Timberwolves notes

[Big Daddy]

Posted on Fri, May. 14, 2004





Wolves must pick up intensity

BY MIKE WELLS

Pioneer Press


It didn't take long Wednesday night to figure out which team wanted the game more, the Timberwolves or the Sacramento Kings.

The Kings, who desperately needed a victory to even the Western Conference playoff series 2-2, opened the game by pushing the Wolves away from the basket and forcing them to start their offensive sets farther out than they wanted.

The Wolves committed too many unforced errors and trailed by 17 points in the first half. They fought back to tie the score, but then they seemed to quit running their offense as several players went for the big shot to get them over the hump.

The result for the Wolves was an 87-81 loss, reducing the series to a best of three starting with Game 5 tonight at the Target Center.

"We're an execution basketball team, and we didn't execute," Wolves coach Flip Saunders said. "Part of that had to do with Sacramento playing with a great amount of energy. I thought they had a great amount of urgency, and they took some things away. We didn't make good basketball decisions.

When a team relies on sure ballhandling, and then commits so many turnovers, the result usually is a butt kicking. That's what happened."

The Wolves pride themselves in not turning the ball over, with four solid ball handlers in Sam Cassell, Kevin Garnett, Latrell Sprewell and Fred Hoiberg.

After averaging 12 turnovers a game during the regular season, the Wolves turned it over 24 times Wednesday, seven times in the first quarter. Their miscues included two shot-clock violations, a double dribble and a traveling violation.

Garnett and Cassell finished with five turnovers each. The Kings scored 22 points off the Wolves' turnovers.

"A lot of those were really unforced turnovers," Saunders said after watching the tape Thursday. "We have to clean those things up."

Two turnovers ended a stretch in which the Wolves had scored on four consecutive possessions to tie the score 53-53 with 2:33 left in the third quarter on Cassell's three-pointer. Gary Trent was called for three seconds in the key, and then Cassell lost the ball. The Kings scored on both possessions to go back up by four points.

The Wolves got no closer than four the rest of the way and seemed reluctant to make the extra pass to the open player, as they had done in other games. Too many times the offense consisted of one pass and a shot. The Big Three ? Cassell, Garnett and Sprewell ? were among the worst offenders, and it showed in their statistics. The three combined to make 17 for 48 shots from the field.

"We tried to force things and make the plays ourselves instead of taking what they gave us," Saunders said. "When we're playing well, we move the basketball. When you try to make something out of nothing, sometimes you start forcing things. We weren't getting a lot of shots out of the corner; we were trying to do too much on top."

The Wolves believe those problems are easy to fix, which is why they are confident heading into tonight's game.

"We just can't fall behind like that because you spend a lot of energy getting back into the game," Sprewell said. "We battled back. We got back to where we needed to be, but we didn't execute. We'll be fine."


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

 

[Big Daddy]

Posted on Fri, May. 14, 2004





Playoff road rules

Kings preaching composure, consistency in return to Target Center

BY BRIAN HAMILTON

Pioneer Press


SACRAMENTO, Calif.

A friend of Chris Webber's, after witnessing what transpired at ARCO Arena on Wednesday night, arrived at a conclusion. She hated Sam Cassell. She saw that the Timberwolves guard had the audacity to come into this town for Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals and try to blatantly trip one of the Kings, Anthony Peeler.

She shared her ire with Webber. The Kings forward just flashed a grin and let her in on a little secret of NBA playoff basketball on the road: Cassell was just doing his job.

"He's not supposed to be the good guy," Webber said Thursday. "I think we should take the same approach. We're not playing to be liked right now. We're playing like warriors, to come out and win."

With that sentiment in tow, the Kings took in a quick film session Thursday morning and then the flight to Minnesota for Game 5 tonight. After an 87-81 Game 4 win ended all the hand-wringing over two harrowing defeats that preceded it, Sacramento was quick to point out that the series is now a best of three, that the slate is clean, that nothing that has happened has any bearing on what will happen.

But doesn't it? After all, the Kings essentially controlled the first two contests at the Target Center until the disappearing act in the last four minutes of Game 2. So there is nothing to argue against the possibility of Sacramento turning the series on its head, again, some 1,300 miles from home.

"The biggest thing in playing on the road any time, and it happened in the second game when we lost that lead, you've got to maintain your composure offensively," Kings coach Rick Adelman said. "You've got to make sure they guard you, you can't quickly shoot the ball, you can't turn it over ? it feeds into their hands of getting easy baskets. I think that's going to be the key. We've got to maintain a real steady flow offensively and continue to get better at understanding what they're trying to do at their end of the court."

Said guard Doug Christie: "I think our confidence level is good playing there, just like them playing here. That's what makes this series so special."

As far as that offensive composure, the Kings don't have to look far back to recognize its importance.

Given the maddening finishes in the two preceding games, not a soul was willing to write off the Wolves late in Game 4, even with a Sacramento lead that was nine with 57.3 seconds left. But the nerves weren't too bad, because the Kings were being deliberate on offense, searching out the best available shot ? the formula that went missing in Game 2.

As a result of the patience, the Kings scored on five of six possessions from the 3:21 mark to a Webber jumper with 32.7 seconds left, keeping the Wolves at arm's length the entire time.

"(We need to) just stay within ourselves," Kings guard Mike Bibby said of the Game 5 plan. "Take things slow, get good shots ? kind of like we played (Wednesday) and in the first game. That's the main thing. Really nothing much to it."

There will be much ado if the Kings follow that plan perfectly tonight, because the scene shifts back to Sacramento for Game 6 on Sunday ? and the Kings are well aware of what opportunity lay before them with another masterful road effort.

"That's why this is so important ? to come home next and be able to close it out," Webber said. "We'd love to be able to take care of business on the road."

It figures that this series of serial momentum swings is the only conference semifinal in which the road team has won a game. None of the games has been locked down until the final minute. To that end, actually, Adelman downplayed his team's previous success at the Target Center.

"I don't think with these two teams," the Kings coach said, "it matters where you play."

Going back a week or so, they have the evidence to prove it.

Briefly: Adelman said he doesn't expect guard Bobby Jackson back in the lineup until Sunday's Game 6 at the earliest ? and not necessarily even then. "Bobby's been working all week, testing it," Adelman said. "We just have to wait and see."


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

 

[Big Daddy]

Posted on Thu, May. 13, 2004





WOLVES REPORT Olowokandi just wants a chance:

BY MIKE WELLS AND BRIAN HAMILTON

Pioneer Press


SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? The sight has become familiar during the Timberwolves' playoff series against Sacramento. Michael Olowokandi sits at the end of the bench while Ervin Johnson is in the game, plugging the middle on defense, rebounding and scoring when he can.

Olowokandi was expected to be the main player to help Kevin Garnett man the paint this season for the Wolves. Instead, Olowokandi, Minnesota's key free-agent pickup last summer, has turned into more of a spectator than a contributor. And with the Wolves in the midst of the playoffs, Olowokandi must contribute right away when he enters the game or head back to the bench.

"If he plays well, he stays," coach Flip Saunders said. "When you get into the playoffs, I told our guys we don't have the luxury of letting players get into a rhythm. If it's two minutes and you're not doing anything, somebody else is probably going to come in. That's just the way the playoffs are. You can't afford not to do that."

Olowokandi's statistical line doesn't show that he's worthy of significant playing time. He entered Wednesday's Game 4 at Sacramento averaging 2.3 points and 2.8 rebounds in 14 minutes a game. Those aren't impressive numbers for the team's fifth-highest-paid player.

"I think it might be more frustrating if we weren't winning," Olowokandi said. "The way I look at it, sure I would like to be a part of it, but we're winning. I have to take my hat off to Flip because he's making some right decisions. I can't be frustrated; I just have to cheer and be happy for the guys."

Olowokandi has had an inconsistent season because of a knee injury that caused him to miss 39 games. He gets the chance to prove himself early in each game because he usually replaces Johnson in the first quarter. But Olowokandi usually returns to the bench after picking up a couple of quick fouls or failing to play aggressively. Mark Madsen has begun to take Olowokandi's playing time.

"It's a situation where different things happen in different ways," forward Kevin Garnett said. "Right now the group we are playing with is playing well. It's not necessarily what Kandi can do. This group is playing well, and we're going with it."

Olowokandi said he'll take the playing time whenever he gets a chance. "Whether it's two minutes or 20 minutes," he said, "I'm going to take it."

Olympic possibility: Wolves point guard Sam Cassell continues to hear the rumors, but he won't get excited about possibly playing in the Olympics this summer until he is invited. The latest rumor came Tuesday, when the Associated Press reported that Cassell is the leading candidate to replace Kings point guard Mike Bibby if he decides not to play.

"I don't know," Cassell said. "I'm not a young buck anymore. I can still play with the young boys. I would consider it if coach (Larry) Brown called me and asked, because I respect coach Brown a lot."

Bibby would not comment on the situation Wednesday.

Thin down the line: Eight Wolves played 10 or more minutes Monday night in Game 3, while 10 saw game action. The Kings have employed a shallower rotation of seven deep in the second round of the playoffs, raising questions about whether fatigue would be a factor now that the games are every other day.

"Now I can get nine people out there if you want me to, and sit Brad (Miller) down for longer, or (Chris) Webber down for longer, or Vlade (Divac) down for longer and get a deeper rotation," King coach Rick Adelman said. "But I've got three big guys who are taking the minutes for two spots, and I play one guy and rotate him in there. It comes down to making the decision; you have the best chance to win with your best players on the floor most of the time."

As for the Kings players, they don't buy into the tired-legs argument.

"There's no time for fatigue," Webber said. "There's no time. Nobody gets tired in the playoffs. Anybody who uses that excuse shouldn't."

Fighting his feet: Kings guard Doug Christie is battling painful plantar fasciitis in his left foot, and with rest the only cure, he's doing it with a scant day between games. Christie took a pain-killing shot on Monday before Game 3 just to get on the floor. It seemed to work, as he scored 24 points.

"It's one of those things I can't really complain about," Christie said. "Whatever I've got (for rest) is what I've got to work with."

Mass exodus: Fans began leaving ARCO Arena after the Wolves built a 15-point lead late in Monday's game. And when they left, the Kings noticed.

Guard Mike Bibby said the fans "gave up" on the team, but forward Peja Stojakovic looked at things differently.

"Would you have stayed?" Stojakovic asked, laughing.