After beating the New York Knicks in San Antonio, the Spurs traveled to Minnesota to take on the Timberwolves.
Rout, landslide, beat down, thrashing, call it what you will but the Spurs crushed the hapless Wolves tonight. Final score from Minnesota: Spurs 103, Wolves 85.
Granted it was against the Wolves, Richard Jefferson, who was reinserted into the starting lineup, had one of his best games in a Spurs uniform tonight finishing with 19 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and plenty of dunks in tonight’s game.
For the Wolves, they just looked like a 52 loss team. Zero effort on either end of the court and scored just 15 points in the third quarter. The Spurs went on a 12-2 run in the third quarter to take a 63-45 lead and they never looked back.
For more on the game, I turned to my NBA Bloguin brother, Dave Kelsey, from TWolves Blog, your one-stop site on the net for everything TWolves.
Thanks to Dave for bravely doing this Q&A with Project Spurs after the Wolves huge loss tonight against the Spurs. Enjoy!
So Kevin Love is “injured” and did not play tonight against the Spurs. What kind of “injury” is it?
Not entirely sure. From what I can see online, he mysteriously acquired a “mild foot sprain” during the Denver game on Wednesday. My guess is that its more like a “sprained ego” after his post game comments where he openly questioned what Rambis has been doing lately with rotations, and more specifically, Love’s playing time.
Al Jefferson did not have a better game than Spurs fans may have expected. Tonight he went 5-15 from the floor in 30 minutes of play and finished with 13 points. Is he pretty much just coasting until the Wolves season is over?
First off, I’m not going to defend Jefferson because I don’t really like him. He’s not an 
alpha player, and doesn’t deserve the salary he’s making, even though its “reasonable” compared to other players with his skills. With that said, he’s still injured. As I am sure you know, he’s still coming back from his ACL repair (torn last year.) Also, he appeared to have injured his OTHER knee at some point this season, by trying to overcompensate for his repaired knee. He hasn’t been anywhere near 100% all season. With that said, his defense has been more atrocious than it was at any point in his career, and that’s saying something because he was already below average defensively. I think he’s probably just frustrated with Rambis (like everyone, the players, the fans, etc), and isn’t sure of his place in the future of this team’s rebuild. It’s still no excuse for his play, which has been less than stellar. That will happen when he’s hurt and not giving 110% every game.
alpha player, and doesn’t deserve the salary he’s making, even though its “reasonable” compared to other players with his skills. With that said, he’s still injured. As I am sure you know, he’s still coming back from his ACL repair (torn last year.) Also, he appeared to have injured his OTHER knee at some point this season, by trying to overcompensate for his repaired knee. He hasn’t been anywhere near 100% all season. With that said, his defense has been more atrocious than it was at any point in his career, and that’s saying something because he was already below average defensively. I think he’s probably just frustrated with Rambis (like everyone, the players, the fans, etc), and isn’t sure of his place in the future of this team’s rebuild. It’s still no excuse for his play, which has been less than stellar. That will happen when he’s hurt and not giving 110% every game.
Seems frustration is setting in with this young Wolves team. They didn’t put up a fight tonight and of course there was the Ryan Hollins incident against the Mavericks. Would they be better off tanking the season for the John Wall sweepstakes?
We aren’t tanking the season? If this is us playing hard, then the future of this team is doomed. Hello 2012 Las Vegas Timberwolves!
With the Wolves performance tonight and the overall season the team is having, does Kurt Rambis have to go?
I hope Rambis isn’t getting a free pass, because his rotations have been mind-blowingly terrible. No one knows what’s going on, although his backers are speculating it’s “tough love” and he wants players to “earn their minutes.” Me, I’m just confused. I’ve mentally checked out, more or less, on this season about 30 games ago. With all that said, he can’t go because he has a 4 year contract and we are rebuilding. No one thought we would be a good team, and for what its worth, we are truly rebuilding (again.) You have to at least let him try to develop players and put his stamp on the team. I think that’s worth a max of three seasons for any coach in an obvious situation like ours. If we don’t noticeably improve next season, then he should start to worry. And if we aren’t anywhere near .500 in season three, then yes, he should be gone.
Is there any silver lining to take away from the Wolves this season?
John Wall or Evan Turner. If we don’t land one of those two players, this terrible season will have been a complete 100% waste. We all know how “lucky” the Wolves have been in the lottery, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up picking fifth. And if that happens, there will be no fans left for this team. I hate to be so pessimistic, but the future would not bright for TWolves fans without a top 2 pick. How else do you acquire future superstars in the NBA? The draft is the only way. I’m not even going to waste your time and sugarcoat the situation, because any knowledgeable NBA fans would be able to see right through it.
Notes:
- The Spurs have won six of their last seven games.
- Jefferson led the way for the Spurs with 19 points and nine rebounds.
- The Wolves only scored 15 points in the third quarter.
- Tim Duncan had 15 points and eight rebounds for the night.
- Spurs shot 49.4% from the field, went 5-22 from the three-point line shooting 22.7%, 14-18 from the free-throw line shooting 77.8%, grabbed 48 rebounds, 10 turnovers.
- Spurs bench scored 38 points led by Keith Bogans with 10 off the bench.
- The newest Spur, Cedric Jackson, finished with six points, one assist and three rebounds in 8:41 of playing time.
- The Spurs record is now 38-25. They remain in seventh place in the Western Conference and will next play the Los Angeles Clippers Saturday night in San Antonio.
