Click here for the forum’s thread on tonight’s game at Orlando
Game previews:
Orlando’s Dwight Howard had a slight advantage in the battle of the big men last season, averaging 24 points and 15 rebounds to 21.5 points and 11 rebounds for the Wolves’ Al Jefferson.
Jonah Ballow and John Focke/Timberwolves site talks about Corey Brewer’s season-ending injury and other news around the league (audio).
Afterward, coach Randy Wittman said he might need to rely on his veterans to find somebody — anybody — willing and able to follow that evening’s game plan.
His answer begs a couple of questions: Was it another motivational salvo fired across his young team’s collective bow or a solution that is the ultimate indictment of a franchise that has traded away Kevin Garnett, Brandon Roy and O.J. Mayo for a mismatched collection of players who have won four times in their first 16 games?
And if Cardinal, Ollie and Jason Collins are the best they have, isn’t this outfit in big, big trouble?
“I didn’t say they were the best guys,” Wittman said after the team’s practice Tuesday in Orlando. “I said last night they were, and we were in big, big trouble. Your main guys have to do it…”
Wittman said effort hasn’t been a problem for the Wolves. They’re just taking too many defensive shortcuts and not playing with the kind of will it takes to win.
“We’ve been playing hard; we just don’t play smart,” he said. “We’re not walking up and down the court and not trying hard. We exerted more of that in here today than we did all last night, and that can’t be. I would rather they go through the motions in practice and save it for the game.”
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