The Pistons can lock up home court advantage in the NBA Finals (assuming, you know, they get that far) with one win in their final two games. Will it happen against the Timberwolves? You have to figure, but there’s a reason they play the games. I’ll be at the Palace filing pre-game, halftime and postgame reports for HOOPSWORLD — leave your thoughts in the comments.
Archive for the 'Timberwolves' Category
By Kevin Sawyer
Pre-game
Managed to score seats in the corner, five rows behind the Pistons bench, for $50 each. The NBA, where “hell, I don’t want these tickets” happens (accompanied by a B&W photo of Mark Madsen manically dribbling the ball off his foot as a Laker fan celebrates in the background). Onto the house McHale built.
The Wolves have a “T-Wolves history” display on the way in from the skyway to the Target Center. In past years, this was basically a Garnett montage. Now, apparently, it is Craig Smith battling a dinosaur.
Virtually nobody is wearing a Timberwolves jersey. To the extent that there are T-Wolves fans, they don’t attend the games. Even when they were a WC finals team, the only people who went to the games were the ones with free tickets.
The announcer informs us that the Pistons are sitting Billups, Hamilton and Sheed. Well, pay 40% of face value, get 40% of the starters, I guess.
The security guy loves my “Maxiell Eats Babies” t-shirt.
1st quarter
Nobody respects Spellcheck’s jumper. This leads him to make bad decisions.
Conversation behind me:
Person A: Wow, there are a lot of Pistons fans here.
Person B: Yeah, they really turned out.
This is about the only thing the two gentlemen say to each other the whole game.
The Wolves play “Moving on up” when Al Jefferson scores. This would be appropriate if it were referencing a hit show about a family that is forced to move to Compton.
Well, this is certainly a lackadaisical little start we are having.
2nd Quarter
Cheick Samb in a mask is the scariest thing ever. All he needs is a chain saw.
In attempt to distract the opposing team at the free throw line, the A/V people play the sound of a howling wolf. But the effect is timed so that it comes immediately after the ref’s whistle, as though it is celebratory. I kept thinking the Pistons were getting called for offensive fouls.
Crunch the Wolf is the most manic mascot I have ever seen. Dude is on ladders that shoot fireworks, waving banners, shooting t-shirts everywhere. And not just during breaks. The T-Wolves set up their half-court offense, and Crunch starts banging a drum for some reason.
Samb II, the uprising. And the Pistons make a game of it.
Halftime
Maybe this is an NBA policy, but the Target Center no longer serves tap beer. This sucks because bottles of beer are the same price for half the beer.
Clearly the waitstaff did not take into consideration Pistons fans buying every seat in this corner of the stadium. Normally, people in this section are just happy to have gotten the free tickets from work, and might order a pretzel. We came to party. As a side benefit, she literally forgot to ring up $20 of our order.
You know how during games you usually have to time bathroom stops during the game so you don’t wind up spending 20 minutes in line. Not a problem when only 6,000 people show up.
3rd Quarter
Chauncey has taken a seat at the very end of the bench. But someone yells “Chauncey” and he looks up. HE KNOWS I’M HERE!!!! I giggle coquettishly.
I’m on the jumbotron. Everyone look at my Maxiell shirt! Yes, I am famous now. Everything is magical.
The Timberwolves are even more overweight in person, with or without Antoine Walker.
This game is actually turning into something of interest.
4th Quarter
The free ticket people leave, so I move to the front row. Chauncey is not paying attention to the game at all, and is jawing with Theo Ratliff.
Stuckey-snax is taking over this game. At least I get to see a career high out of the deal. Actually, two, with Samb dropping a four-spot on the Wolves.
Last minute. Chauncey isn’t even looking at the court as Stuckey pulls a vintage Billups move.
Victory! I am beside myself and rush to court. Everyone stares at me awkwardly as the security guards take their batons to my skull. I lie back and await the darkness.
BEST GAME EVER!!!
Yes, it’s a complete non sequitur, but you try finding interesting T’Wolves videos. (Update: I swapped out videos — I forgot about this one.)
Get ready to see a whole lot of bench players. Or, more accurately, get ready to see a whole lot of new starters. From A. Sherrod Blakely:
Yes, it’s April Fool’s day, but Flip Saunders wasn’t kidding around when he said that Rip Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups would all sit out tonight’s game against Minnesota.
Saunders said the idea came from Joe Dumars, Detroit’s president of basketball operations.
“We’re in a situation with having two days offs (before the next game), it was a perfect time for them (to not play),” Saunders said. “Joe thought it would be best to give those guys a blow right now.”
Leave your thoughts in the comments.
If you’re a Minnesota fan, I’m guessing you had the entire season flash before your eyes: had Kevin Garnett’s feeble attempt to punch Antonio McDyess actually landed, he would have earned an automatic suspension and sent the T’Wolves’ season into a tailspin. Instead, KG’s backpedaling saved the day.
In case you missed it, the whole thing started after Rip hit a runner in the paint to tie the game with 5:18 left. Rip drew the foul, and after the play ended McDyess gave Mark Madsen a little something extra as they untangled themselves. As I wrote on the FanHouse:
That’s when the AP says McDyess gave Madsen “a forearm shiver,” though from the eyes of this biased Pistons fan I’d say it looked like McDyess simply, yet emphatically, shook himself loose from a defender clutching both of his arms. Whatever you want to call it, Madsen went sprawling to the ground. And somewhere, separated by hundreds of miles and two continents, Bill Laimbeer and Vlade Divac shared a very special moment.
What happens next? Let’s take a look, courtesy of (who else?) Natalie from Need4Sheed:
Bad Boys era fight it wasn’t. I really like Garnett as a player, and I commend him for sticking up for his teammate — it’s just a shame he didn’t notice that his teammate completely flopped. (And while I can appreciate a good flop now and then, it’s pretty lame to follow it up by dramatically laying on the ground while your teammate comes to your defense — watch how long it takes Madsen to pull himself off the floor.) [Update: Madsen blogged about this after the game — I wish he said something we could make fun of, but he actually shows a lot of class. I hate it when guys do that.]
In any event, the little shoving match worked out in Detroit’s favor — with Minnesota’s head coach Dwayne Casey already benching Ricky Davis in the third quarter, the T’Wolves were without their top two leading scorers for the rest of the fourth and two overtimes. McDyess didn’t bait KG (it was the other way around), but he knew his team would have the advantage:
“I know they can win without me. I don’t think they can win without K.G.,” said McDyess.
McDyess did have his fist semi-cocked, but he never raised his hand above his shoulder and says he never planned on actually throwing a punch — from the Detroit Free Press:
“I wasn’t going to swing, because it was a waste of my time,” McDyess said. “What for? I never threw the punch. I wanted to, but I didn’t. I thought about all the money.”
I admire McDyess’s restraint, especially as he was leaving the court — from the Detroit News:
McDyess said a courtside fan started hollering at him, threatening him and using the ‘N’ word.
“That really made me angry and I thought about going after the guy,” McDyess said. “I mean, if we get suspended and thrown out, why can’t the fan get thrown out if the referee is listening to that. But I just walked away, I wasn’t going to do a Ron Artest.”
As for the actual game, Minnesota gave Detroit a scare when Mike James hit an out-of-this-world three-pointer with 13 seconds left in the first overtime — he needed to shoot over two pairs of hands in his face but he got the rainbow to fall without even touching the rim. The fact replays showed his heel touched the sideline was a moot point: the refs missed it and the Pistons were under the gun. But 13 seconds is like an eternity in the NBA: a Rip Hamilton layup, two Randy Foye free throws and a 26-foot Chauncey Billups three-pointer put Detroit into the second OT, where they scored the first four points and never looked back en route to a 104-98 win.
It was a bit overshadowed by the fourth-quarter skirmish and the extra periods, but Chris Webber made his first start and played rather well: 16 points on 8-12 shooting, seven boards and four assists. He played 38 minutes, including seven in the two overtimes. He’s obviously getting comfortable but doesn’t yet know the whole playbook — that may have been a reason why he wasn’t in the game for the end of the fourth or either overtime. From the Free Press:
“I can’t wait until we can really become cohesive and I can run all the plays,” Billups said. “I found myself thinking a lot, saying, ‘What should I run, what he does he know?’ “
Flip Saunders said before the game that he was going to try limiting Rasheed Wallace’s minutes to 30, and at the end of regulation Wallace had 34. Aside from being stone-cold (1-6) from three-point land, Wallace was on his game, so he played another 10 minutes in overtime. He finished with 18 points, nine boards and three steals. The downside, though, was that he also picked up his 12th technical in the third quarter.
Rip Hamilton bounced back from his bad game on Wednesday to fill up the entire box score: 26 points, seven boards, five assists, three steals and two blocks. Chauncey Billups scored 28 with eight dimes and a pair of steals.
The bench was quiet, but they better step up tomorrow as the Pistons complete yet another back-to-back set with a match at home against the Kings. Jason Maxiell, who didn’t get off the bench the last two games, scored seven on 3-7 shooting with three boards and a block in 15 minutes. He was the only guy off the bench to score aside from McDyess, who scored four in 18 minutes before getting the boot.
This was an ugly game, but it was good to see the Pistons pull it out, especially after the little rut they’ve been stuck in the last few weeks. And you think the Pistons have drama? Look at what Minnesota is dealing with — from the Star-Tribune:
[Ricky Davis] left the court and headed through the tunnel after being subbed out with 8:33 left in the third quarter. Forward Justin Reed brought Davis back to the bench.
“I told him, ‘A lot of guys get unhappy,’” Reed said. “But it’s between him and the coach.”
Witnesses close to the bench said Davis refused to go back into the game. Casey said that didn’t matter anyway - Davis, who finished with five points in 23 minutes, no longer had the option because the coach decided to stick with others.
“I just decided not to play him. I have that right,” Casey said. “I didn’t like his focus coming out in the third quarter. … I decided to go with guys who were competing.”
Previously on DBB:
Preview: Pistons-Wolves: Round II
Monday’s game: Pistons take on the Big Ticket and the T’Wolves
A quirk in the schedule allows the Pistons a chance to avenge Monday’s overtime loss to the Timberwolves tonight. The T’Wolves will have home-court advantage this time, but the Pistons will be with Chauncey Billups and Chris Webber, who both watched Monday’s game in street clothes. Here’s to stopping that three-point juggernaut Mark Blount.
The new starting 5 has arrived: Chris Webber is expected to start, per A.S.B.
Flip’s homecoming: Flip Saunders grew up in Ohio, but he played for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and spent a decade coaching the Timberwolves. Simply put, he’s got a following in the frigid state, which makes the T’Wolves the only team in the NBA that would put up a headline like “Flip Brings Pistons to Town” on their official site.
If you’re in Minny for the weekend and don’t have plans Saturday… then check out “Ballin’ — 30 Songs About 30 NBA Teams” at the Minneapolis music club First Avenue. It’s a benefit concert for Peace Players International which was organized by Sonia, aka Lil Dice, of I heart KG fame. (More info on the concert and Peace Players International on True Hoop). Huge props to Sonia, a blogger with a conscience, for organizing this. I hope someone plans on recording this.
Ball tips at 8pm on WDIV (Channel 4) and ESPN. As usual, leave any game thoughts in the comments.
(I apologize for the general slowness of the site today — bear with us…)
Obviously the news of the day is Chris Webber’s decision to sign with the Pistons — we’ve been covering that from the start and we’ll certainly have more reaction to it later today. First things first, though, and that’s the Monday matinee against the Timberwolves. If you’re stuck at work and (gasp!) have certain sports sites blocked, I’ll do my best to keep you updated here.
- Update:
It’s over — the Pistons lost 94-90 in OT. There’s a (very, very) extensive account on how they did after the jump, but here are some random final thoughts:
Minnesota wins and improves to 20-16, good for the seventh seed in the West. Detroit loses and falls to 21-15, good the second seed in the East. Chris Webber (and Chauncey Billups, when he returns) should make the Pistons a very competitive team, but they are by no means an elite team. If they were in the West, they’d be just another team hustling to make the cut, not playing for the conference’s best record.
Rasheed finished 1-11 with three points, 10 boards and a couple of steals in 44 minutes. Whatever happened to holding him to 30 minutes? You could argue that the four-point difference today could have been made up by 10 minutes from Jason Maxiell, who attacks the rim almost every time he gets the ball in the paint. Sadly, Max got the dreaded DNP-CD — Flip Saunders will have fun explaining that one later.
Antonio McDyess broke out in a big way, though, getting 16 points on 8-10 shooting with seven boards in 29 minutes.
Flip Murray had 12 points but they came on 13 shots. To his credit, though, he also had nine dimes. Tayshaun Prince also chipped in seven assists along with 12 points, and Carlos Delfino added three assists and 10 points. Lindsey Hunter was only credited with one steal but he was a disruptive force on defense — it’s nice to see him back.
There’s no time for the Pistons to feel sorry about themselves — at 2 p.m. tomorrow, Chris Webber will become an official member of the team, and on Wednesday against the Jazz he should make his Pistons debut. With any luck, Chauncey will be back as well. Utah is one of the top teams in the West, and they feature one of the most balanced frontcourts in the entire league — they’ll put Detroit’s new look frontline to the test early. Should be a good one.
Read on for the live-blog: Continue reading ‘Pistons take on the Big Ticket and the T’Wolves’
The Pistons celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with the 6th Annual MLK Kids Day (sponsored by Sprite!) at the Palace. No, it won’t feature Run DMC, Menudo, Whitney Houston, New Edition or the Fat Boys, but KG and the Timberwolves should still be a nice stand-in.
With a 3:30 tip-off, a lot of you will be stuck in your cube for the opening tipoff. You can follow along here, though, as we’ll be live-blogging the game — just keep hitting F5 to refresh and don’t let your boss catch you.
(I’m feeling kind of guilty about that headline, so for karma’s sake watch a few minutes of the good doctor’s original speech, will you?)
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