The AP reports: Tony Parker keeps finding ways to hurt the Minnesota Timberwolves. Manu Ginobili just keeps getting hurt. Parker scored 36 points on 13-of-17 shooting to lead the Spurs to a 99-93 victory over Minnesota on Tuesday night, handing the Timberwolves their 13th consecutive loss. Ginobili, who missed the first 12 games of the season because of left ankle surgery, limped slightly to the sideline with about four minutes left. He returned two minutes later and played until 15 seconds remained in the game… Tim Duncan added 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Spurs (18-10), who have won nine of 11 and head into a Christmas day matchup against the Suns in Phoenix… Al Jefferson led the Timberwolves with 28 points. Randy Foye added 26 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.
Category: Minnesota T-Wolves Blog
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Record-level coach firings
The New York Daily News (Mitch Lawrence) reports: A fifth of the league’s 30 coaches – six – already have been dismissed, a record for this early in the season. If that isn’t insane, three of the choices to take over were nothing short of mind-boggling. In Minnesota, Washington and Philly, head coaches were replaced by members of the team’s front office. In the cases of the Wizards and Sixers, the interim choices, Ed Tapscott and Tony DiLeo, respectively, had only limited time in NBA huddles. This is nothing personal against Tapscott or DiLeo or Kevin McHale, who was forced to move from his GM suite to the bench to take over for Randy Wittman, marking McHale’s second tour of duty on Minnesota’s bench. But they’re no more qualified to coach a team than an equipment man is to run a draft. For many teams, these moves violate the NBA’s version of the separation of church and state. GMs and their subordinates do one thing (procure the talent). Coaches do something else (coach it). And ne’r should the career paths cross (unless, of course, it’s Pat Riley).
Dec 17: Cavs 93, Wolves 70
The AP reports: LeBron James helped the Cavaliers return to their winning ways with 32 points that sent the Timberwolves to their 11th straight loss, 93-70 on Wednesday night… “We’ve got to keep working at it. Nobody said it was going to be easy,” said Al Jefferson, who had to work for his 20 points against Cleveland’s interior defensive specialist, Ben Wallace. Mike Miller was more aggressive than he’s been for most games this season for Minnesota, finishing with 14 points and seven rebounds on 7-for-12 shooting and Kevin Ollie threw in 12 points against one of his many former teams. But Wallace and Anderson Varejao helped limit Jefferson’s damage underneath, doubling him occasionally and clogging the driving lanes to keep the Wolves from finding an offensive rhythm.
Corey Brewer has knee surgery
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Corey Brewer underwent successful surgery today to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee. The procedure was performed by Dr. David Fischer at TRIA Orthopaedic Center in Bloomington, Minn. Brewer suffered the injury during the Timberwolves Nov. 29 game vs. Denver and will be sidelined indefinitely as he begins rehabilitation.
Brewer had appeared in 15 games for the Wolves this season, averaging 6.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game while shooting 41.1 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from behind the arc.
Wolves almost drafted Ilgauskas
The St. Paul Pioneer Press (Don Seeholze) reports (via blog): Zydrunas Ilgauskas is in his 10th season with the Cleveland Cavaliers and recently became the team’s all-time leading rebounder, but his career could have gone much differently. Wolves coach Kevin McHale said before tonight’s game that the team was prepared to select the 7-foot-3 center in the second round of the 1995 NBA draft until he broke his foot during a workout. “Tough kid,” McHale said. “I’m a big fan of Zydrunas. He broke his foot and he was still practicing. He was working out and he said, ‘My foot hurts a little bit.’ … After seeing it was a broken foot, I said that’s a pretty tough dude.”
Dec 15: Kings 118, Wolves 103
The AP reports: Francisco Garcia scored 21 points, John Salmons added 17 and Sacramento beat the woeful Minnesota Timberwolves 118-103 Monday night in the Kings’ first game under interim coach Kenny Natt. A few hours after the Kings fired Reggie Theus and replaced him with Natt, the veteran assistant coach presided over one of Sacramento’s best efforts of the season against the Timberwolves, who lost their 10th straight. Brad Miller added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Kings, who had eight players scoring in double figures in just their second win in 12 games. Al Jefferson scored all of his 22 points in the first half for Minnesota in a meeting of struggling teams that both fired their head coaches in the past eight days. The Timberwolves dropped to 0-5 under Kevin McHale, who replaced Randy Wittman last week… Rashad McCants scored 21 points while Craig Smith and Kevin Ollie added 17 apiece for the Timberwolves (4-20), who haven’t won since Nov. 28.
Dec 14: Lakers 98, Wolves 86
The AP reports: Kobe Bryant had 26 points and five assists, Pau Gasol added 18 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots, and the Lakers pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the struggling Minnesota Timberwolves 98-86 on Sunday night. Andrew Bynum added 14 points and nine rebounds, and Trevor Ariza scored 14 points for the Lakers, who have played seven of their last eight games against teams with losing records and lost to two of them—Indiana and Sacramento. And they haven’t been all that impressive in several recent victories… Al Jefferson had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead Minnesota, but he shot 8-of-24, missing 15 of his last 19 shots. Craig Smith added 18 points and eight rebounds, and Ryan Gomes scored 13 for the Timberwolves (4-19), who lost their ninth straight game and fourth in a row since Kevin McHale took over as coach last Monday.
Dec 12: Spurs 98, Wolves 86
The AP reports: Every season the San Antonio Spurs start off a little bit slow, leaving many to wonder if the four-time champions have finally run out of steam. They never really do, of course. It just takes a little bit longer these days for Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and the Spurs to get the engine revved up. Parker didn’t have another 55-point night in him, so his Spurs relied on their defense to notch their fifth straight victory, 98-86 over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night… In his first game back at Target Center since that career night on Nov. 5 that also included 10 assists, Parker managed 17 points and nine assists… Al Jefferson had 29 points and 13 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who have lost eight in a row and three straight since Kevin McHale took over as coach on Monday.
Dec 11: Nuggets 116, Wolves 105
The AP reports: Carmelo Anthony matched George Gervin’s NBA record with 33 points in the third and finished with a season-high 45 points in the Denver Nuggets’ 116-105 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night… Chauncey Billups added 24 points in Denver’s eighth straight win over Minnesota. After the game, he was still in awe of Anthony’s performance… Al Jefferson had 26 points and 12 rebounds, and Randy Foye also scored 26 points for Minnesota, which has lost seven straight games and two in a row since Kevin McHale took over as head coach on Monday.
Dec 9: Jazz 99, Wolves 96
The AP reports: For one game, at least, McHale seemed to inject some energy and heart into a team that has lacked both since a six-game losing streak started nine days ago… Mehmet Okur hit the go-ahead shot with 1.7 seconds to play and the Jazz capitalized on 16 missed free throws by Minnesota to rally for the victory. Al Jefferson led Minnesota with 21 points. The Timberwolves led by seven with 2:45 to play, but Love’s misses in the final three minutes allowed the Jazz to hang around… Ronnie Brewer scored 25 points for the Jazz on the 20th anniversary of Jerry Sloan’s promotion to the team’s head coach… Love finished with eight points and 15 rebounds, but went 2-for-9 from the free throw line.