Minnesota Timberwolves (7-8) VS Utah Jazz (9-5)

Post #1 » by **Calinks** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:43 pm

http://cdn.jockpost.com/wp-content/uplo ... wolves.jpg

Wolves are frozen out no longer!

Coming off their most exciting win of the season. The Wolves battled back from being down 15 points to win the game over the Clippers. We are on a 3 game win streak and that streak will surely be put to the test against the Utah Jazz who have been on a roll.

Tonight we get reunited with Big Al Jefferson and we play a team that has given us some of the most exciting moments in recent Wolves history. Let's hope for a good one and more importantly, a big win!

1 win away from .500. LETS GET IT DONE AROOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh6ihLRKJL0[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHU6yWE4XsE[/youtube]

No TV?

theGreatRC · Post #2 » by **theGreatRC** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:46 pm

I'm excited for this game tonight. Two teams playing better than expected and this game could finally put us at .500 basketball for the season.

notables from nba.com

The Timberwolves look to win four straight for the first the first time in nearly two years when they visit the Jazz on Saturday night.

Like the Timberwolves, there's a lot of excitement surrounding the Jazz's young players. Helping their development are the team's veterans, including Millsap.
Millsap has been on a tear recently, averaging 21.3 points and shooting 58.1 percent the last six games.
The Jazz have won three straight at home against the Timberwolves, although Love has averaged 23.3 points and 14.3 rebounds in those games.

Jazz dominant at home

The Jazz are thriving this season while playing at home, sporting a 7-2 record in their own building. Their lone two losses at EnergySolutions Arena have been close, falling to the Lakers 90-87 in overtime on Jan. 11 and 94-91 to the Mavericks on Thursday. In fact, Utah is 8-2 overall in its past 10 games.

The Timberwolves bring a 3-3 road record to EnergySolutions Arena, and the Wolves are also sporting a 5-2 record against Western Conference opponents. The Wolves are scoring 95.0 points per game and allowing 92.9 points a night--similar numbers to Utah. The Jazz are scoring 95.4 points and allowing 93.5 points per night.

Key matchup: Post play

Center Darko Milicic had a breakout offensive game on Friday night, scoring a season-high 22 points to lead the team. He shot 10-of-15 from the field and chipped in seven rebounds and two assists. Tonight in Utah, the Jazz will have a strong inside presence of their own in former Wolves big man Al Jefferson. Jefferson is averaging 18.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game this season and is adding in 1.6 blocks per night.

Ellington continues strong play

Wolves shooting guard Wayne Ellington continues to be a factor coming off the Wolves bench. He scored 13 points on Friday in L.A. and has scored in double digits in three of the past four games. During that four-game stretch, he’s shooting 21-of-33 and has made 50 percent of his 3-point attempts.

Hopefully DWill has a great game tonight since he was a huge part of the game last night and I want to see more of RIcky's shots go through the net, but he helps in so many ways other than scoring that I can live with his low scoring as long as others step up.

SLC Biz · Post #3 » by **SLC Biz** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:53 pm

Jazz fan here.

Both of our teams are in similar situations: Young, rebuilding, and already exceeding expectations. I've been rooting for your team throughout the season; too bad I'll have to be cheering against them tonight.

Looking forward to what should be a great game.

Piecake · Post #4 » by **Piecake** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:54 pm

SLC Biz wrote:Jazz fan here.

Both of our teams are in similar situations: Young, rebuilding, and already exceeding expectations. I've been rooting for your team throughout the season; too bad I'll have to be cheering against them tonight.

Looking forward to what should be a great game.

Worried about this one. I imagine that all our dudes are dead tired from last night.

TV question - Is this at least on the FSN overflow channel (comcast 13 or something)?

Post #5 » by **Calinks** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:54 pm

Great post RC. I'm excited! Don't lay an egg wolves!

Post #6 » by **Klomp** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:55 pm

Maybe I'm too confident, but I think we got this one easy. Jazz didn't impress me at all the other night against Dallas. Will be interesting to see defensive matchups down low, as both Millsap and Al are tough covers for Love. I'm guessing Darko will start on Al, with Love on Millsap.

Post #7 » by **Calinks** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:56 pm

Piecake wrote:
SLC Biz wrote:Jazz fan here.

Both of our teams are in similar situations: Young, rebuilding, and already exceeding expectations. I've been rooting for your team throughout the season; too bad I'll have to be cheering against them tonight.

Looking forward to what should be a great game.

Worried about this one. I imagine that all our dudes are dead tired from last night.

TV question - Is this at least on the FSN overflow channel (comcast 13 or something)?

I don't know man. I am not trying to eat pie for this one.

Piecake · Post #8 » by **Piecake** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:57 pm

Klomp wrote:Maybe I'm too confident, but I think we got this one easy. Jazz didn't impress me at all the other night against Dallas. Will be interesting to see defensive matchups down low, as both Millsap and Al are tough covers for Love. I'm guessing Darko will start on Al, with Love on Millsap.

I can see Williams getting a lot of burn this game. I think he'd match up well against Millsap and favors. I think Love could defend Big Al and Kanter alright this year as well

Post #9 » by **Calinks** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:57 pm

http://i40.tinypic.com/otdr9v.jpg

bluethunder0005 · Post #10 » by **bluethunder0005** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:58 pm

This would be a great night for a repeat performance from Darko. The Jazz have a lot of very talented bigs and if Darko can stay out of foul trouble I think we can win this game. I'm a bigger believer in Darko than I should be but I just love to watch him when he's actually very engaged in the game like last night.

Post #11 » by **Klomp** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:59 pm

Piecake wrote:TV question - Is this at least on the FSN overflow channel (comcast 13 or something)?

No

Esohny · Post #12 » by **Esohny** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:03 am

Klomp wrote:Maybe I'm too confident, but I think we got this one easy. Jazz didn't impress me at all the other night against Dallas. Will be interesting to see defensive matchups down low, as both Millsap and Al are tough covers for Love. I'm guessing Darko will start on Al, with Love on Millsap.

You're too confident. It's not going to be easy to win on the Jazz home floor. Going to need to bring the defense tonight.

theGreatRC · Post #13 » by **theGreatRC** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:08 am

Esohny wrote:
Klomp wrote:Maybe I'm too confident, but I think we got this one easy. Jazz didn't impress me at all the other night against Dallas. Will be interesting to see defensive matchups down low, as both Millsap and Al are tough covers for Love. I'm guessing Darko will start on Al, with Love on Millsap.

You're too confident. It's not going to be easy to win on the Jazz home floor. Going to need to bring the defense tonight.

I agree, Jazz are a very energetic and inside scoring team, something that could kill us early in the game if we don't play with passion to start the game.

And thanks Calinks, I was wondering when someone was going to make a thread. I was going to, but I didn't want to mess up the streak we've been having with our GTs

Post #14 » by **Klomp** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:08 am

Easy was probably the wrong word. It will be a close game, but I'm confident that we can win this if we bring defensive energy.

Piecake · Post #15 » by **Piecake** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:19 am

Klomp wrote:Easy was probably the wrong word. It will be a close game, but I'm confident that we can win this if we bring defensive energy.

Well, i agree with this. The problem I have is that i can see that we will just be too exhausted from last night to bring that energy. Ive no doubt that Rubio will bring energy, but I can totally see Love pulling a raptor like effort on defense and totally suck it up.

Sucks that it wont be on tv

Looks like ill be eating pie tonight

Beas · Post #16 » by **Beas** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:23 am

Not sure what to expect tonight. Jazz are a pretty tough matchup imo and they have been playing very good ball at home. Hopefully we can ride our momentum from last night's win to a victory but I wouldn't be surprised if we had a let down game here.

It's crazy watching those Jazz highlights with Jonny Flynn and seeing some of those other players on the Twolves and looking at how far our roster has come since than. Also I really hate that this game isn't on TV today.

Post #17 » by **The J Rocka** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:24 am

On top of playing defense, we need perimeter scoring in this one if we can't attack inside. Ridnour needs to be on his A game and need guys like Ellington & Tolliver to hit their shots. Love & Williams should cause some match up problems offensively against the Jazz bigs. Will be a close one.

SLC Biz · Post #18 » by **SLC Biz** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:28 am

Klomp wrote:Maybe I'm too confident, but I think we got this one easy. Jazz didn't impress me at all the other night against Dallas. Will be interesting to see defensive matchups down low, as both Millsap and Al are tough covers for Love. I'm guessing Darko will start on Al, with Love on Millsap.

The Jazz played like crap against Dallas; but their 30 point win over the Clippers on Monday shows that they're capable of playing MUCH better than what you saw of them on Thursday.

Torcher · Post #19 » by **Torcher** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:28 am

One of two things will happen tonight.

1: We carry over our confidence from last game and continue to add to our win streak.

2: The Jazz catch us off-guard after our hangover party from last night, get out to a quick start, and finish us off.

Pick one.

Swish4 · Post #20 » by **Swish4** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:32 am

Hope we keep everyone under 30 minutes tonight. Give AR some burn (though he doesn't match up great with Utah).