In a game that Kevin Love didn’t play, due to illness, the Wolves still out rebounded the 76ers 43-39. In a five point game the Wolves had 12 offensive rebounds to the 76ers paltry five. Those two stats right there explain the final outcome more then Jonny Flynn’s career high 29, his +12, or his 3-1 assist to turn-over ration and the fact that he was 2-2 from 3-point land. Jonny Flynn playing out of his gourd helped but the Wolves taking care of business in the paint, even without Love, is where win number 9 was produced.
Al Jefferson had a monster of a game, the kind of game that Al Jefferson needs to have each and every night. 43 minutes which is roughly what Big Al was logging before the knee injury and is the kind of time that Al needs to get in to a flow and really punish the other team’s bigs. Al is at his best when he’s putting his array of offensive moves on display and forcing double teams. The 76ers threw a three-man rotation at Al of Samuel Dalembert-Marreese Speights-Elton Brand with a minimal sprinkling of Thaddeus Young on the doubles. Al’s bull in the china shop routine, that we haven’t seen that often this season, was able to keep all three primary defenders from find much of any offensive rhythm. As well Al was able to pick-up 4 offensive rebounds, 9 defensive rebounds, he made all three shots he got at the charity stripe, had two blocks, and pulled that all off with only one personal foul. At the same time he did commit two turn-overs and shot only 10-19 from the field with the lowest +/- of all five starters at +4. Overall Al Jefferson had the kind of game that the Wolves need to see day in and day out and I’m really glad he was able to handle the pressure of not having the other best player on the team on the court. Let’s hope that Al can use this game as a building block for the weeks to come.
In basketball winning teams have solid three-man cores. Right now the Wolves have two solid players, Jefferson and Love, and one up and coming player, Flynn. These three aren’t a solid three man core. It has yet to be seen or shown over time if Love and Jefferson combine for a true low-post threat. They are under-sized as a traditional 4-5 combo and despite potent offensive games they both are lacking on the defensive side of the court. Right now I would have to say that Love is the better player of the two, but Jefferson really has a world-class low-post game that Love doesn’t. In that regard Love’s ability to spread the paint and hit outside shots helps create space for Jefferson, but the Wolves lack of anything at the 3 spot really kills any and all space that Love’s rangy shooting creates. Jonny Flynn isn’t a facilitator at the 1. Flynn can create his own offense and is a great drive and kick point guard. That ability would be a great foil if the Wolves had a legit 2 or 3 to go along with Love’s great outside shooting at the 4. Think about Jefferson’s man not being able to slide over to help on Flynn because if he doesn’t that’s an easy scoop pass to Big Al via Flynn every time and at the same time Love’s outside game has him spaced more towards the perimeter. Down low you’d just have Jefferson, so when Flynn drives it would be really hard for the defense to commit anyone on help-defense. If you slid anyone over to stop Flynn’s drive he’d just kick it out to the open man who would then make the defense pay. To a certain extent I think with a line-up of Jefferson-Love-Gomes-Ellington-Flynn you almost could create the sort of offense I’m dreaming of, but Ellington and Flynn are still rookies and you can’t really expect them to produce every time you call on them. I’d still love to see this grouping on the court more playing a more spaced-out version of the triangle offense.
That’s the point of the current Wolves team there are way too many question marks. How does Brewer fit in? What’s Gomes role? Is Ellington a starting 2 in the NBA? How long are we going to give our players to develop their individual games to see if they fit into our team’s system? Looking forward January and February there are a lot of games to be played, 19 to be exact and 13 of those 19 games are before the NBA’s trade deadline. We’ll be having some posts looking at the current Wolves roster with analysis on how the Wolves should navigate these next few months. Right now the Wolves out rebounded a bigger more physical team for their ninth win of the season, so let’s bask in that glow until Wednesday nights game with Oklahoma City.
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