Gameday Q&A with Dave from TWolves Blog

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The San Antonio Spurs look to extend their 11 game winning streak to 12 as they face the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight at the Target Center.

To talk about the game tonight, I turned to a fellow blogger here at Bloguin, Dave from TWolves Blog the best Timberwolves blog on the net. Why is it the best? Because only Dave at TWolves Blog could add a picture of coach Popovich not being so humble in the Q&A I did for his blog for tonight’s game. Check it out HERE.

Now check out Dave’s answers as he gives Project Spurs his take on the game, the Spurs hot start and much more.

Jeff: Aside from Kevin Love, Michael Beasley and surprisingly Darko Milicic, who else has been playing well for the Wolves?

Dave: Ummmm… well… to be honest, you about listed everyone of note on our team that is playing well.  Hey man, after all we are only 4-11.  (On pace for 21 wins though, watch out NBA.)  Telfair and Ridnour are playing decently enough to man the PG position with Flynn out (take your time returning please), and if you could combine Telfair and Ridnour into one player, then we might actually be onto something there.  Wes Johnson has played surprisingly well in spurts, and his defense is pretty good because he gives 110%, understands defensive concepts, and is disruptive/effective.  He has the tools to be a good NBA defender down the road. Corey Brewer plays well for like 10 minutes at a time off the bench and…. yeah, that’s it.

Kevin Love has been beasting in Minnesota. The 31-31 night. Insane. However, it’s going to take a lot more than Kevin Love to take down the Spurs. What are the Wolves’ keys to victory?

Hahahahahaha “Wolves keys to victory.” That’s funny! But, I’ll play along. 

First off, we need to contain Parker and Manu.  The problem here is that our guard/wing defense is just downright atrocious (well, our entire defense is, but especially so against quick PG’s and wings.)  Parker is having a damn near historic season for a PG, so this could be problematic.  And a healthy Manu is dangerous as well.  Do all NBA fans know how great Manu is?  I don’t think they do.  He seems underrated to me.  Take a second and look at the numbers Manu and Parker are putting up, and then go look at the fact that the Wolves are giving up a league worst 110 points per game.

I like our bigs (Love/Darko/Tolliver/Beasley) against yours (Duncan/Splitter/McDyess/Blair) more than I like our wing matchups.  So we need to focus our offense around these guys, and try to exploit any advantages we may have against SA here. 

Assuming the above keys don’t work, then just hope and pray that Beasley can score 60+ points tomorrow.  Sigh.

Looking from the outside-in, what do you think is the reason for the Spurs hot start to the season?

Health (specifically Parker). More familiarity with each other and the system (specifically Jefferson). Improved pace and scoring. You guys are playing unlike anything Duncan has been a part of before.  The question is, can you sustain it all season long?

What match-up should Spurs and Wolves fans keep an eye out on tonight?

Not Tony “The Tiger” Parker vs our PG’s, because that will be just plain embarrassing for us. Not Blair vs Love, because they are both short and fat. Not Duncan vs Darko, because Duncan bores me. I like Darko A LOT, but he’s not exactly Mr. Highlight Reel on the court.

Can we just force the coaches to make Beastley and BatManu guard each other? Because that would be awesome. That’s what I want to see. They are two of the best left-handed pure scorers in the league, and probably the best players on our respective teams (Tony Parker and/or Duncan may have something to say about that, but bare with me here.)  Beastley is a terrible defender, so Manu will do all kinds of electrifying and crazy things. And our team sucks, so Beasley will have to do all kinds of electrifying and crazy things for the Wolves to have any semblance of a chance.

OK come on, do you really think the Wolves have any shot at beating the Spurs tonight?


No. 0.00% chance.

What’s your prediction for tonight’s game?

Wolves 99 – Spurs 118.