Wolves/Kings notes

[Big Daddy]

TOM POWERS: Wolves have hole in middle

Saunders hopes to involve Olowokandi more in offense so he gets more shots in Saturday's game.

TOM POWERS

Pioneer Press Columnist


The Timberwolves have developed a double-secret plan to get center Michael Olowokandi more involved in the offense.

Did I say more involved? That would imply that he is at least semi-engaged. My bad. Olowokandi has been so invisible in these playoffs that we thought perhaps he had become part of the witness protection program.

"I do think I have to play a lot better," Olowokandi said after Thursday's practice. "We're working on some things. We had a great practice today. I had a great practice today. I had a conversation with Flip about getting me more open.

"I really appreciated that."

Coach Flip Saunders huddled with Olowokandi to discuss the current sad state of affairs and what they could do to rectify it.

"He'll play better as far as Saturday goes," Saunders declared.

It's hard to envision him playing any worse. Give us a shout when he enters the game, Flip, just so we notice him.

In fairness, it isn't all Olowokandi's fault. Three times in the Wolves' Game 1 loss to Sacramento on Tuesday night, he received the ball in the post with two seconds left on the shot clock. It's like, hello, what am I supposed to do with it now?

Tick-tock, heave-ho.

But he also isn't receiving the ball in good position. As the Denver Nuggets did, the Sacramento Kings seem to be pushing him farther and farther from the basket. He winds up shooting from beyond his range of effectiveness, when he shoots at all. And he is committing fouls as if he were being paid by the infraction.

"There are certain things I can get better at," he said. "There are certain personnel changes that I'm not responsible for. But they do need to get some production out of me when I'm out there."

When he talks about personnel changes, he means the most recent injury to Wally Szczerbiak. He and Saunders are convinced Szczerbiak's back injury is having an adverse effect on Olowokandi.

The two often were on the court together. Szczerbiak stretched the defense, leaving Olowokandi room to shake and bake inside. Since Szczerbiak went out with three broken bones in his lower back, the defenses pack in tighter. And Olowokandi is neither shaking nor baking.

"Wally being hurt has hurt me a little bit," he agreed.

As Olowokandi's playing time has dwindled, Saunders figured he better do something before his center fades to nothingness. Remember that Olowokandi is signed for two more years. And the organization has an additional $11 million committed to him.

Part of that commitment was in anticipation of the impact he would have in the playoffs. Right now, the investment ranks right up there with the purchase of an asbestos factory.

"We have to find a way to free him up a little bit more," Saunders said.

He added that there is a plan in place to get Olowokandi more looks at the basket in Game 2 Saturday night. Of course, we don't get the details in advance. So we'll all have to keep our eyes open as the wonder of it all unfolds.

Perhaps they will have him parachute in near the basket and receive the pass as he's floating down. Or maybe the team will form a flying wedge to carve out a spot for him underneath. Or they might just pass it to him more while yelling for him to snap out of it.

They really need him to become a scoring threat inside. And he is a much better player than he has shown in the playoffs.

"I'm very convinced of that," he agreed.

Good, now convince everybody else.

Olowokandi also says he is having to adjust to coming in off the bench and to limited playing time. But the latter wouldn't be a problem if he were performing better. Mark Madsen currently is soaking up many of Olowokandi's minutes.

"It's a different role for me," Olowokandi said. "But there are so many things you can do out there: block a shot, play defense. I have to make the most out of however long I'm out there. We all have to step up. We all have to make adjustments."

Now would be a very good time to step up, make an adjustment and get noticed.


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Tom Powers can be reached at tpowers@pioneerpress.com.

 

[Big Daddy]

Posted on Sat, May. 08, 2004





KINGS REPORT: As Stojakovic struggles, Kings look elsewhere

Associated Press


The Sacramento Kings are one of the few NBA teams with enough talent to consistently overcome off nights by their leading scorer.

That's important, because Peja Stojakovic's game has become curiously inconsistent.

The sharp-shooting Serbian averaged a career-best 24.2 points a game this season, his sixth in the league, but he's had his share of pedestrian performances since playing in his third straight All-Star Game in February.

That included a 14-point, 5-for-15 effort in Game 1 of Sacramento's Western Conference semifinal series against Minnesota.

"They did a good job," said Stojakovic, who was guarded primarily by the Timberwolves' defensive specialist, Trenton Hassell. "I was rushing some of my shots, but I have to keep playing my game. Keep being aggressive."

Remember, though, this critical detail from Tuesday's game at Target Center: Kings 104, Timberwolves 98.

"In the playoffs you're not really thinking about missed shots or free-throw percentages," Stojakovic said. "You just keep thinking about wins and losses."

Game 2 is tonight, and Sacramento has stolen top-seeded Minnesota's home-court advantage. Although Stojakovic was stifled, the Kings had five others with 13 points or more.

Despite up-and-down production from Stojakovic, Sacramento is 5-1 in the playoffs.

"It's just a credit to our guys," coach Rick Adelman said. "They locked in on what we wanted to do."

Although Stojakovic continued to score in the second half of the season, he seemed less willing to take over a game as the Kings tried to reintroduce Chris Webber to the lineup.

The Kings are still adjusting to Webber's return from a knee injury.

"We haven't had a game where everybody is making shots," Webber said. "We're missing shots we're accustomed to making, whether it's shots going in and out, Peja missing threes, me missing elbow jumpers.... Hopefully we'll have one of those breakout games soon."

The Kings also received scoring help from their centers in Game 1, as Vlade Divac and Brad Miller teamed for 27 points on 9-for-11 shooting.

Point guard Mike Bibby, who scored 33 points in the opener, probably is the Wolves' main concern right now.

"Unfortunately, we can't throw water on him," coach Flip Saunders said. "So the next-best thing is to put different people on him."

That could mean Hassell moving over to guard Bibby some. In that case, Stojakovic might have an easier time finding his rhythm.

"You can't keep a guy like Peja down," Adelman said. "We've got to do a good job of getting him the ball."

 

[Big Daddy]

Posted on Sat, May. 08, 2004





TIMBERWOLVES REPORT: Cassell sound, hearing's not for tonight

BY MIKE WELLS and BRIAN HAMILTON

Pioneer Press


Timberwolves point guard Sam Cassell has played despite a ruptured eardrum he suffered in the Denver series, but now it's causing headaches.

Cassell has started putting an ice pack on his head and neck when he's out of the game to ease the pain.

"I'm just trying to cool it down and to maintain," he said. "I'll probably keep it up."

The headaches didn't bother Cassell too much because he tied his playoff high with 40 points in Tuesday's Game 1 loss to Sacramento at Target Center.

"If he's sick, he'll tell me," coach Flip Saunders said. "Whatever he was doing last game on offense he should keep doing. I trust our medical people and everybody else."

Cassell can hear in only one ear. He said teammate Gary Trent had to tell him how loud it was in Target Center.

"I can't hear too much out of it," Cassell said. "It's basically the same now. I felt the vibe. Everything comes in one eardrum. It's different when you have both of them working at the same time and you can really feel the vibrations, the effect of the crowd. I'm hearing half of everything."

A peaceful wait: Imagine this, a long stretch between playoff games unpolluted by trash-talking, in which coaches can actually worry about dissecting game film and not offering retorts to the opposition.

"I thought the Denver stuff was a little outrageous at times," Wolves forward Kevin Garnett said. "But this is a real respectful series right here. It's about basketball, and that's the way it should be."

Saunders' main worry is tuning out all the other games on television so as not to jumble the scouting reports in his brain. He said he didn't watch the Pacers-Heat game Thursday or the Spurs-Lakers game Wednesday.

"When you're watching so much of a team, you start watching other teams, sometimes you start getting more confused," he said.

Numbers game: Maybe the Kings' 35 free throws in Game 1 were a bit much. But not too much. Sacramento averaged almost 25 free throws per game during the regular season, 11th in the league. The Wolves' 12 free throws in Game 1 were noticeably short of their regular season average of about 21.3 ? which still ranked just 26th out of 30 teams.

Briefly: Comcast donated 100 tickets for tonight's Game 2 to the Phalen Park and Recreation Center.

After not selling out Game 1, the Wolves are expecting a sellout tonight with standing-room only tickets available.


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Mike Wells can be reached at mwells@pioneerpress.com. Brian Hamilton can be reached at bchamilton@pioneerpress.com.

 

[Big Daddy]

Posted on Sat, May. 08, 2004





Wolves need to be on guard

BY MIKE WELLS

Pioneer Press


Win, and it's a best-of-five series. Lose, and it's a step closer to summer vacation.

It's that simple for the Timberwolves in Game 2 tonight against Sacramento at Target Center. The Wolves, the top-seeded team in the Western Conference, lost home-court advantage by losing Game 1, putting them essentially in a must-win situation to avoid falling behind 2-0. A loss tonight means the Wolves head west to Sacramento for Games 3 and 4 with the possibility of not returning for Game 5 at Target Center. Only seven teams in NBA history have come back from a 2-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series.

"It's a must-win game for us from the standpoint of regaining control of the series," Wolves coach Flip Saunders said Friday afternoon. "It's always difficult to fall behind 0-2, especially when you don't have home court."

The Wolves are chasing an opponent for the first time since Jan. 14, when they took over the top spot in the Midwest Division. They've spent the past three days dissecting game film from Tuesday's 104-98 loss. The Wolves know they'll be OK on offense as long as Kevin Garnett and Latrell Sprewell don't go 8 for 35 from the field again. But they have to worry about defending Sacramento's Mike Bibby. The 6-foot-1 point guard scored 33 points in Game 1.

Bibby, who will be a U.S. Olympian this summer, hit three-pointers. He drove through the lane for layups. He shot as many free throws, 12, as the Wolves' entire roster.

The Kings played textbook basketball by running constant pick-and-rolls to free him for jumpers or to allow him to turn the corner to get through the lane. When he wasn't scoring, Bibby gave the Wolves fits because he created opportunities for his teammates by forcing the defense to rotate toward him.

"Bibby works the pick-and-roll really well, probably the best that I've seen since John Stockton and Karl Malone," Garnett said. "He's probably a better shooter than John. I think he likes to take that shot a lot more. But at the same time, he's aggressive and makes you have to guard him at all times."

The Wolves likely will throw different defenses at Bibby. They will double-team him high on the perimeter, and they'll throw different defenders at him, such as Sprewell and Fred Hoiberg. Trenton Hassell, the Wolves' best perimeter defender, will guard Bibby when the Kings' Peja Stojakovic is out of the game.

"We have to do a better job of showing different looks at him because he's too good a player to throw the same things at him. He'll burn you if you do that because he's too smart a player," Wolves assistant coach Randy Wittman said.

Bibby is averaging a team-leading 25.2 points in the playoffs. The Wolves started the series opener with Cassell guarding him but switched defenders after Bibby scored 14 points in the first quarter. They then tried using Sprewell, Hoiberg and Hassell to slow him.

"When a guy is on fire, you have to throw different things at him," Saunders said. "Unfortunately, we can't throw water on him. So the next-best thing is to throw different people at him."

Bibby has worked with Chris Webber and Vlade Divac, the Kings' two primary screeners, for several seasons. The Kings know when and where to set the pick and when to slip through the screen.

Defending the pick-and-roll becomes tougher when Bibby has his jump shot going as he did in Game 1, when he made three three-pointers in the first quarter. The defender has to go over the screen because going under it leaves him vulnerable to the three-point shot. And if he gets stuck, the other defender must be prepared to stop Bibby from turning the corner to get to the basket.

"You have to hope he's not hitting his jumpers because he becomes that much more difficult to guard," Hoiberg said. "What makes that play even more dangerous with them is that if you rotate over they've got guys on the perimeter who can knock down the open shots. Webber and Divac can even hit from 18 feet out. Our 'bigs' have to be aggressive on the shows. We have to get the ball out his hands."

The Wolves have to get the ball out of Bibby's hands because if not, they could be facing a 2-0 deficit with the next two games on the road.


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Mike Wells covers the Timberwolves and the NBA. He can be reached at mwells@pioneerpress.com.