In a rare matinee, the Wolves lost by one point to the playoffs-bound Warriors. After a near-perfect first quarter of play, things became more difficult. Golden State got serious, beginning with Jarrett Jack nearly getting ejected for JACKING Greg Stiemsma in the chest, after a whistle. (What do these people have against Stiemer?) Golden State got serious, the game got close, and a Luke Ridnour runner barely missed with one second left, leaving the Wolves one point short.
Five things:
1. Ricky Rubio flirted with a quadruple double.
Ricky had 16 points (10-11 free throws) 11 assists, 8 rebounds, 6 steals. I guess if we throw in his 6 turnovers he wasn’t too far from a QUINT DUB. Rubio was incredible on defense in this game, AGGRESSIVELY hunting steals and getting out in transition where he did stuff like throw passes between his legs to Pekovic. He’s really getting into a groove.
2. Interior scoring happens when David Lee is playing.
The great Kirk Goldsberry is presenting a research paper about interior defense at the upcoming Sloan Conference. There’s an image floating around the interwebs that shows visual evidence of David Lee being at the wrong end of the interior defense spectrum.
There’s the one. With Lee not putting up much resistance, the Wolves starting front line had a great day. Derrick Williams had 23 points on 9-15 shooting. Nikola Pekovic had 21 points on 10-18 shooting. Almost all of those were in the paint. I guess the problem with Lee was that he played really well on offense. He had 22 points and 3 assists, and dominated stretches of the game.
3. The Timberwolves are bad at shooting three pointers.
Oh, you already knew this. Still– they were 1 for 11 from downtown today. 2 for 11 would’ve swung the result.
4. Alexey Shved: Still struggling, playing different roles.
Shved played just 16 minutes today, scoring 4 points on 2-7 shooting. He had 1 assist to 2 turnovers. Not such a great performance. He did play a little bit with Rubio and Pek, and more than that with AK47, so maybe Adelman read yesterday’s post? One thing that I didn’t like seeing was, when Shved was playing small forward, he wasn’t spotted in the corner. Sometimes Rubio — a decidedly terrible shooter from that range — occupied the corner instead. Shved is shooting 10-17 from the corners this year. That’s a really high percentage and a really small number of attempts. When there are two other guards in the game with him, it might be best to get him some corner trey attempts.
5. Warriors Offensive Rebounding
The Warriors are a below-average offensive rebounding team, but made many of their late-game baskets on second chances. They had 14 offensive boards, 3 more than their season average. Carl Landry scored multiple baskets this way in the final period. It was a key reason that this one slipped away.
Season Record: 20-33
Punch-Drunk Wolves 
As a long-time Derrick Williams detractor, I feel the duty to point out that … holy sh#t, I actually witnessed the guy go up strong in traffic and reverse dunk. Maybe he had a bit of running start? But still, nice to see. If his lack of leaping ability inside is a footwork issue that can be even partially addressed as opposed to an athletic issue, … well, that’s a good thing.
Shved is disappointing. I blame advance scouts and fatigue. He looks like a different player from the one in the first 20 games.
I’m thinking that even with Love and Bud back next year, this teams needs at least one more professional shooter than can hit the three pointer with consistency. Obvious maybe, but who will it be? Who should it be?
That was a pretty sick throw-down by Williams and he had a good game. Of course, there was also that HORRIBLE charging violation with a few minutes to go (typical Williams driving from too far out — defenders are always able to slide over and take his charge) but on the whole he played a good game. Nice to see.
I think Shved needs more time in the weight room and more practice playing purely off the ball. He’s got enough apparent talent for me to not worry too much about it — at this point, anyway.
Good point on the need for a shooter, I’d prefer it be somebody tall like Houston has (Delfino is 6’6″; Parsons 6’9″). Seems easier for taller guys to spread the floor as quick catch-and-shoot threats. Rubio needs a spread floor.
Williams and Shved need to learn to DO LESS. Get the right spacing, allow the point guard to quarterback the team, catch and shoot the ball, back-cut when over played, and drive but only when open. Let the game come to Williams and Shved. Wolves have the best playmaker in the NBA. Get set because the ball is coming.
yes!