Nuggets 118 - 107 Timberwolves

Apparently if you don't really bother with transition defense or keeping an eye out for back door cuts (the Nuggets made copious use of the alley-oop), winning an NBA game becomes harder than dubbing Nicholas Cage into Cantonese. Marcus Camby reminded Wolves fans that our front court is a little light by smacking every one of Craig Smith's early shots right back into his face (7 blocks for the game), and it took Big Al quite a while to get going as well. Since the Nuggets started two point guards I would have thought Marko Jaric would do something with his significant size advantage over Allen Iverson on the offensive end to compensate, but apparently not.

You'd think on a night when Big Al and Rashad McCants scored big, and somebody put a quarter in Ryan Gomes and he offers that rare (for the Wolves) third scoring option with a perimeter shot, you'd be able to stay in a game. The refs for once gave the Wolves the benefit of the doubt and called a fair game, but the first few minutes watching lay-up after lay-up and clanging shots gave the Nuggets a lead they never relinquished.

I still can't figure out the Wolves line-up, where players appear and disappear on a whim. I expect point guard and center to be a little screwed up because of injuries, but whatever happened to Gerald Green? Given a lack of depth at point guard, the Wolves started both healthy point guards, brought their best shooting guard off the bench (McCants), barely played Buckner, and completely benched Green. Maybe it was match-ups, benching Corey Brewer and playing bigger forwards, but it was a weird line-up, and it's a different one every night.

Randy Foye, Mark Madsen, and Theo Ratliff all show up to the game in suits, Antoine Walker, Greg Buckner, and Michael Doleac don't seem to be able to contribute many minutes. Ryan Gomes, Corey Brewer, and Gerald Green all seem to have decided to be swing-men and role players who can just throw in a little here and there, and Craig Smith and Chris Richard really are role players at power forward. That leaves the inconsistent point guard duo of Telfair and Jaric, the slashing scoring of McCants (sometimes), and Big Al trying to go one against four in the post with no perimeter threats. Half the team can't or won't play, and the ones that can don't complement each other: a catch and shoot guy, or a spot-up three point shooter would go nuts playing off of Bash and Big Al (good thing we traded our last one to appease Garnett). Wait 'til next year I guess, when Buckner, Walker, and possibly Green and Gomes will all hit the bricks, Foye might be back, and the Wolves will have the 4th and 31st draft picks and a shit-load of cap room to build around Foye and Big Al.

This year, they're going to stay in contention for the worst record in the history of professional basketball in America... they need to lose 74 games to clinch the record, and tonight was #28. They won't make it (I hope) but if they continue winning one game out of 8, it's going to be awfully close.