Tonight vs Minny

[benhillboy]

What did everybody think of Rubio? This was my first time seeing him, and he was very impressive. His feel for the game and ball handling is very natural with a Kidd-like alertness of everything going on around him. Minus the 4 turnovers, he had a stay point for every one of the 35 minutes he played. He's gonna be alright for a long time.

[High5]

Gotta love our current bench. We are getting more than just Jamal Crawford and a prayer...so far Jamal's stats (Portland) are:

Craw: 12 games, 24 mins per, 12.7 ppg on 35.6% shooting. 30% on threes, 3 assists per game, 1.7 turnovers per game. He has scored 20 or more in 3 of 12 games.

I think we are getting FAR more out of our bench by spending the Craw money on quality VetMin players. I'll admit I loved watching when Craw was hot....but I'm glad we finally seem to have a relatively balanced bench. If T-Mac can stay healthy for awhile I'll love it even more.

Tonight was fun...flat at first - then Ivan brought the energy - then Vlad and Willie hit shots and Collins even did a little.. I'll take that bench over Craw and a bunch of stander-arounders.

Our bench was without their 3 top guys with Zaza starting (or has Ivan already overtaken Zaza for #3?), too. We didn't even have 3 guys worth calling our 3 best bench players last year.

Edited January 15, 2012 by High5

[MaceCase]

It's nothing about sidekick it's more about Josh not having respect for that team. Him and Kevin Love played/practiced with the USA team so it may be something more to that. I remember Josh either dunking on Love or blocking Love's dunk and Love down playing it by saying Josh does that to everybody. It's so many factors that come into play from game to game we won't ever no where people's heads and hearts are at when their on the court. Maybe Josh bet Love our bench could beat them or that the Hawks could beat them without him doing nothing. Pride and ego play a lot into sports and that looked like an ego move by Josh. I'm surprise Drew didn't bench him early in the 2nd quarter as Josh just slid to the side and tried to avoid almost every play.

What? You mean the same USA team that Josh was amongst the first cuts because he refused to stop taking the jumper while Love went on to be a World Champion? I doubt they practiced together long enough to form any sort of rivalry.

[DJlaysitup]

Our bench was without their 3 top guys with Zaza starting (or has Ivan already overtaken Zaza for #3?), too. We didn't even have 3 guys worth calling our 3 best bench players last year.

Good point - It's tough to keep track with all these injuries. Technically Zaza is our starter now - so I guess he can't be counted as our "current bench"...but I'm basically talking about our bench this year versus last year - and Zaza began the year on the bench.

So many of our bench guys were almost useless last year. I can't wait till we get Kirk back (knock-on-wood..fingers crossed). You put Kirk with Willie and Willie won't have to create his own shot as much...and Kirk can hit open shots as well.

[Endy9]

If LD can keep this bunch playing hard the whole game and winning despite Horford being out, he'll price himself out of what the Spirit will pay dangit. <grin> Great win Hawks and LD!

[MaceCase]

If LD can keep this bunch playing hard the whole game and winning despite Horford being out, he'll price himself out of what the Spirit will pay dangit. <grin> Great win Hawks and LD!

It would be hilarious if he gets offered about 5 million to go be D'Antoni's replacement in NY and retains Woody as his assistant.

[DJlaysitup]

If LD can keep this bunch playing hard the whole game and winning despite Horford being out, he'll price himself out of what the Spirit will pay dangit. <grin> Great win Hawks and LD!

I agree...but to be fair they all started the game like they were willing to lay down like dogs after a steak dinner until Ivan got in there

Note: to be fair... Jeff Teague was active all game and Smoove was cooking early.

Edited January 15, 2012 by DJlaysitup

[Sothron]

What did everybody think of Rubio? This was my first time seeing him, and he was very impressive. His feel for the game and ball handling is very natural with a Kidd-like alertness of everything going on around him. Minus the 4 turnovers, he had a stay point for every one of the 35 minutes he played. He's gonna be alright for a long time.

I thought he looked fantastic for a rookie as young as he is. I know he was taking a beating in the eyes of many fans over his last two seasons in Spain but he's been nothing short of gold so far in the NBA.

[sillent]

What? You mean the same USA team that Josh was amongst the first cuts because he refused to stop taking the jumper while Love went on to be a World Champion? I doubt they practiced together long enough to form any sort of rivalry.

Obviously not a rivalry or I think Josh would have went a lot harder than that. More of a playful respect or disrespect for that matter. Hence the lack of care even in his made jumpers and the 3 at the end.

[Guest]

It really is time to get rid of Smoove. That 3 PT shot he took at the end of the game was just typical. If not for Ivan cleaning up Smooves mess we go to OT. Smoove wants to be a star and he is not and will never learn to play inside his limits. It is just so frustrating to watch him and he never gets better he just stays the same year in and year out.

I did not like the shot that Josh took, hated it, but some of the blame has to go to Joe for passing it to him with the shot clock going down. Joe took too long to decide what he was going to do. Honestly, I think it is time LD gives Teague the ball in this kind of situation and let him make a play, he can either get to the rim or pass to Joe or another open player.

[MaceCase]

Obviously not a rivalry or I think Josh would have went a lot harder than that. More of a playful respect or disrespect for that matter. Hence the lack of care even in his made jumpers and the 3 at the end.

I find it rather disturbing that you are claiming that in a game where we were getting blown out, managed to rally at the end and then with the game on the line you are saying that Josh was treating it like a game of horse in his backyard. Just wow on that conclusion. If that was anywhere close to being the truth behind his mindset I wouldn't even mind seeing him getting cut right this moment for zero return but thankfully I doubt even his greatest hater would ever believe he is that aloof.

[DJlaysitup]

to be fair there were a few "OMG - NO - YES!" shots in this game. We didn't play all that smart but we got a win.

[Guest]

My thoughts from the game:

1. Josh - bad shooting night-only 4 of 13 shots was inside paint, missed all his free throws, 5 turnovers - I thought he looked tired for most of the game, he was bent over a lot holding his shorts, hopefully he has a bounce back game.

2. Joe - I did not like him passing the ball to Josh on the perimeter for that last shot, other than that Joe played a good game

3. Teague - I think he had a season high 6 turnovers, tried to be too flashy tryna match Rubio

4. IVAN - what can I say, way to go IVAN

5. Bench - Awesome in 2nd half after scoring only 2 points in 1st half

6. LD - props for leaving the bench in after cutting and taking the lead.

7. We won because we rebounded well, who thought we would out-rebound Minny

8.We had entirely too many turnovers as a team.

[sillent]

I find it rather disturbing that you are claiming that in a game where we were getting blown out, managed to rally at the end and then with the game on the line you are saying that Josh was treating it like a game of horse in his backyard. Just wow on that conclusion. If that was anywhere close to being the truth behind his mindset I wouldn't even mind seeing him getting cut right this moment for zero return but thankfully I doubt even his greatest hater would ever believe he is that aloof.

I hate to believe it too but I saw how Josh just made himself vanish in the second quarter. On the other hand sports are not just physical it's a mental game. Whether it's trash talk, to misdirection, to mismatches, to players leaving the game in a wheel chair giving opponents a sense of relief just to pop back out after the opponents guard is let down. Boxers taunt. There is a lot of mind games that go on in sports that is strategy. Josh knows the consensus on him and he knows what other teams expect from him. It's easy for him to catch them off guard but keeping the consensus in a certain prospective is a weapon for him. Teams don't necessarily count him out but they can't gauge how he'll attack their team on a nightly basis. Look at the Bobcat highlights where he faked the 3 and dished it to Teague wide open. He's known to take ill advised shots but he was a scoring threat that night so they had to respect the fake. Being predictable is the easiest way to lose in sports. Specially if you have to go against the opponent on multiple occasions. It's risky for us to play such close call games but teams are not going to know what to expect when we switch it up on them. The best weapon is the unknown and teams or fans for that matter do not know what to expect from Josh or our team. Our team is versatile and anybody can step it up on any given night. As long as our defense stays consistent I think we'll be alright.

Edited January 15, 2012 by sillent

[uga2006]

The T-Wolves have a good team they just lack any kind of depth. If they can keep Love and Rubio together for a long time they will return to the play-offs in 2-3 years.

[BIgAl]

This victory belonged to the Twolves, ikinda feel bad for the win. What a player Smith is lol, in the 4th quater timeout i saw him sitting alone while others were talking and standing in a group. He's like that when things dont go his way and when the "refs don't like him". He is so spoiled.