Timberwolves hometown news

[Big Daddy]

Posted on Wed, May. 12, 2004





WOLVES REPORT: No-call rankles Kings' coach

BY MIKE WELLS and BRIAN HAMILTON

Pioneer Press


SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? It didn't take much to light Rick Adelman's fuse Tuesday afternoon. Just mention "Peja Stojakovic" and "last shot of Game 3" within earshot. The Kings' coach clearly had a couple of things to get off his chest, and it boiled down to this:

On the final possession with four seconds left in overtime Monday night, Adelman was adamant that the Timberwolves' Trenton Hassell fouled Stojakovic, who tossed up an airball.

And if Stojakovic were a 7-foot MVP wearing a Wolves uniform, the officials wouldn't have swallowed their whistles.

"That last play was atrocious," Adelman said. "You look at it from behind the basket, it's incredible that they say that's not a call... . If that wasn't a foul, then I've got about 10 they can look at that were called fouls during the course of the game that had about 10 percent less contact than happened there. A shooter like him gets in position like that, and that guy wants to crowd him like that, and he doesn't go to the line? There's something wrong.

"I know for a fact that if that was Kevin Garnett, and we would've pushed on him like that, he would've been on the line. If (league officials) want to look at the tape, if they want to look at that angle, fine. That was a foul. Should've been called a foul. It wasn't, we lost, we move on."

Adelman went on to contend that Hassell's "whole body and forearm were laying on Peja," that it was a textbook case of "dislodging" a dribbler. For his part, Stojakovic stayed out of the fray Tuesday, letting his coach do the ranting for all.

"There was contact, but you can't go back and get the referees to change the call," Stojakovic said. "The game is over."

Shouldn't be allowed: As Adelman vented his frustration over the last play of Game 3, the talk before the Wolves' practice Tuesday was about the beads from maracas that were thrown onto the court during and after the game.

"We were slipping all over the place. The league should do something," Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders said. "You don't want anybody to get hurt."

Tens of thousands of maracas were handed out by the Kings as a marketing gimmick. Fans were hurling maracas at the court in the second half, as well as breaking them open and throwing beads in the direction of players and people seated at courtside.

A
RCO Arena is one of the loudest arenas in the league, but Kings players took exception to their hometown crowd's antics.

"Fans need to quit doing that, because a lot of us are already hurt," Kings forward Chris Webber said. "If one of us gets hurt, then they'll look like a bunch of jerks. You never should endanger anybody. I know there were a lot of little pebbles out there on the floor, and that's not cool."

Garnett was one of the players who fell victim to the beads on the floor. He was called for traveling with 4.1 seconds left in overtime. At first it appeared he was pushed to the floor. But he said he slipped on some of the beads.

No change: Sam Cassell has been in foul trouble the past two games, getting three in the first half of Game 2 that altered his rhythm and fouling out in Game 3 Monday night with just nine points and four assists.

But he didn't sound like a guy affected by this Tuesday.

"I'm going to be the same guy I was," Cassell said. "The calls didn't go my way, and I was upset at the time. But I've got to be me on the basketball court. I can't let them push me around, throw me around. I've got to be me."

 

[Big Daddy]

Posted on Wed, May. 12, 2004





Wolves able to survive without Cassell

BY BRIAN HAMILTON

Pioneer Press


SACRAMENTO ? There is a division of labor on this Timberwolves squad, and as Sam Cassell sees it, he flubbed his job on Monday night.

Cassell is the point guard, responsible for initiating the offense. And that is pretty much impossible to do from the bench, where he sat in foul trouble for a good part of the Wolves' Game 3 victory.

So his team in effect wound up contracting in other players from other roles to do what Cassell was supposed to be doing. And put it this way: Were he running for office, Sam Cassell is not a candidate in favor of outsourcing.

"I don't like that situation," the all-star guard said Tuesday. "I don't like that situation at all, having my guys out there doing my job for me. We've been successful the whole year by everyone doing their job, doing their part. So if Kevin (Garnett) has to do my job, and (Latrell Sprewell) has to do my job, and Fred Hoiberg has to do my job, that's not fair to them."

His protests aside, the Wolves actually survived fairly well with a point guard-by-committee approach in their 114-113 victory that provided a 2-1 series edge. There was a critical stretch late in the fourth quarter during which Sacramento coaxed turnovers in the backcourt and stormed back to force overtime. But Minnesota built its formidable bulge with Cassell out, and also successfully navigated overtime without its floor leader.

It is hardly an ideal arrangement. But maybe the point is, the Wolves survived.

"It was probably the biggest plus of what happened Monday night," Wolves coach Flip Saunders said. "We were able to play without a guy that, the game before, basically won the game for us."

With Cassell out, the point guard duties basically fell, as Hoiberg put it, to whomever got the rebound on the other end. From there, the Wolves streamlined their offense, relying on the most basic of sets and ball movement to get to the basket.

No one on the roster can duplicate Cassell's slipperiness, so no one tries.

"If we run sets where you have to dribble down, run a guy off, hold the ball for an extended period, that's going to be tough," Hoiberg said. "You get in the basic sets, then just kind of move around a little bit, and play off each other. That's what we kind of did. A lot of times Sam will freelance and run things that way. When we're in there, you get into something as quick as you can and run it that way."

It helps that there's little confusion when it comes to starting the offense, no matter who does it. Throw Garnett the ball, and go from there.

"We understand that we've got one of the best post players in the league," Cassell said. "We've just got to get his hands on the ball, quickly."

All of this job-related activity falls back to Cassell tonight in Game 4. But at least the Wolves believe they can survive another unexpected leave of absence.


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Brian Hamilton can be reached at bchamilton@pioneerpress.com.

 

[Big Daddy]

Posted on Wed, May. 12, 2004





Too close for comfort

BY MIKE WELLS

Pioneer Press


SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? Three games. The average margin of victory in the series is just four points. Each team believes it should be up 3-0.

The Wolves believe they would be in that position if not for a lack of composure in the fourth quarter of Game 1.

The Sacramento Kings are thinking they would be ahead 3-0 if not for a couple of missed free throws by Doug Christie in Game 2 and what they say was an "atrocious" non-call on Peja Stojakovic's jumper at the end of overtime in Game 3.

If the ball had bounced the Kings' way in either one of those instances, Sacramento could be the team with the momentum heading into tonight's Game 4 at ARCO Arena.

"I feel like we should be up. I don't see it the other way around," Kings forward Chris Webber said.

Instead, the Wolves have regained home-court advantage and have all the confidence in the series.

"We've had some breaks go our way," the Wolves' Latrell Sprewell said. "It very easily could have gone the Kings' way. That's the difference between us being up 2-1 or down 3-0. We'll take it. You have to be fortunate, and you have to be good. But you also have to work hard, as well."

As important as execution is in any playoff series, Sprewell said it takes just as much luck to succeed in the playoffs. That has been the case in a series of two evenly-matched teams. The Wolves have used that to their advantage to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

"I think luck goes both ways, especially for both teams," Wolves forward Kevin Garnett said. "It's just a good series. You can't downplay this series. It's a real up-and-down series, and it's great for basketball."

The Wolves appeared to be in trouble after losing Game 1 and trailing by 10 points with four minutes to go in Game 2 Saturday night. But Sam Cassell went on a scoring surge late, and Christie, who shot 86 percent from the free-throw line during the regular season, missed two free throws that would have put Sacramento ahead by one with less than a minute remaining in the game.

The Kings let several opportunities slip away late after fighting back from a 15-point deficit Monday. There was the non-call on Stojakovic's jumper, but he also missed free throws at the end of regulation and in overtime after shooting a league-high 92.7 percent from the line during the regular season.

"It hurts like hell, and it's supposed to. That's why we play the game," Christie said about the losses. "That's why you come back with a different desire and will, and you lay it all on the line."

The Wolves got a break that likely wouldn't have happened earlier this season when they turned a two-point lead into a 10-point lead with their two best players, Garnett and Cassell, on the bench in the third quarter. The Wolves scored on eight of nine possessions while those two were out the game.

"You're given opportunities, and you have to take advantage of it," Wolves coach Flip Saunders said. "We've been fortunate enough that when the opportunity has come the last couple of games, we've taken advantage of them."

While the Wolves believe they can beat the Kings on their home court for the fourth consecutive time tonight, Sacramento is on the verge of possibly letting the series slip away. The Kings have gone from a team that had a chance of maybe sweeping the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference to a team that must win tonight to avoid falling into a 3-1 hole, and possibly having its season end in Game 5 at Target Center on Friday night.

All because of a couple of bad bounces.

"You look, we might have allowed for some luck to come in there, but for the most part, if we wouldn't have had mental mistakes, luck wouldn't play a factor," Webber said. "I put it on preparation and mindset."


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

 

[Big Daddy]

Posted on Wed, May. 12, 2004





BOB SANSEVERE: Garnett takes it up a notch

BY BOB SANSEVERE

Pioneer Press


SACRAMENTO, Calif.

The game is tight. The clock is draining. The Sacramento Kings are in scorch mode. The Timberwolves need somebody to take over, somebody whose mind is wired for moments like these. Ordinarily, it would be Sam Cassell bringing the ball up and, as he did in Game 2, chucking in shots. Cassell is gone, though; he fouled out.His backup is Darrick Martin; he can't do it. He can't bring the ball up, make huge shots and take over a game the way Cassell could.

But Kevin Garnett could.

As night bled into morning in Minnesota, the greatest basketball player on the planet became even greater.

K.G. did everything. Bring the ball up. Run the offense. Rebound. Play defense. Make the game-winning shot. He was himself, which is impressive enough, and he was Sam Cassell, all rolled into one.

In Game 2, Garnett held back down the stretch. Offensively, anyway. He let Cassell launch his jumpers and take care of most of the scoring. If the Wolves had lost that game, Garnett would have been fodder for criticism because, although he went to the line and made free throws, he didn't make a field goal over the final 17:15 of the game. Fair or not, it's likely the old rip would have resurfaced about how he shies away being the go-to guy late in a game.

"I don't care about criticism,'' he said. "Say what you say. We won the game.''

They sure did. The Wolves came charging back from a 10-point deficit in the final couple of minutes to win Game 2. They won Game 3 by doing what Sacramento couldn't do in Game 2. They held off a late surge. The Kings used that surge to force overtime after being down by 11 with two minutes left in the fourth quarter

The Kings had all the momentum a team could ever want heading into OT. Admit it, those of you who watched to the very end. You figured the Kings would pull it out. I know I did.

What I didn't figure on ? and probably should have ? was that Garnett is so darn talented he can snuff out another team's momentum. And, in doing so, add yet another layer to his greatness.

"I expect greatness out of him,'' Wolves coach Flip Saunders said. "We've become pretty proficient with him initiating the offense. That's why he's the MVP.''

With Cassell out, Garnett knew what had to be done. And he did it. That's what makes him so different, so special. Other players know what must be done and just aren't capable of pulling it off.

"I had to be more active on defense, be more active rebounding. Get guys some shots. Your mind has got to be more aggressive when a guy like Sam goes out,'' Garnett said before Tuesday's practice. "When you're in a situation where Sam is out, the reality is you either do something about it or you don't. I thought about what I could do to give my team an edge.''

He scored half his 30 points from the fourth quarter on. He had six in overtime, including the game-winner with 10.8 seconds left. His take-charge performance lifted the Wolves to their 114-113 victory and a 2-1 series lead with a chance to make it 3-1 tonight.

"I don't think in the past. I don't think in the future,'' Garnett said. "You grasp the moment."

He has a vise grip on it.

"I'm having the most fun I've had in a long time,'' he said.

After getting back-to-back victories, and considering the way the Wolves got them, he should be downright giddy. And extremely confident. And maybe even feeling a bit invincible.

"We're not invincible, and we know that. We're just a confident team,'' Garnett said. "Our confidence obviously has improved. We're confident after what we achieved. But we know it can get worse.''

Not if he continues to perform the way he did at the end of Game 3.


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Bob Sansevere can be reached at bsansevere@pioneerpress.com.