Benjamin Polk/City Pages on Kevin Love:
But my gracious did that dude ever battle against the bigger and stronger Kurt Thomas and Hilton Armstrong this week. He had 11 rebounds against the Hornets and a whopping 19 against the Spurs; let me tell you he fought for nearly every one of them. What’s more, he’s developed a sense of calm with the ball in his hands; he’s simultaneously a little more patient and a little more decisive on offense. He’s starting to be able to create his own shot and starting to be able to finish around the basket with some consistency–he had 40 points on 22 shots in the last two games combined. I’ll tell you, Love will probably never be an MVP and he will probably never be beautiful, but he’s already becoming a pretty good basketball player.
Bobby Brown and Shelden Williams — acquired from Sacramento last month — played the final six minutes in the blowout loss. Neither had played in the past three games before then.
Asked whether their absence means the team has decided neither player is part its future, McHale said, “No, no, no. They’ll get their chance. I’m looking at a lot of guys right now. You can’t play everybody every night.”
Though Kevin Love has not received much rookie of the year attention, the Rockets have been able to see his development throughout the season’s four games against the Timberwolves. Since Jan. 1, Love has averaged 13.2 points and 10.1 rebounds, and his 22 double-doubles lead all rookies.
“He’s gotten better and better,” Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. “He’s going to be a good player. We knew he was going to be a good rebounder and the offense was going to take care of itself gradually as he gets into it. Defense is always a struggle for big guys, to figure out how to play. I think he has all the skills and he does some things very well, especially rebounding.
“You have to keep him off the offensive boards, that’s No. 1. He goes to the boards very well. And you just have to make him tough shots. You can’t give him easy opportunities.”
From Bob Sansevere/Pioneer Press talks to Kansas sophomore center Cole Aldrich;
BS: Kevin Love was a center in college. He joined the Timberwolves and played power forward before being moved back to center after an injury to Al Jefferson. Any doubt in your mind that, whenever you make the move to the next level, you’ll be a center? Can you play power forward?
CA: I guess I never really thought about that. Kevin is a great friend of mine. I texted him the other day. He’s going to try and get out to the (second-round) game Sunday. But that’s one thing I’ve really got to do is put myself in the best position, whenever that time is, to be successful.
Had he decided to go to college, Telfair would have played for Rick Pitino at Louisville, which made the Final Four during what would have been Telfair’s freshman season. The Cardinals are the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed this year and have another great chance to make a run, and Telfair will be watching.
“I root for Louisville. That’s my team,” Telfair said. “Guys that went to college, they root for their own team. So Louisville’s definitely my team.”
That’s not the same, Timberwolves rookie forward Kevin Love said. Love only spent one season at UCLA, but it was a memorable one that featured a run to the Final Four for the Bruins.
“I don’t know if I would have followed it the same” if I had skipped college, Love said…
Since you can’t see this one and presumably have been watching other hoops, who have you seen the NCAA tournament so far who’d look good in blue and green? Did you prefer Eric Maynor, Darren Collison or Jrue Holiday in last night’s UCLA-VCU game? Does Ben Woodside have any future in this big league?
I asked Kevin McHale that question before tonight’s game and after the little Albert Lea guard scored 37 for North Dakota State today against Kansas at the Metrodome and he didn’t answer that question, but he did wonder why he was wearing Bison “green and brown” rather than maroon and gold.
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