NBA Game of the Week

Wolves (4-10) at Blazers (12-4)

The Wolves are a team in flux, this year is all about figuring out what they'll have next year.  Rookie Andrew Wiggins is averaging just under 30 mins a game and rookie Zach LaVine is starting to get important minutes in the absence of Ricky Rubio, while 2nd year guys Gorgui Dieng and Shabazz Muhammad are firmly part of the rotation now.  All about the youngsters, as the Wolves spent most of the off-season trying to get rid of any veterans making money (JJ Barea out, Kevin Martin and Corey Brewer got the rumors swirling) and yet...they added Thaddeus Young (why?).  The kids are struggling in the brutal Western Conference but there is something lovable about the fact that their road record (2-5) is identical to their home record; hey, at least they're not intimidated on the road.

Last year, the Blazers surprised a lot of people with their remarkable start.  They faded toward the end of the season, managed to beat the Rockets in the 1st round even though they gave up home court advantage.  2nd round is nice but to go further I thought they'd need an upgrade, at least a scoring replacement for Mo Williams, and while Steve Blake and Chris Kaman are solid veterans off the bench, I didn't think that would be enough, I thought the Blazers would flounder by the end of the year.  But so far, so good for the Blazers, they've again gotten off to a good start and find themselves in 4th place in the West coming into this game.  How will they handle this year's 2nd half fade?

The Blazers are a 13.5 favorite at home.  I like the Blazers to get the victory but I'll take the young Wolves to keep it the game tighter than 13.

1st -- Wolves 26-22
2nd -- Blazers 26-14

Aldridge was off to a brilliant start, seemed like he was hitting everything.  Batum, too, wasn't as deadly with his shot but defensively he was active, all over the boards.  Lillard seems a little sluggish tonight, seems like Mo Williams has got him spooked: I don't mean to suggest that Mo is shutting Lillard down but as soon as Mo leaves, Lillard goes off.  Hmmm....Mo Williams is Lillard kryptonite?  Who saw that coming?  Kaman is a nice change of pace off the bench, Aldridrge gets to rest a bit without too much drop off down low.  So that's Joel Freeland, huh?  Don't think I've ever seen him play before...has he ever played before?  Wow, he's pretty awful out there!  Allen Crabbe!

I've seen enough of Wiggins to know that that kid can play, keep giving him minutes, he needs to play.  Not the kind of rookie that's going to put a team on his back or anything, this isn't Magic's rookie season, but he's clearly contributing and worthy of a fair amount of the hype.  Thad Young wasn't hitting the broad side of a barn early on; when they traded for Young I didn't think it was a bad deal (although they did give up a 1st rounder for him) because kinda like baseball, you need veterans to give you innings, you know?  But looking back on it, why bother?  The Wolves have plenty of bodies that will want playing time, why not keep that 1st rounder?  Chase Budinger kinda looks like Kaman, no?  Like Kaman is his pirate mentor.  Shabazz Muhammad off the bench!  Every time I watched the Wolves last year, Shabazz and Gorgui would go off and I'd wonder why they weren't playing more.  Well, Rick Adelman is gone, all the veterans are gone, and Gorgui and Shabazz are getting some run finally.  LaVine kinda sluggish in his early appearances tonight and with Mo Williams' sly magic in this building, perhaps this is just not his night.  Anthony Bennett...kinda Freeland-ish out there.  I kinda miss Rubio, I'd love to see him with these kids.  Mo Williams is nice off the bench but for 48 minutes these guys need a table setter.

Blake races up the court, feeds Aldridge for the layup at the buzzer--that's called veteran smarts, kids.  Blazers up 8 at halftime.

3rd - Blazers 27-21
4th - 32-32

Batum is a pro, man, that guy plays basketball for a living, even when he's not completely on his game you don't mess around with that dude.  I think I may have misjudged Terry Stotts; I'm not a great x's-and-o's guy when it comes to basketball, I'm more of a roster construction kinda guy, and when watching a game I'm just trying to get an organic feel for each squad so I'm not the best at discerning the coach's influence.  I thought Stotts could be on the hot seat (as I anticipated the Blazers fading in the West this year) but maybe not, he's been there long enough that he's probably established enough there and if the vets like him, why fire him?  Even when Lillard isn't going off, he handles his business like a pro night after night.

Shabazz is still balling for the Wolves and Mo Williams looks like he's having fun out there, but not much else from the Wolves in the 2nd half.  Wiggins and LaVine both disappeared, Bennett and Budinger were not productive, Gorgui is kinda the poor man's Lamarcus Aldridge, no?  Feels like Flip Saunders is not liking his chances of stealing one on the road in Portland.  I'm not saying they would've won tonight with Rubio but he is a different kinda cat and you'd like to think he could've brought more out of the kids tonight.

Final possession, Wolves down by 14, you just need a basket to cover the spread!  Come on!  Why aren't you...aw crap!  The oddsmakers had their finger on 13.5 point pulse tonight.

Blazers 107-93 Wolves

Digging into the stats: The Blazers starters, like last year, play an awful lot of minutes and with no run at all for Robinson, Barton, Claver or McCollum, you wonder how many minutes the big guys can carry.  Wesley Matthews quietly rocked this game: 6-10 from 3, 6 boards, 23 points, guy's getting it done.  Lillard didn't shoot particularly well but 8 assists-1 turnover is good stuff.

Thaddeus Young ended up 6-11 from the floor in 43 minutes; okay, well, I guess I rescind my original comment: they brought him in to play a lot of minutes and he's playing well enough (even if he's not getting A's on the eye test); the trade made sense to me when they made it, perhaps I should stick with my original narrative and realize that this team already has enough of a youth movement going and there is a need for a reliable guy to book some time.  Only 11 minutes for LaVine, only 18 for Wiggins.  I can understand letting Mo Williams play more against his old team but why so many minutes for Corey Brewer?  Shabazz Muhammad 12-17 from the floor, 28 points, 5 boards in 30 minutes....still gets a -10; the youth movement is fun to watch but it does not translate to wins in the NBA.