GT: Timberwolves vs. Spurs

[Nolan]

When: 8:30 PM ET, March 21, 2012
Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX



VS



Starting Lineups:

Timberwolves:
PG - Luke Ridnour
SG - Martell Webster
SF - Wesley Johnson
PF - Kevin Love
C - Darko Milicic

Spurs:
PG - Tony Parker
SG - Daniel Green
SF - Kawhi Leonard
PF - Tim Duncan
C - DeJuan Blair

Its going to be a good one tomorrow night against the T-Wolves and one we need to win with the Lakers closing in on us.

Go Spurs!!

[batmana]

Highlight of the night should be Bruce Bowen's jersey retirement ceremony, I've been waiting for this moment ever since he stopped playing. We should beat Minnesota who have pretty much given up their hopes for the playoffs.

Just on a sidenote, I'm not sure whether Pekovic will be healthy but if he is, he will certainly start over Darko.

[UDRIH14]

lol bb retirement ceremony will be overshadowed by jax home game

[C.lupus]

Pekovic is definitely out for the game. He flew back to the Twin cities today. I feel this will not end well for the Wolves.

[batmana]

I watched the Warriors game but didn't know what was the extent of that injury. Is Darko healthy? I know he hasn't been playing a lot lately.

[C.lupus]

Physically healthy? Yes, but he's out of shape. Mentally healthy? No, but maybe he will feel like playing tonight. Or not. I'd expect to see a lot of Love at the 5 with Williams at the 4 and probably Anthony Randolph at the 5 as well.

[Nolan]

And another thing I forgot to throw in there. Bowen is getting his number retired tonight.

[SinJackal]

Spurs aren't scoring or hitting shots, but their energy is extremely high right now. I don't expect it to be retained for the whole game, but man, I wish they could tap into this speed and effort at will for spots during the game.

As for the Jackson/Jefferson watch. . .so far, Jefferson's first game was terrible from a scoring standpoint (but he had a lot of boards and even assists), but his second game was very impactful and nearly led to a win the Warriors had no business getting. Jackson was a ghost in his first game, only hitting two shots and only getting one assist and zero rebounds. We'll see what Jax does in his second game tonight. So far, I still feel like Jefferson was the obvious better player. I'll be fair though and give Jackson the benefit of the doubt and give him 10 games or so with the Spurs before I say the trade was a bust or a good one.

[asero]

Sjax on target

[Black_Jack21]

Capt Jack 6-9 from the field, 3-4 from the 3pt line with 3 boards, 2 steals and an assist in 21 mins.

So can we STFU about him beinbg a cancerous downgrade from Jefferson now?

Neal and Splitter having good games too.

I'm going off the box score, any reason TP only played 10 minutes?

[batmana]

The report was that Tony felt tightness in his hamstring. Obviously just a precaution, let's hope there's nothing serious with it.

Stephen Jackson had a great game, the thing is that he is just a more natural fit than RJ with these guys, even when he struggles with his shot I expect him to have a bigger impact on the game.

[SinJackal]

Capt Jack 6-9 from the field, 3-4 from the 3pt line with 3 boards, 2 steals and an assist in 21 mins.

So can we STFU about him beinbg a cancerous downgrade from Jefferson now?

Neal and Splitter having good games too.

I'm going off the box score, any reason TP only played 10 minutes?

I don't recall anyone calling him a cancer, but one game doesn't mean anything either. He isn't going to shoot 66.6% for the season, so you can't point this game out against a sub .500 team that's in 11th place and missing two of their best three players and tell me it somehow validates the trade. He's averaging the same PPG Jefferson did with us, that is, 9.5, but he's only getting 1 assist and 1.5 rebounds a game which is far worse than RJ. I think it's too early to hail it as a great trade just because he went 6-9 once against a team who was barely playing D' all night while having the worst +/- on the team aside from the reserve players who came in during garbage time at the end and choked offensively. Like I said, let's see where he is in 10 games. Really, since we're playing so many soon, we'll know sooner than later.

As for Parker. . .sigh. . .he left the game with hamstring tightness in the first half. We have 6 games in the next 8 days too! I hope he has a quick recovery or we might end up tanking a bit in the standings.


On a side note, I hear we might be signing Boris Diaw since he was bought out. Wouldn't mind getting Diaw for free. He's seemed pretty sluggish this year though the few times I've seen him play.

[ManuGino]

After Parker went down, Pop seemed to like the lineup of Duncan, Jackson, Leonard, Green, and Ginobili. Anyone else see this a potential go-to lineup down the stretch? I just don't see many teams that can really score on this group, and as an offensive unit, it was a thing of beauty.

Not to diminish Parker at all, its just when he goes down and Manu plays the point like this (ala last year) we seem to score at will.

[co_laper]

I don't know if it's him liking that lineup or because we were short on bigs.

Anyone else notice Bonner wasn't there? He wasn't even on the bench. I don't remember seeing him get injured or reading anything about it.

[batmana]

Bonner was reported to have experienced pains in his lower back. Probably a precaution but yes, we were still a big short.