Well, the Wolves have had 4 days of rest since that one game where the Kings built a 30 point lead in about 3 minutes of game time. The one where Pekovic and DeMarcus cousins got into a fabulous shoving match. The one where Jonny Flynn turned it over three times in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter.
Well, the going is not pretty the rest of the way. With tonight’s game being followed up by OKC and Boston, the Wolves are going to have a tough time sneaking out a win these last few weeks. First up on the list in what may be Rambis’ farewell tour: Brian Cardinal, Corey Brewer and the Dallas Mavericks. The last time these two teams met, Brian Cardinal hit four three pointers. It was the first time he had scored in double figures since April of 2009 and it was his highest point total since January 2007 (he tied it once since). His highest point total in four years.
Oh, and Kevin Love is going to miss the next two games at least. Beasley is also a gametime decision tonight. On to some thought points:
1. With Cousins getting tossed in the 3rd quarter on Sunday, team Wes Johnson received a merit or two. What I found most odd about this was that Luke Ridnour, who blatantly instigated the shoving match, did not receive a technical foul, but other players receive techs for smiling at the ref or some other odd type of serious infraction on a daily basis. Late last year I wrote this. Now, I am all for calling technicals for whining, a la Kobe and crew, but I am not supportive of calling techs for having a basic human reaction to a foul call. While this Cousins situation was more than that, certain things develop from competitive situations, and forcing grown men to bottle emotions like teenagers takes a lot of intensity out of games. Furthermore, when certain players can display emotion ( Kobe), while others cannot (Beasley), it makes for an even more frustrating situation from the player POV. Thoughts on how the strict technical rules have changed the game?
2. Back to Dallas, how will this team fare without Kevin Love? I am predicting we get outrebounded by at least 15. Some fans clamor on our forums that they would rather have a defensive presence or wouldn’t mind trading Love. He isn’t the problem and I think we will see this immediately tonight. On a plus side these two games are a great opportunity for Beasley to step in and gain some momentum to close out the season. We need it from him.
3. Since many will be watching March Madness instead of a Dallas-infused beating, how fares the brackets? I might as well burn mine at this point.
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