Wolves record: 19-45
Despite playing without injured Randy Foye and Rodney Carney, not to mention star center Al Jefferson, the Wolves were too much for the disinterested Griz, snapping a 10-game losing streak and completing a three-game season sweep with a 104-79 romp Wednesday night at Target Center.
Starting at shooting guard with Foye sidelined by a sprained right ankle, Mike Miller had 18 points and 11 rebounds to spark the Wolves (19-45), who raced to a 35-14 lead after one quarter and pulled away in the final 18 minutes to end a streak of 11 consecutive home losses.
Ryan Gomes had a game-high 25 points, and rookie Kevin Love added 19 and 11 rebounds for Minnesota, which won for just the second time in 14 games since Jefferson went down with a season-ending knee injury.
Most of all, the Wolves owned the glass, at both ends of the court. With 3:23 to play in the first, the Grizz had exactly one rebound. At that point the Wolves were already up 28-12, not only shooting 11-15 FG, but getting offensive rebounds on three of those four misses and subsequently converting them for points. So, stymied only by two turnovers and that Memphis defensive rebound, they needed just 15 possessions to score those 28 points–not too shabby.
With Al Jefferson out for the season and Foye gone for at least one game because of a sprained ankle sustained Monday, Miller exploited a mismatch with Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo — the other major component in that June trade — from the opening tip.
The acclaimed shooter who has insisted on passing and rebounding almost all season, instead shot 12 times Wednesday, scored 11 of his 18 points in the opening quarter and delivered his fourth double-double of the season (and his second in five games) by adding 11 rebounds as well.
2 Wolves rookies to record 20 or more double-doubles in a season: Christian Laettner with 28 in 1992-93 and now Kevin Love, who reached his 20th with a 19-point, 11-rebound game.
Mayo was fairly ineffective until the fourth quarter. The former USC guard ended up with 18 points on 7-for-17 shooting from the field…
It seems like Kevin McHale listened to Dave of Bloomington, because for most of the fourth quarter coach Mac added Gomes, who led the Wolves with 25 points on just 16 shot attempts, to the bench squad, and the results were outstanding. The bench scored 25 of its 32 points in the fourth quarter. Brian Cardinal hit three three-pointers in the fourth, and Craig Smith muscled his way to 13 points and eight rebounds overall. The Memphis bench, meanwhile, finished with just 14 points even though six players got off the pine.
“It was the most disappointing loss and game that we’ve had here,” coach Lionel Hollins said. “Forget loss, it was the most disappointing game. It was embarrassing for me as a coach, I hope it’s embarrassing for them as a team.”
…Jaric and Wolves owner Glen Taylor hugged and had a nice conversation before the start of the second half. Jaric may have been thanking him for the six-year, $42 million contract he got when he came to Minnesota in 2005.
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