Timberwolves Fall For The First Time – Mullen Time
After defeating the Los Angeles Clippers in their opening NBA Summer League game, the Timberwolves faced a team slash player in Byron Mullens of the Charlotte Bobcats that just couldn’t miss. It’s kinda hard to say that the Bobcats won, no offense. The Timberwolves fell to the Bobcats 81-78 in a game that Mullens basically looked like Ray Allen making shoot around jump shots.
The big man of the Bobcats, who stands 7 feet tall, shot 13-24 and tallied up 33 points. Mullens was 3 for 5 beyond the arc and was pretty much the same on the inside as the Wolves had no one to stop this one man assault. The Bobcats outscored the Timberwolves 36-26 inside which was mostly caused by Mullens himself.
The Timberwolves, last night looked like a chicken with it’s head cut off. The team was lost and was out of sync and didn’t know what to do for the most part of the game. The Wolves committed 22 turnovers which would eventually lead to the Bobcats scoring on the other end. The Bobcats converted all of the T-Wolves’ turnovers into points by scoring 25 points off turnovers. However, despite the Bobcats looking as if they were ready to blow this game wide open, the Wolves kept responding. Down 10 points early on in the game, the Wolves responded with a strong 7-0 run which cut the lead to 3. Unfortunately, the Bobcats countered the Wolves’ counter attack and rebuilt their lead in the 2nd half.
In the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves were able to get within one point and just one basket from taking the lead. The Bobcats, however, didn’t want this game to slip away much like most of their games this past season. Although, they didn’t slip away they were forcefully taken away by the opponent.
The Timberwolves were led by guard Wes Johnson, who had 24 points in the game including 14 points in the fourth quarter. When the Timberwolves were trailing in the fourth, Johnson led the team back into with his shooting and his aggressiveness inside. He kept the Wolves in striking distance in the fourth but unfortunately wasn’t able to close.
The Bobcats made their free throws down the stretch which allowed them to add some cushion to their lead. Down 3 the Timberwolves still had a shot to take the lead. Wes Johnson got the ball and shot it up but unfortunately, it rimmed out and the Bobcats closed out the game at the line.
Second-year forward Derrick Williams helped out Wes Johnson by scoring 17 points and pulling down 7 rebounds. Point guard, Zabian Dowdell, chipped in with 11 points and big man Paulo Prestes had 10 points for the Wolves.
Off the bench rookie Robbie Hummel had 6 points, while Corey Fisher and Coby Karl, Head Coach George Karl’s son, had three points apiece. Small forward starter Mike Harris had 4 points.
Aside from Mullens’ 33 points for the Bobcats, second year guard Kemba Walker had 15 points and forward Othello Hunter had 12 points to help the Bobcats hand the Timberwolves their first loss of the 2012 NBA Summer League.
The Timberwolves’ 3rd game of the NBA Summer League tips-off tomorrow at 7:00 PM at the COX Pavilion in Las Vegas as the Wolves take on the Cleveland Cavaliers. The game will be shown live on NBA TV.
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