RealGM

For 1 more game, there is no Kevin Love:



Game 1 vs Grizzlies - 86-90 L
http://www.nba.com/games/20120104/MEMMI ... GIboxscore

Wolves: 6-4 on the road
Grizzlies: 7-4 at home

Note: - Tony Allen was 8-8 in the loss against Memphis, scoring 20 points and sparking a very energetic defensive effort from his team. He was a late scratch from the games on sunday and monday with a sore right knee and hip.

Probable starters:

Wolves:
PG - Rubio
SG - Ridnour
SF - Johnson
PF - Williams
C - Pekovic

Grizzlies:
PG - Conley
F - Pondexter
SF - Gay
PF - Speights
C - Gasol


Key matchup:

Wes "Smiley" Johnson


VS

Rudy "is" Gay


- This man can create his own shot at will. He can single handedly change the flow of this game (If Tony Allen is out) and Wes needs to do his best to contain him to under 20 points.

Keys to the game:
Take care of the ball - In the first game against the grizzlies, the Grizzlies stole the ball 13 times, i repeat 13 times! We need to handle the ball better as we also had 17 turnovers. This is a pesky team that likes to get their hands on a lot of balls.
Shoot better than 55% from the free throw line - Wolves shot 54.2% from the free throw line, folks. 13-24 that could have won us the game if we had made just 5 more, which would have been above 75%.
Center production - I'm so glad we have Nikola Pekovic, because Darko went 4/8 against Gasol who only went 6/10. We need to attack Gasol like we did Cousins last game.

LETS GO WOLVES!!!!!!!! LETS GET THAT PLAYOFF SPOT!!! AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

the key matchup is the league 's number thief against number 2 thief!
Rubio VS Conley, who's gonna have more steals in this game? i say 4-3 Rubio! Go Wolves!

Mcfale313 wrote:the key matchup is the league 's number thief against number 2 thief!
Rubio VS Conley, who's gonna have more steals in this game? i say 4-3 Rubio! Go Wolves!

I was actually thinking the key matchup was Pekovic vs Gasol

Every matchup is key!!!

I guess Wes Johnson isn't really a good enough player to be "key" anything, but we have to keep Gay under control...he hasn't been himself lately and could go off any day.

Pek is the key IMO when Love is down

D-Will is probably the best mismatch potential. Conley is going to be a tough matchup for Rubio to beat off the dribble. Allen on any of our "shooting guards" is goodnight. Gay can handle anything the Wolves throw out @ SF and Gasol can mitigate Pek's usual strength advantage. Williams needs to step up huge, Cunningham/Davis/Speights cant be a matchup you lose or wash against and still win considering the defense the Grizzlies have @ the other positions.

teamwillow wrote:Pek is the key IMO when Love is down

True, which is why I put it as the key to the game..post production will be huge, we could barely set up our offense against them last time...


I really really really hope Tony Allen is out, he would make life so much easier.

PEK WANTS DESSERT!!!

Ricky Rubio @rickyrubio9
Great W tonight. Now we r going to Memphis. We play tomorrow against my friend @MarcGasol who is playing awesome. See you tomorrow Marcus!

I hope we win this one. That would be awesome to do this without Love.

I'd be so much more comfortable about this with Tony Allen out, he's such a game changer defensively.

theGreatRC wrote:I'd be so much more comfortable about this with Tony Allen out, he's such a game changer defensively.

This.

Plus he seems to always kill us on offense too.

theGreatRC wrote:Rudy "is" Gay

grant hill and jared dudley would give this an 'RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!'

cpfsf wrote:

LMAO

my 2 favourite teams . It's going to be difficult to win against the Grizz even without Randolph.
They need this win after losing badly against Boston with the worst game of the season by Gasol and playing without Tony Allen. I expect that at home they are going to be energized and ready to hit first... we need to start really focused and prepared.
Right now Memphis is a defensive minded team so Ricky has to find the open man and hopes that we shoot well to have our chances to win the game...
Pek is going to have a hard time against Gasol, as he is a really good at defense, strong and tall... a real test to Pekovic tbh.
If DWill starts i guess that some time in the game Gay is going to play at PF as Speights is playing awfuly lately.
Also RR is bigger than Conley so he has to force his way into the zone, penetrating and passing the ball.
Let's see if we sleep tonight in playoffs position

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D_XLCmY0D8[/youtube]

We always seem to struggle against the Grizzlies, but they've lost 7 of their last 9 so we've got them at a good time.

Klomp wrote:

Mcfale313 wrote:the key matchup is the league 's number thief against number 2 thief!
Rubio VS Conley, who's gonna have more steals in this game? i say 4-3 Rubio! Go Wolves!

I was actually thinking the key matchup was Pekovic vs Gasol

Tonight Pekovic can beat Marcus. He is tired due the Randolph injury, his last games weren't good and he has troubles playing against European centers.