(Not safe for work, language)
@PDWolves: See, for me, it’s like that scene in Good Will Hunting. You guys have seen that, right?
@brianjacobson: Yeah.
@bobs219 (nods)
@GymRatInParis (doing something on phone, not paying attention)
@PDWolves: Ben Affleck’s like, “One day I just wanna pull up to your house to pick you up, and you’re not there. You’re just gone.” And for me, one day I wanna just turn on a Wolves game, and Ricky’s shot just LOOKS DIFFERENT. Rather than that weird sequencing and wind up, he just pops up and fires it. With way more arc. I don’t even care if it goes in, I just want it to look different.
You know what I mean?
@bobs219: (seems a little confused) Yeah.
@brianjacobson: (incredulous look on face) That’s a pretty loose ‘Will Hunting’ tie-in.
@PDWolves: But you got it.
@brianjacobson: I’m not sure that even makes sense.
@PDWolves: Whatever, you’re right with me.
@bobs219: Grimmy, do you have any other super popular movies you wanna force comparisons to? Maybe something from Shawshank?
@PDWolves: Well, let’s see.
I know that hope is a good thing; maybe even the best of things. And with tonight’s loss the Wolves’ playoff hopes are shot. And that really sucks.
How’s that?
—
The Timberwolves lost to the Raptors on Sunday night.
Kevin Love played a great game, scoring 26 points and almost notching a triple double. Nikola Pekovic was solid, chipping in 17 of his own and fighting hard all night for the deepest, choice real estate possible and cashing in on baby hooks near the rim and off the glass. Corey Brewer played like a slightly-crazier-than-usual Corey Brewer with a surprising level of success. He had 17 points and 6 steals and was a best-among-all-starters +10 in 44 minutes of action. Say what you want about Brewer, but it’s damn impressive that a person can play that hard for almost an entire game.
But the Raptors were just better. DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points despite battling some foul trouble. Steve Novak came off the bench to shoot 6 three-pointers and make 5 of them. Amir Johnson, Jonas Valanciunas, and Chuck Hayes set bruising screen after bruising screen for Kyle Lowry, who posted a triple double with 20 points and a pair of steals.
When Shabazz Muhammad scored three times in a short fourth-quarter sequence, and Ricky Rubio was gesturing for the crowd to get excited, the Raptors responded with sweet perimeter shooting and extra hustle on the offensive boards to fend off any possibility of a dramatic finish.
The Wolves’ most blameworthy stretch came at the beginning of the second quarter when a 33-33 first-quarter score quickly became a 13-point Raptors lead. Kevin Love, who ended up playing 41 minutes, had to check back in a little bit early to keep the ship from sinking. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who took back some first-half minutes from Muhammad (who did not play until the second half) was extremely ineffective, dropping the ball for turnovers and doing nothing to limit Raptors points. LRMAM somehow ended the game with a plus/minus of -18, despite only playing 4, middle-of-the-game minutes.
But credit goes to the Raptors and former Timberwolves coaches Dwane Casey and Bill Bayno. They have an impressive team that includes skill and grit at point guard, length, athleticism and shooting strokes on the wings, and punishing size up front. They earned this win.
Next up are the Milwaukee Bucks, who come to Target Center on Tuesday night. Milwaukee has the worst record in the NBA and the Wolves will probably win that game.
Until then.
Season Record: 31-31
Punch-Drunk Wolves 
Movie-wise, the Wolves as a franchise are like a long, extended tracking shot of horrifying suck. They’re the sports version of the famous car scene from Children of Men, with fans getting to sit shotgun while watching the destruction unfold right in front of their unbelieving eyes.
The Spurs are the Max Ophuls glamor shot of spinning and winning–old beautiful people dancing with one another in a passion play of station and manners.
The Heat are horrifying, but in a cool way. They’re the behind-the-bigwheel ride through the Overlook Hotel–treating fans to a fun jaunt before LeBron and Wade axe murder everybody around the bend.
The Thunder are the Evil Dead II romp through the forrest. It should be horrifying but damnit if the leading man is just a little too hard to take completely seriously. They’re doing this tongue in cheek, right? And, at the cliched end of the day, Russ is just going to get taken over by the Necronomicon and kill everybody who isn’t the Slim Reaper.
Haaa – where does this leave the Knicks?
http://www.postingandtoasting.com/2014/3/11/5487526/this-phil-jackson-thing-is-really-frustrating
Hmmmmm…that’s a tough one. It’s easy to remember good shots but the over the top bad ones that think they’re amazing are kind of forgettable. Wait. I have it. They’re the hammer scene from Spike Lee’s Oldboy remake. A hollowed-out, soulless version of a classic action sequence done up in Madison Square Garden by a former great (team/director) whose top achievement remains one of the sport’s/movie history’s greatest moments (1970 championship/Do the Right Thing). “Oh, we are obligated to include this, right? OK, I guess. Give Josh Brolin a hammer and shoot it vertically. Sign Stat to a billion dollars and bring me the husk of Andrea Bargnani.”
Classic – I haven’t gotten to Spike’s OB yet, but I suspect this is an apt comparison. This actually reminds me that I need to watch the original again. My brother bought me the Blu-Ray for Christmas a couple years back. I’m not the film geek he is, and had no idea what it was about. You can imagine..
I’m not a fan of the original, either. The hallway scene is a human one-take video game that must have taken some kind of amazing rehearsal, so that’s kind of cool, but…well, it was what it was and at least it embraced that. Not a big fan and I don’t really get what it was trying to say.
Speaking of tracking shots and foreign films and violence, Only God Forgives isn’t exactly the easiest watch but it has quite a few stunning scenes (the hands shot and the fight and the walk through the city top the list) and is a pretty fantastic companion film for Drive. Winding-Refn has done about all he can do with minimalistic silence leading into horrific violence so it’s definitely something that riffs on the basic approach of Drive, and there’s no love story or superhero notes, so it’s a tad standoffish to people familiar with his last movie, but overall I think it’s a better flick. It has one really bad note (it’s own version of the elevator head-smash scene–this time with mothers and swords) but beyond that it’s a perfect movie: completely self-realized and consistent in theme, content, and presentation. It was one of my favorite films of the year (All Is Lost, 12 Years a Slave, Act of Killing, and Before Midnight rounded out the top 5–All is Lost and Redford deserved a lot more credit, although it’s really hard to argue with 12 Years). I want him to direct a big studio superhero movie. I think it would be amazing.
Very good movie, though maybe that scene will suit better Barea´s future departure? I dream he is gone gone everyday for those 30 secs until my laptop is up and running. No press conference, no good bye letter, just gone for good….
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