FREE THROWS AIN'T FREE
The Wolves have struggled mightily from the free-throw line this season. The team is shooting 72.9 percent from the line, ranking 27th in the league.
Last night was about as bad as it got from the charity stripe. The team shot just 20-for-35 from the free-throw line. In the first half alone, the team missed 10 of 14.
Wowzas.
Thaddeus Young, who had a game-high 29 points, missed seven free throws. That’s just not something that a winning team can afford.
DIENG CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
It’s not ideal, but Gorgui Dieng is the only center on the team’s active roster. There are positives and negatives to this. Well, actually only one positive. More playing time for G.
And he’s done a pretty good job with it. He is a bit too conservative at times defensively, but that’s understandable because, well… HE’S THE ONLY HEALTHY CENTER ON THE TEAM!
Dieng finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks last night.
In December, Dieng is nearly averaging a double-double with 9.9 points, 9.2 rebounds to go with more than a block per game.
I talked to ESPN’s David Thorpe yesterday about Dieng. He not only thought Dieng was a starting center in the league, but he also said that he thought Dieng had All-Star potential.
That’s got to give Wolves fans a warm feeling in what has been a cold and tough December.
THE WIZARDS WON, BUT ANDRE MILLER LOST
Andre Miller is 38 years old. He’s been in the league for 15 years. And he doesn’t really even look like he should be an NBA player. He’s got that old-man strength and he’s used it throughout his career to be a pretty solid point guard.
We’ve heard rumors that Miller likes to eat the Media Meal before games. Maybe he should have had one less meatball last night...
NOW FOR DANE MIZUTANI'S OBSERVATIONS
We’ll just jump right into this. It wasn’t pretty against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night, and even though the Wolves hung around until late in the game, there wasn’t much doubt even at the start of the night that the Wizards would run away with the win. And that’s OK. John Wall is on another level right now, as demonstrated by his 21-point, 17-assist effort. He also can do things like this …
It really just wasn’t fair. Zach LaVine has shown that he can be a decent defender in the NBA and Wall had him on skates with that nasty move. That was essentially a microcosm of the contest as the Wolves were just overmatched. Here are a few more observations from the matchup:
A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE
In a season that’s shifted from a “blend” to a “build” thanks to a slew of injuries, a game against Washington gave a potential glimpse into the future for Minnesota. It wasn’t too long ago that the Wizards lived near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They simply were not a good team for quite some time. Then the young talent developed, and last season, Washington made the long-awaited jump to relevancy. It’s been a continued growth since then as the Wizards have imbued themselves among the Eastern Conference elites. That could be the Wolves a few years down the road. Minnesota has a few pieces right now, and if those pieces steadily improve, the squad could make some noise in the future. It really comes down to Andrew Wiggins (much like it came down to John Wall for the Wizards). If Wiggins can develop into the elite player so many thought he could be coming out of Kansas, the Wolves will be in good shape. A player’s development is never a guarantee, and if a franchise’s future hinges on it, things could go wrong. Washington, however, offers some hope.
THE FLIP SAUNDERS SYSTEM
Did some of the offensive sets that the Wizards ran on Tuesday night look familiar? They should have looked pretty darn similar because Washington essentially runs an adaptation of the offense the Wolves run. Flip Saunders, of course, was the bench boss for the Wizards a few years back. He and his son Ryan Saunders also played a pivotal role in the development of John Wall. Wall has made the leap to greatness since the Saunders left town as he’s developed into one of the best players in the league. He also runs the Flip Saunders offense to near perfection. He didn’t make many mistakes last night en route to 21 points and a more impressive 17 assists. Wall is averaging 10.6 assists this season — a number that should make the Wolves salivate thinking of the potential Ricky Rubio could have in this system. It could take awhile for Minnesota to fire on all cylinders. That said Washington proved on Tuesday night that the Flip Saunders system does, in fact, work.
YOUNG FINDING HIS GROOVE
Thaddeus Young is actually having one of the best seasons of his career in terms of scoring. He’s sitting at 14.5 points per game this season, up for the 13.7 points he averages in his career. That said those numbers somewhat lie as Young has struggled over the last few weeks. His shot has been off and he’s missing shots he normally makes around the bucket. Those struggles went out the window with his performance last night. Young had a season-high 29 points in the loss to the Wizards, scoring 19 of those points in the third quarter on 9-for-10 shooting. Young also left more than a half a dozen points at the free throw line. This could serve as a springboard game for him as he continues to try to find his form. Minnesota sure hopes so.
MUHAMMAD CONTINUES TO ROLL
He had 21 points in the loss and is averaging 18.2 points per game off the bench over his last 10 games. Muhammad has been the best player on the Wolves this season. We’ll have more on him later this afternoon.