Game # 70, Home Game #34, Seattle 114, Minnesota 106
1. Parade of Goats
At this point, you really do just have to shake your head and laugh, don't you? Up 88-63 with 5:56 left in the third quarter, the Wolves caved and crumbled like never before in their history, scoring just 18 points in the final 18 minutes while allowing 51 to get buried 106-114 to a putrid Seattle squad without Ray Allen, a team that vanquished the Wolves by 3 on Friday and then lost to San Antonio by 41 on Sunday.
This is one diseased ballclub, folks. This is a team that just walloped the Sonics for 71 points in the first half, shooting 60 percent from the field and from the trey while racking up 21 assists on their 27 baskets versus just 5 turnovers. Midway through the third, the assist/turnover ration had swelled to 26/6 and the 19 point lead bumped to 25. After that? Three assists, 10 turnovers. Sclerotic defense at the other end. The worst aspects of panic and apathy, mixed together into a toxic combo of willful selfish ignorance about the right way to play the game of basketball. Ladies and gents, your parade of goats...
Kevin Garnett. Three dimes in the first 1:49, five in the first quarter, eight for the half. Two rebounds and an assist away from a triple double at the end of 3. Then a 4th quarter of exerting leadership right into the dumpster, an inept and ill-advised performance. He wasn't tired, going only 17:20 in the first half as coach Wittman rested him with a big lead and Utah on the road tomorrow night in the second half of a back to back. He had a decent sit from 2:59 to go in the third to 10:29 to go in the 4th, during which time the Wolves lead was only whittled from 18 to 14.
But in the last five minutes--crunchtime--the Big Ticket was a torn stub. He missed the second of two free throws, holding the lead at 10. Then he traveled. Then he threw a pass that Randy Foye had to use all his hops to snag standing at the baseline (before Foye himself turned it over on a pass back to the cutting but covered KG). Then he missed a 20-foot jumper instead of trying to draw contact. Then he threw the ball way over the point guard's head for a backcourt violation, on a basic pass to the top of the key that he executes successfully a dozen times a game. Then he fouls Wilcox driving baseline on a three-point play. Then he misses an easy, open jumper. This is all within 5 minutes.
Randy Foye. Two assists and zero turnovers after three quarters of action (12:00 overall), then one assists and four huge turnovers--at least three of them, silly, unforced passing errors--and three fouls in 9:14 of play in the 4th. No poise. No court vision. Shoddy defense, continually pulled on a string via jumpers and penetration from backup point guard Mike Wilks, the co-MVP of the game with Rashard Lewis, who also roasted Mike James, who played like a less assertive version of Foye, which in this case lessened the damage.
Trenton Hassell. Rashard Lewis started to get hot so Wittman went small, putting in Hassell for Smith with Minnesota up 10 with 5:19 to play. It is the job of Hassell, the team's defensive stopper, to stop Lewis. Nope. Lewis proceeds to score 12 points in the last 5:19, capping off a 21 point 4th quarter that included nine trips to the free throw line. For the game he had 35, and was 16-17 FT.
Ricky Davis. The only guy with a pulse in the 4th quarter, he helped keep the lead at 15 for nearly half the period with two nifty assists and other nice ball movement. But his showboating in the third--a behind the back pass in traffic on the fast break when the Wolves were up big--sent a message that the squad erronously figured it had the game won (this after choking up a sizable lead to this same team four days ago) and was ready to screw around. There was also a few missed shots, a missed free throw, and a costly turnover in the 4th. And his second half defense on little Earl Watson was abysmal.
Randy Wittman. Many timeouts during the collapse, and many substitutions. No response from his team. He may as well have drawn straws for a player rotation and diagrammed plays in invisible ink on his chalkboard during that 4th quarter.
Dishonorable mentions to Smilin' Mark Blount crossing guard allowing little men into the painted area and a man who enjoys a good internal joke on the bench while his teammates are vomiting up a 25-point margin.
2. Verbatim
Randy Wittman: "It has been the same thing all year; we play the right way for three quarters and then we stop. They trap and we don't swing it. We try a behind-the-back pass in traffic and they get a layup and suddenly a 20-point lead is an 18-point lead and it begins. They [his players] don't respect the game and don't respect the opponent." During timeouts in the huddle "we didn't have anybody wanting to step up. When it got tight, they were hoping the clock would run out. This isn't the first time it has happened this year. We don't have the mix of guys who want to put their foot on their [opponent's] necks. They don't move the ball or make the easy pass with a guy open standing right next to you. For three quarters we didn't care who shot the ball or made the points."
Kevin Garnett: "I told everybody when I came in [the locker room after the game] that I felt like it was my fault...I'm very good at dissecting things, figuring out how we take teams apart. I didn't initiate and do those things and that bothers me...[In the huddles] Ricky kept saying 'Let's pick it up! Let's pick it up!' but we didn't have the same people in the game. They had a small lineup in and we didn't take advantage of it. We stopped playing as a team."
Media question: "This 25 point lead was the biggest one blown in franchise history. Can you put that in perspective?"
Garnett: "No I can't. That's fucked up. That's fucked up."
3. Tick Tock
With tonight's loss, the Wolves are 4 full games behind the Clippers with 12 left to play. If they go 10-2, say, losing only to Dallas and San Antonio while beating the likes of Utah, Golden State and Denver on the road and Miami, Cleveland, and Toronto (Sam Mitchell is undefeated vs. Minnesota) at home, the Clips would only have to split their dozen games to tie at 40-42--and that's assuming the other three squads ahead of or tied with the Wolves (Golden State, New Orleans and Sacramento) don't rally.
Playing time for Rashad McCants: 10:09. For Craig Smith: 21:14. For Randy Foye: 24:48.
I don't know why everyone complains about Ricky not putting his foot on peoples throat. The wolves were up by 20, and could afford a turnover anyway. Back when I was first following the NBA from Michigan, the pistons would joke and laugh and make silly plays after they got teams down. And because showtime was around, the blowout wins would always include 3/4 court bounce passes and plays that were pure show. Seattle was already dead and buried, but for the amazing collapse. Even if you take the closing 25-2 run out of it, the wolves were outscored 26-15.
Although I don't agree with Zman that Cassell's presence invalidates KG's part of the playoff run (name a team that won the NBA finals without TWO hall of famers), I agree with Britt that the search for goats should start with him. He is the player who is most likely to make a good possession happen, but he didn't do it.
The Wolves are losers and that means all of them. And KG, the $21 million man, the highest paid player in the league, is the biggest loser of them all. If he completes his contract he will have been paid about $200 million by the Wolves for a grand total of two playoff series wins. For the mathematically deprived, that's $100 million per series win. And, you can't really give him credit for those wins as Sam Cassell was the key player; as soon as he couldn't play they lost to the Lakers. Its time to trade him, Ricky and as many others as the Wolves can move. If they don't Foye, Smith and McCants will end up learning to be losers too.
As to signing quality free agents, dream on. A free agent looks at the finances and other factors such as a winning tradition and a pleasant place to live during the season. The Wolves have a losing tradition and the worst weather in the league. As to the finances, they really have a problem. First, as long as they pay KG over $20 million, they can only offer the mid-level exception, in other words no more than any other team can offer. Second, Minnesota has among the highest income tax rates in the country. This contrasts with, say, Texas which has no state income tax. Third, an NBA player in this market will get next to no money from local endorsement deals. So, the only way the Wolves can make up for this is to offer longer contracts which explains why they have some of these bad long-term contracts. The Wolves can only improve through the draft but they have been inept at making good choices and have traded too many choices away.
I think it's fine to be upset with Foye's performance because it's a learning experience. Good or bad. But having to listen to Jim/Tom blame it on the rookie was wrong. I am not trying to say my view is objective, it's not, but what I saw was a collapse long before Foye came in. I could see the ball movement fade. I saw the effort wayne. The defense become loose. It was obvious they were done playing.
I was shaking my head and laughing for the first 2 1/4 quarters. Then I was raising my fist in anger, shouting mercilessly at the television. Did we al kinda say "no way, not gonna happen" as far as blowing the lead but deep down you knew...just knew it was a possibility. Then that sense of doubt concerning them winning began to grow and grow.. the more the lead shrank..the more the doubt grew. And at the end... reality.
I'm going to the Miami game this Friday...to see SHAQ and maybe dress up for 80's night. It's the only way I can justify giving any money to this team. But the visiting team gets a little bit too right? Hey maybe if I get lucky the 1889 T-Wolves will show up...at least they tried and had pride and dignity.
Side note: The Seattle Super Sonics were the first team (first game) the Timberwolves played in 1989. They lost, but hey ..at least they didn't indignify themselves.
I don't have much to add to the commentary about last night's disaster other than I'm sure looking a lot less forward to attending Friday's game, though I should at least get a free shirt out of it if I get there early enough.
But for any folks hoping there's some magical answer in this year's free agent class, I'm afraid that's not very likely based on this list of 2007 free agents from ESPN.com:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2654216
I agree with those who abhor tanking to improve a team's lottery chances, but after these last couple games against Seattle, I don't think the Wolves could play much worse if they actually tried to.
Can anyone think of a worse NBA coaching change? The Iron Ranger and Wittman gotta go or people like us are going to get too fed up to care. I seriously think Glen should publically apologize for firing Casey. If this franchise isn't the laughing stock of the league over the past two years, I don't know what team is. Even the Knicks and Celtics seem to have a better idea what they're doing.
Even as one who is basically wishing for losses to move up the draft order, I'm certainly not happy with the way last night's game went down. It helps us in the long run but...
Wow
It just...hurts so bad. I don't even care anymore. It's just funny. Why did we fire Case??????
It's gonna take at least another 3-4 years, sans KG, for this team to even possibly be a contender again. Or we might just go back into the wilderness, ala those first years as an expansion team.
A tidbit about this horrendous season that won't be captured in any statistic is how many games we've lost to teams without key players in the lineup. I can't recall them all right now but it's a significant number, a few off hand would be the game last night, Sonics without Ray, Lakers without Odom, Jazz without Boozer, Hornets without Paul, the list goes on. The Wolves have not encountered any injury problems of their own either. A few games without Jaric and Hassell but overall an injury free season. It would be hypocritical to be too upset about this game because I have officially switched into the keep our draft pick camp, but it is another condemnation of Wittman's attrocious coaching job. He can not remain the coach for next year, McHale can not remain the GM, and boy do I wish we could fire the owner for keeping McHale around as long as we have. What's that song? If I had a hundred million dollars...I'd buy me a sports franchise.
Excellent. I'm firmly entrenched in the camp of acquiring a draft pick this year and am thankful, yes thankful, for this result. A playoff berth will not build momentum or experience. We need to acquire another KG, we need to acquire a player with the talent of a Wade, Nash, Kobe, Dirk, or Duncan to become a serious contender. Until then, and I acknowledge that it may never happen, I'm hoping for a great draft pick.
While I agree that the blame should be spread around, there is only one goat: Randy Wittman. One could pull a random B-Squad assistant coach from an area high school and have a better chance at protecting a lead than Mr. Wittman. Yes, the Pups didn't execute down the stretch, however even a subpar coach would have the presence of mind to see the game slipping away when the lead was down to single digits.
Replacing Casey with Wittman has been the second biggest mistake of the season for the Wolves (after the AI non-trade). Not MIke James. Not the Jaric non-trade. "Inconsistent play" seems to be the all-encompassing phrase to describe this squad, and there's only one person on a team who can be blamed for that: The Head Coach.
.500 with Casey, 10 games below .500 with Wittman. A .500 record right now would have us a half game out of the 7 seed. Instead, we can only hope to lose the remaining 12 games to secure a bottom-10 finish. Yuck.
Just thankful that we have Britt, by far the best columnist there is in covering the abysmal wolves. Still wondering: why is this team trying to get into the playoffs? Is this the squad that's going to beat the Mavs? Should the two teams even be in the same league? Would love to see Rasheed, Foye, and C. Smith get many more minutes and develop for years to come. But of course, these are our Wolves. Logic has no place with this team
Hmmm.... Good thing I was less than sober last night. That made this epic implosion much easier to stomach. By the end we were definitely shaking our heads and laughing (manically, I might add.)
On the bright side, before the game I was resigned to the fact that there was no way we could lose to Seattle at Home without Ray Allen, which would cost us valuable space in the reverse draft pick order. So, the loss isn't too devastating at the time being. (The future consequences are far graver.) We are currently tied for 9th with the Knicks and Kings. So, we gotta keep losing to keep our pick, and with Utah (road), Miami, and Orlando (road) coming up, we should notch three losses. It's just too bad in the way that we manage to lose these games that we are hemorrhaging away. I wonder if we are the laughing stock of the league yet?
Some things that jumped out at me: (I had some stuff in memory to post as soon as your column came out, but you nailed most of it yourself! Sneaky, but thorough...)
- KG actually had his 9 assists with 11 minutes to go in the third! How do you get 9 assists playing 18 minutes in the beginning and then NO MORE over the last 23 minutes of the game? Preposterous.
- PG Defense. It's gotta be among the worst in the league. Anyone with two eyeballs can see that for themselves.
- 25 Point collapse, AT HOME, Without Ray Allen, to a team actually worse than us: How does that happen? I'm not even mad anymore, I'm just wondering. And it's not like this is a one time thing... it happens ALL THE TIME.
- 71 points in the first half. 35 points in the second half: Seattle's "lock-down" defense surely bamboozled us that second half. (Insert eye roll here)
- Rashard Lewis 21 point fourth quarter: Couldn't draw up any defenses to stop him huh? I guess I can understand that if we were to have double teamed him or something, Seattle has a plethora of guys on their team that can beat you in a variety of ways. (Insert "Puke" emoticon here)
- Up by like 15 with 6 minutes to go: Way to show some killer instinct. Looks like you really want to be in the playoffs.
- Everything else: I could go on and on, but I do need to get work done today at some point.
Hopefully our Front Office realizes how completely inept and unfunctional (word?) this team truly is (doubtful.) Perhaps they will quit trying to sell us on making the playoffs as first round fodder for the Mavs. Who are they kidding? Our best course of action at this point is the draft....
Well, actually our BEST course of action is to clean house from top to bottom of this organization, but we all know that won't happen.
There's not much you can say about that one. I can only think of one question. Tank?
Its hard to explain a loss, let alone an historic collapse, to a horrible team without its best player at home - especially when the collapse is lead by KG.
I'm thinking it is a subconscious thing. I might be rationalizing, but, maybe noone has given the orders to tank the rest of the season, but then again, no one is telling them not to. Perhaps, they think they are not suppose to win. Yeah, its a subconscious deal. Two years in a row, now. Its ingrained in their minds to be losers. The question now is how to turn a losing mindset back into a winning one. Or, can it even be done?
Many more laughs to come. Of the thirteen games left going into last night, this one was one of two you could pencil in for the WIN column. The other eleven looked more challenging, and didn;t leave one with much hope for the playoffs, but left you feeling good about the draft pick. The other one was the last home game against Memphis. This team has the potential to close out without getting another win and the Memphis game should be more entertaining than the clowning around that accompanies a Harlem Globetrotters show.
I'm not sure that Ricky Davis was showboating on that behind the back pass. As I recall that play, whoever threw him the pass downcourt was just as at fault. He had no fast break advantage, no path to the hoop, and, as you mentioned, the Sonics had two or three guys back there with him. I think he realized that and was just trying to hit the trailer on the play, who I think was KG. His mistake was in not just grabbing the ball and holding it until the troops arrived, as opposed to showboating or screwing around. At least not this time.
As for KG, his attempts to "shoulder the blame" are admirable, but smack of after-the-fact image buffing. He'll call himself out before the critics can, thereby defraying their ammo before it's used. He should just keep his mouth shut from here on out, play hard, and let the people in the front office who created this train wreck take the heat while raising ticket prices.
Wittman says his players don't respect the game. His comment that "it's been the same thing all year," well, then what's he been doing all along as a coach, assistant or head?
I "viewed" the game at work this evening via the live stats online. As the Wolves took an early lead, I felt heartened in knowing that they were actually handling business in the Target Center against a team which they should be handling business. As the fourth quarter came about and I watched KG's box score awaiting the triple double, I soon noticed no triple dubs, and started to watch the lead dwindle. At that moment I remembered there is no such thing as a "gimme" with this club, and realized right then and there, that I was in for dissapointment. When the lead was under 10, I knew it was done.