Click here for the forum’s thread for tonight’s game against the Hornets.
Game previews:
Jonah Ballow/Timberwolves site (with audio from Kevin McHale, Sebastian Telfair, and Al Jefferson)
Stephen Litel will be live blogging the game at The Minnesota Score Online.
But the Wolves’ recent turnaround also has marked a resurrection for Telfair.
He has started each of the past seven games at point guard. The Wolves are 5-2 in that stretch, including a 105-103 victory over Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns last week. In those seven games, Telfair is averaging 36 minutes, 11.6 points and 6.7 assists.
Tonight, Telfair is again starting and faces the daunting task of trying to shut down New Orleans’ Chris Paul, one of the league’s best point guards.
Jefferson has made a strong case for himself on the court, leading the Wolves in scoring (22.2 points) and rebounding (10.6) heading into tonight’s game against New Orleans at Target Center.
That the team is winning, with a 7-2 record this month, doesn’t hurt, either.
“Al’s got all-star numbers; there’s no question about that,” Wolves coach Kevin McHale said. “I’ve always said it, though, you have to have team success to get any individual success. But Al’s game speaks for itself. … Al’s a tremendous, tremendous talent. Just turned 24 and he should make multiple all-star teams.”
This has been a tough season for Miller, who has suffered two sprained right ankles and struggled with his shooting.
Even so, he said he doesn’t want to go anywhere.
“This is where I want to be,” he said. “It’s a work in progress and we’re getting there. The best thing is to be a part of something like this because we’re playing well now.”
Ryan Gomes participated in a Read to Achieve Reading Timeout at Gillette Children’s Hospital yesterday in Saint Paul, MN (photo)
However, the Wolves rank 28th among the NBA’s 30 teams in attendance with a reported per-game average of 13,374, lowest in their 20 years in the league and 1,103 fewer per game than last season.
The Wolves set an NBA attendance record during their inaugural season (1989-90) in the Metrodome, averaging 26,160.
“We’ve got to get our attendance up; it’s just real important and there’s no other way to say it,” Taylor said…
Billionaire businessman Glen Taylor, whose Timberwolves will lose millions of dollars this year: “Thank goodness I’ve got other businesses that are doing well.”
One thing that bodes well for basketball, said Chris Wright, president of the Minnesota Timberwolves, is that Obama plans to rip out the bowling lanes in the basement of the White House and put in a basketball court.
Other than that, though, the Timberwolves and all professional sports teams in the Twin Cities market face a tough couple years as competition increases with the opening of the Twins’ Target Field and the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium at the same time consumers are cutting their discretionary spending.
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