LiveBlog: Charlotte Bobcats vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

Quarter 1

With all of the injuries going against Minnesota, it seems to be a test to find out which one will finally break the Wolves. Hopefully, it’s just not today.
The available players for Coach Adelman today are: Ridnour, Lee, Kirilenko, Williams, Stiemsma, Cunningham, Shved, Amundson and Conroy. That’s only 9 players out of the 15 that are available. Of those 9, Amundson and Conroy are virtual locks to be inactive every game and Malcolm Lee will usually be in a suit too.
I never understood why Minnesota seemed determined to develop Malcolm Lee as a point guard/combo guard. I always saw his ceiling as an Avery Bradley/Bruce Bowen type player who’s main contribution on offense was driving by slower defenders and corner 3’s.
Stiemsma making his first start. Unfortunately, that means 6’8 Louis Amundson is the back up.
Jeffrey Taylor is what Wes Johnson was supposed to be. A terrific defender with length and a beautiful stroke.
Derrick Williams has taken upon himself to be the Wolves offensive leader. This may or may not be a good thing.
He also forgot how to finish apparently. Williams is either to short or not explosive enough to finish. It’s getting embarrassing at this point.
The passing of this Minnesota is amazing. If certainly player (DWill) could finish, the Wolves would have a lead.
Stiemsma picked up his second foul and we’re only halfway through the first quarter. With Haywood heating up, the Wolves cannot afford to send Amundson in for extended minutes.
Both Charlotte and Minnesota have been just blocking like crazy. Kirilenko ends the quarter with a buzzer beating 3 after a crazy sequence.

Quarter 2

The twin 7 footers for Charlotte are really going to hurt the Wolves with their size. On a normal day, Minny would mop up with them but the injuries have once again caused mismatches.
Minnesota has 14 free throw attempts to Charlotte’s 4. Unfortunately Minnesota has only made 8 of them.
The current Minny lineup is atrocious: Conroy, Shved, Lee, Cunningham, Amundson. Shved and Cunningham are great if they have competent players beside them.
That horrible excuse of a lineup now has the Wolves down 42-31. Hopefully, the starters can take it back.
Someone needs to just go crazy for Minnesota. Charlotte is up by 14 and it doesn’t look like the lead is going to decrease anytime soon. Everyone just seems to being cold at the wrong time.
Kirilenko is the only player consistently scoring when drives. Everyone else seems to be getting blocked.
Good to see Malcolm Lee on Kemba Walker. This is the kind of adjustment that previous staffs didn’t have.
Wolves down 51-38 at the half.

Quarter 3

Timberwolves look like injuries have finally caught up to them. Hopefully, the returns of Pek, Roy and Barea will help the Wolves tremendously.
Minnesota cutting the lead down to 10. Hopefully, they can make a game out of it now.
AK is doing everything right at this point. He has singlehandedly gotten the Wolves on offense.
As much as Lee has improved, his shooting stroke is still really bad. If he improves that, could be a quality off guard.
The offense has been really hideous. Stiemsma is really off today and Derrick Williams just cannot finish at the rim.
Shved is back in to jump start this offense. His ability to drive and dish will hopefully help them.
As soon as I type that, his jump pass goes awry and right to Bobcats defender.
The Wolves finish the quarter scoreless in the last 4:30. That’s just inexcusable with the team being down that much.

Quarter 4

In all honesty, the Wolves at this point don’t have it in them to get back into the game. It will take some serious hero ball from one of the unknown quantities (Lee, Williams, Shved) for this team to actually pull out a win. Even then, that’s a tough order.
Wolves seem determined to get back into this game on the free throw line. That actually might be the smartest thing they’ve done all game.
Louis Amundson plays this game like a caveman. He has absolutely zero touch on any shot and plays defense with a heavy hand. Thankfully, that means his rebounding is like that of a madman.
An injury exception would really help Minnesota team out.
AK and Shved have brought this team back together. Shved just hit a big 3 while AK47 had a huge block on Kemba Walker on one end and got the And1 on the other. All hail the Russian Connection!!
The lead is down to 9. These Wolves just don’t know when to give up, mainly Andrei Kirilenko.
I don’t get why Adelman put Luke Ridnour back in. He wasn’t in when Minnesota’s comeback.
Kemba Walker is just cold blooded. He really knows how to finish a game.
Kirilenko comes up with big block again. Before it Cunningham. Before that it was Amundson. There’s just something with this team.
Malcolm Lee is injured. There is no way this is real. 5 games, 5 players injured.
Ridnour just ripped the ball out of Kemba’s hands and alley-ooped it to Dante Cunningham. Amazing. Just Amazing.
There’s just something special about this team. Whenever they need a stop, they get one. Just exceptional.
And now they get a Chris Webber moment out of Reggie Williams. Target Center is going nuts.
After a Shved turnover, Sessions just clanked both free throws off the rim.
This is just the most insane last two minutes of a game. Tyrus Thomas just walked with the ball out of bounds.
Kemba Walker just closed the door on the Wolves. He’s going to be a great player someday.

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