Regular Season Game #71, Road Game #37, Utah 108, Minnesota 102

1. The Curse of the Rolling Roles
The best things you can say about last night's six-point loss to the division-clinching Utah Jazz are that it removed the Wolves from the stench of their monumental collapse the previous evening, and set them further along the road to keeping their precious draft pick. Otherwise, the differences between the two clubs in terms of teamwork, roles, and substitution rotations were far more glaring than the final margin.

Under Jerry Sloan, everyone on the Jazz knows exactly what he should be doing, and why. The club's starting five is beautifully balanced, with a large, physical, classic point guard in Deron Williams, a low post banger in power forward Carlos Boozer, an energy-oriented disruptor in small forward Kirilenko, an unconventional primary three-point threat in center Mehmet Okur, and a shrewd veteran glue guy cherry-picking his moments in off-guard Derek Fisher.

Now consider the Timberwolves. Let's face it, there is a vacuum at point guard. Mike James was physically and mentally overmatched against Williams, staying with his "aggressive" mantra to the tune of four shots, zero assists and two fouls in the game's first 5:37, sending him to the bench with the Wolves down 9-13. By that time, Willaims had already laid down three dimes and gone 1-2 FG. Randy Foye fared a little better, amassing 17 points and 4 assists in a sizable 38:05 that stemmed from James being unable to contain Williams without fouling (at least he tried that instead of the matador of his first three months). But when it was all done, the Wolves' point guard had 23 points on 22 shots, 4 assists and 3 turnovers. On his own, Williams had 22 points on 9 official shots (he got to the line 14 times, versus 6 for Foye-James), 14 assists and 3 turnovers.

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On this ballclub, KG must simultaneously be Kirilenko and Boozer, the banger and the disrupter. And at this point in the season, he's toast, physically and mentally. Usually he has his way with Boozer, but last night Boozer not only matched his point total (25), but outrebounded (11-8) and outassisted (3-1) KG. When that happens, this team ain't gonna beat Utah.

Which brings us to Ricky Davis, who must simultaneously be Williams and Fisher--the guy who initiates the offense and the one smart enough to flow to what is needed from the backcourt. Just for "fun," I thought I'd compare the Wolves' won-lost records with which players led the squad in points and assists. I'm not totally sure what it means--making definitive conclusions on what really is sort of a random correlation--except that the rolling roles on this squad bring a lot of different players into the mix. Anyway, the charitable way to put it is that Minnesota should rely more on Ricky Davis to carry the load for this squad. The uncharitable way to see it is that the Wolves peform much better on the nights Davis bothers to show up. On the team-high 26 occasions when he has led (or co-led) the team in assists, the Wolves are a gaudy 16-10; every other assist-leader sends the team to a sub-.500 mark. For KG, the margin is close, 9-10. For the point guards, it is not. The Wolves are a collective 7-15 when either James (4-10) or Foye (3-5) lead the squad in assists. They are even worse, 3-9, when small forwards Trenton Hassell (2-7) or Marko Jaric (1-2) are the assist leader.

For points, on the 20 times Davis has led the team, they are exactly .500 at 10-10. For everyone else, not so good. When KG tops them in points, it is 17-24; when anyone other than Davis or KG is the point leader, the team is 3-12.

As I say, making definitive judgments on this stuff is very dicey, if not specious. But it does seem to indicate that the point guards are currently incapable of successfully leading this squad in either shooting or dishing; that they are, at best, complementary pieces to the KG-Ricky Show. As for those top two, one might think their versatility would be an asset, and on a more experienced, better-coached ballclub, perhaps that's true. But it has not worked out on this club in this season.

2. Blount Trauma
The sad thing about center Mark Blount is that he literally can't win for trying. Like most Timberwolves observers I've been critical of Blount's absence of intensity and, by extension, integrity, as he has seemingly mailed in his performances since the All Star break, routinely torpedoing Minnesota's hopes for victory in the process. During the 4th quarter Seattle debacle, Blount sat on the bench frequently sporting a "what me worry?" smirk and exchanging pleasantries with other scrubs like Justin Reed and Troy Hudson, oblivious (or not: it is damning either way) to the carnage taking place on the court.

But last night, Blount was hustling his rear off. Not only did he continue showing hard on the pick and roll (his one strength aside from that sweet jumper), but he fought for rebounds with a diligence nearly always in limbo when it comes to Blount and boards. It got to the point where the tables were ironically turned in crunchtime, as Wolves color commentator and fairly steadfast Blount booster Jim Petersen excoriated him for not covering Mehmet Okur on a crucial trey that bumped Utah's margin from 5 to 8, a crippling difference with just 2:58 to play; while I, a fairly steadfast Blount ripper, protested to the heavens that Blount had shown hard on the perimeter to Deron Williams, who deftly zipped it to Mehmet while no other Timberwolf rotated over. Now, it is quite possible Pete knows the defensive rotation strategies in play for Utah, and that Blount was supposed to stay with Okur rather than hound Williams so far outside. In any case, Utah's spacing and savvy trumped Blount's move, and my sense of inner justice when Blount promptly slammed home a feed from Foye at the other end was tempered when Wittman removed Blount from the game after the next possession.

But here's the thing: popcornmachine.net had Blount getting annihilated at -18 during his 35:31 of action, way ahead of Davis and Hassell as the next worst entries at -8. And this was a game in which Blount's hustle and demeanor, if nothing else, were beyond criticism.
The popcornmachine.net numbers also clearly indicate, in reiteration of point one in this trey, that when Jerry Sloan had his main guys working his system, the Wolves were buried. The first Minnesota bonus was when a pair of late draft picks, Craig Smith and Paul Milsapp, were matched up with each other and the Cookie Monster went off, eventually finishing with 14 points for the second period on 5-6 FG and 4-4 FT as Minnesota put up a +11 margin. (Outside of the second period, Smith was 1-4 FG, 0-0 FT and -4 in 9:58.) The second eye-opening stat is that Utah was +18 in the 39:22 that Deron Williams was manning the point, and -12 in the 8:38 he wasn't.

3. Tick Tock
The Wolves have slipped behind Sacramento to 12th place in the West, out of the playoffs by 4 games with 11 left to play. Minutes for Rashad McCants: 6:48. There is still a mathematical chance for the Wolves to bag that 8th spot of course, but the odds are steep enough that you have to wonder if Coach Wittman really is invoking a "tanking with vets" strategy. The lineup of McCants-Foye-Smith-KG-Jaric was actually allowed to play the bulk of that second quarter last night, and went +2. If you go to the 82games.com website and click on their 5-man floor units page (here's the link: http://www.82games.com:80/0607/0607MIN2.HTM), you'll see that that quintet of the three kids plus KG and Marko is a +39 in just 58 minutes together, a rate 82games extrapolates out to a 10-1 record. Giving that unit more time would certainly maximize the potential talent already on this team, but would be hell on securing that draft pick.