Wow, what a game last night. Let us first bask in the glory of AK47's unbelievable poise and unselfishness, Budinger's brilliant cut, and Gerald Green's great fantastic defense.
Tonight the Wolves face a similarily undermanned Chicago Bulls squad in Chi-town. Some brief keys to the game.
-Bench Play. Yet again. The Wolves' depth and team efforts have been critical in this shocking early season run through 5 games. The Bulls have more depth than some of the other teams the Wolves have faced to date, but still got worse this offseason. With Budinger likely getting the start in place of Roy tonight, and Barea out, our depth is starting to suffer a touch. It will take a complete team victory and another big game from Shved off the bench to get the dub tonight. HAM is slowly becoming sort of a poor-man's Taj Gibson here in Minnesota, and his role tonight vs. Taj will be crucial. But we have Stiemsma, and the rest of the league does not.
-Boozer/D-Will. Probably the Bulls' best offensive weapon tonight with a favorable matchup against D-Will. Derrick will have to hustle early to contain him, and keep working hard. Is it just me, or is Derrick looking like a more well-rounded contributor thus far to start the year? His defense has been passable and he is not forcing his shots as much. As a D-Will cynic, his play of late is encouraging for his future as a contributor. Even Adelman has been singing his praises
-Back to Back #2. The Wolves' 2nd back to back effort of the season starts tonight. While the schedule-makers were kind in terms of the opposition to start the year, the games to date have been rather condensed. Last week had tilts against Toronto and Brooklyn on back to back nights with the Wolves obviously emerging victorious in Brooklyn. Let's see how they respond on night 2 on the road tonight with fewer options.
-Prediction. Embrace Homerism. I am forever conditioned to expect the worst from this team, but this unexpected run to start the year is starting to change the mantality. While predicting a win tonight is very tempting, the Bulls have more firepower in the starting lineup and thus will likely emerge victorious. If the Wolves do win tonight, it's time for a full-on switch to blind homerism. Especially with the Bobcats coming to town in a few short days.
Not much else. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and tune in at 7:00 tonight to catch the game.
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