.
