The Mind of Mullin: POSTGAME: TIMBERWOLVES

Saturday, January 3, 2009

POSTGAME: TIMBERWOLVES - 01/02/09

Jackson starts off slow but ends up with 25 pts and 7 ast

MVW: Stephen Jackson

The Good
Stephen Jackson: 37 min, 7-14 fg, 2-3 3pt, 9-11 ft, 7 ast, 25 pts
Andris Biedrins: 33 min, 8-12 fg, 13 reb, 2 bs, 18 pts
Anthony Morrow: 22 min, 6-11 fg, 2-4 3pt, 4 reb, 14 pts
Marco Belinelli: 29 min, 1-2 3pt, 6 ast, 3 stl, 10 pts
C.J. Watson: 31 min, 6 reb, 3 stl, 11 pts
Rob Kurz: 16 min, 4-7 fg, 1 bs, 9 pts

The Bad
Stephen Jackson: 37 min, 3 reb, 6 to
Kelenna Azubuike: 16 min, 0-2 fg, 1 reb, 0 ast, 2 pf, 0 stl, 2 pts
Anthony Randolph: DNP-CD

The Ugly
Jamaal Crawford: 32 min, 3-12 fg, 1-6 3pt, 3 ast

Team Statistics
Warriors : Timberwolves
pts - 108 : 115
fg - 38-80 (.475) : 41-91 (.451)
ft - 25-34 (.735) : 30-39 (.769)
3pt - 7-20 (.350) : 3-13 (.231)
reb - 39 : 50
oreb - 10 : 17
ast - 21 : 23
to - 15 : 13
stl - 8 : 9
bs - 7 : 2
fast break points - 5 : 23
points in the paint - 42 : 52

Boxscore
Highlights
Popcorn Machine's GameFlow

Marco had a sub-par shooting night but dished out 6 ast

Notes

starting lineup: Crawford/Belinelli/Jackson/Kurz/Biedrins vs. Foye/Ollie/Gomes/Smith/Jefferson
Wright out with sprained wrist; curious as to how this injury came about
Rob Kurz hits first shot for Warriors
Marco misses 1st shot
Foye challenging Belinelli's ball handling
Kurz rebounding well, playing decent defense
Warriors continue playing unselfish ball
Azubuike in for Belinelli
Biedrins struggling from the line again
would love to have Love on this team - big that can rebound, shoot deep, and run the offense through
Jefferson and Biedrins going back and fourth; 7 pts, 6 reb, 1 bs for Biedrins; 13 pts, 3 reb for Jefferson
Turiaf in for Biedrins 3:34 1Q : GS 16, MIN 23
Jackson with 3 turnovers, 6 total for Warriors, 0 for TWolves
Jackson forcing the issue
Watson and Belinelli in for Crawford and Jackson 1:22 1Q : GS 20, MIN 28
Morrow hits first shot attempt, 3 pt w/ assist from driving Belinelli
down by 6 after 1st Q
Belinelli with another great assist to cutting Turiaf
Biedrins and Turiaf in at the same time! 34 to 38 MIN, 8:35 2Q
Jefferson has some of the best post moves in the NBA; learning from McHale
Morrow looking good tonight; hitting his shots and has nice tear drop in traffic
Jackson in for Turiaf; conventional lineup cuts deficit to 2
will be fun to watch Biedrins and Jefferson go at it year after year
Watson one of the best Warriors lately
Morrow with pull-up baseline jumper
sometimes it's hard to tell Morrow and Jackson apart when you don't look at their jersey numbers; move similarly, both wear head bands, same build
Turiaf throws ball away, Jefferson gets buzzer beating layup to end half; GS 56, MINN 58
at the half: 54% fg, 2/7 4-pt, 13/17 ft, 11 to, 5 fast break pts
Kurz 4-5 fg
Crawford dump to Biedrins...NICE!
Crawford hits 3pt from Jackson assist; wide open
Jackson less deliberate and more of a passer now
Biedrins 2/6 ft
lots of communication on defense prior to inbound by MIN; great to see
Gomes heating up
GS 72, MIN 83 4:47 3Q
Morrow hits open 3 pt shot
Azubuike (flu-like symptoms) in for Belinelli; 2:32 3Q GS 80 MIN 99
Jackson hits 2 in a row
GS 84 MIN 91 end of 3rd Q
Morrow missing shots now
Biedrins and Turiaf on floor together; 8: 02 4Q down 10 pts
Jackson with another turnover (6)
Cardinal shooting well; hits jumper that extends lead to 12
3 pts in 5 min. on 1-9 shooting, multiple turnovers in the quarter
Jefferson scoring despite having Turiaf/Biedrins in the middle w/ Watson coming to double on every touch
Jackson (5-11 fg) and Crawford (3-11 fg) having terrible shooting nights
Foye's back to back 3's nail in coffin
Warriors score only 13 pts in 4th Q w/ 1:54 remaining
GS 108 MIN 115 Final
Warriors get out-rebounded by 11 and fail to insert their 2nd best rebounder in Randolph; on-court development not a priority at this time; Nelson chose to play an ineffective, flu-ridden Azubuike over him....go figure
only 5 fast break points and 8 stls
gave up a lot of points to one of the worst offensive teams in the NBA
6th worst record at 10-25; keep tanking, this team needs all the help it can get: Rubio, Griffin, Harden, Holiday, Monroe, DeRozan, Jennings, Hill, Curry, Patterson, Thabeet
big win for the tank brigade; Warriors need to go all-out for big home games, hold out key guys for others, keeping all games competitive and entertaining, and allow young players to develop along the way - like how Nellie is giving the young guards more time, but not so happy about Wright and Randolph's minutes

Biedrins and Jefferson battled all night,
but Jefferson dominated in the post

Postgame Quotes

Don Nelson
On Tonight's Game:

"I think the fire was there, but not for the whole game... Some of those (statistical) categories are surprising, but we struggle against talented big men, there's no question about it. And they've got one here. (Kurz) and Anthony Morrow were my two best players tonight. Really did a good job on both ends of the floor."

Stephen Jackson
On Tonight's Game:

"We have to expect it, but we've just been too inconsistent right now. We've got to grow up fast and learn to play on the road. This team is going through the same hardships that we've gone through, but at the same time coming into the game we thought we were the better team. We've just got to figure out how to find our identity and stick with it every game, and not play one good game and then drop four in a row and then play good again. We have to try and get some consistency going and guys have got to grow up faster. Guys have to get themselves going and stop looking at the next person to do this."
"Everybody has to be accountable. Coaches are doing everything they can to get us ready and prepared. We've got to stop looking at the coaches for answers and we've got to go out there and play and get the job done ourselves. I think everybody in the locker room needs to start looking at themselves in the mirror. That's the only way we're going to get it done. Coaches can't play. They get us prepared the best they can (but) we have go out there and find a way to put the action on court and win games."

Golden State Warriors @ Minnesota Timberwolves 1/2/09
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