MVN - Most Valuable Network

Wolves hold on to beat Clippers

Last Saturday, the Wolves took on the Clippers at Staples Center and managed to get a 99-96 victory thanks to the last minute heroics of Randy Foye. They scored 99 points again on Monday night, but instead of Foye, the Wolves relied on some fourth quarter offense by Rashad McCants and Craig Smith to get a 99-90 victory, their 16th of the season. They are now 4-44 when they score 100 points or less, meaning they have only reached the century mark only 18 times this year. In contrast, the Golden State Warriors have gone over 100 points 56 times this season.

Ryan Gomes plays well (again)

Gomes has really come alive in March. With his 19 point performance on Monday, Gomes has now scored in double figures in 6 straight games and has failed to score 15 or more points only twice this month. The majority of Gomes scoring came at the end of quarters - a time when the Wolves traditionally allow their opponent to either gain ground or extend their lead.

In the final 3 minutes of the first quarter, Gomes scored all of the Wolves 6 points. In the last 1:39 before halftime, Gomes put in 5 more points, and a three pointer by Foye gave the Wolves a 47-44 lead. He was pretty quiet for quarters 3 and 4 but was a big reason the Wolves were able to take a lead going to the locker room, a lead they would hold on to for the rest of the game. 17 seems to be the magic number for Gomes - the last four games in which he has gone for 17 or more points, the Wolves have prevailed.

Corey Maggette owns Wolves D

Although Kirk Snyder had a solid game offensively, his and Corey Brewer’s defense on Corey Maggette was, ahem, sub-par. Maggette was 9-18 from the field and got to the line 15 times, making 13 of his free throw attempts. He hit two big three pointers towards the end of regulation, but the Wolves were able to respond with a two pointer each time, clinging to a 7 point lead. Snyder matched up better with Maggette physically (both are 6-6, 225 lbs.); the Corey vs. Corey matchup gave the advantage to Maggette. Brewer’s length can be an asset defensively, but against a more physical player like Maggette, Brewer has problems.

As Britt Robson observed in his blog, “Maggette had done his thing against both small forwards, getting 20 points in the 22 minutes Snyder guarded him and 14 in the 14:20 when Brewer was the matchup.”

Luckily for the Wolves, the rest of the Clippers shot 35.4% as a team and had just 10 bench points. They were just 5-21 from downtown compared to the Wolves’ efficient 5-11 from behind the arc. Other than Maggette, only 3 other players got to the free throw stripe for the Clips and were 10-15.

Wolves small lineup

Once again, the Wolves went with a smaller lineup that featured an Al Jefferson-Ryan Gomes frontcourt. The Clippers were without Chris Kaman for the the fifth straight game, relieving some of the pressure that would have been put on Jefferson defensively, but Tim Thomas more than made up for it. Thomas scored 22 points and Clippers PF Josh Powell had 10 points to go with his 12 rebounds. Thomas’ three point shooting ability forced our defense to guard the perimeter rather than the painted area, allowing slashers like Maggette to penetrate the Wolves interior defense and get to the free throw line.

Up next for the Wolves is another home game, this one against the Memphis Grizzlies. Like the Wolves, the Grizz are in the running for a top 3 lottery pick with their 16-50 record, the same as Minnesota. Obviously a win will do nothing to help the respective futures of these teams, so it will almost be a battle of who want to lose more.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 10:38 am and is filed under Al Jefferson, Kirk Snyder, Corey Brewer, Ryan Gomes, NBA, Minnesota Timberwolves, Timberwolves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.