Feb 6, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Luke Ridnour (13) argues a call during the third quarter against the San Antonio Spurs at the Target Center. The Spurs defeated the Timberwolves 104-94. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

There is a fan for whom nuance is not a familiar word. You can bet exasperation is. This is a person who catches a score, sees the same story as the last time he caught a score, and determines someone must be fired because then the problem would be solved.

My favorite argument against this thinking was pointed out by Steve McPherson over at awolfamongwolves (bold and italics are obnoxious and mine):

At the beginning of the season, it wasn’t entirely clear what the starting lineup—the backbone of the 2012-13 Timberwolves—was going to be. If Brandon Roy’s knees had held up, he likely would have been the starting shooting guard. They were waiting for the return of Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio, but they would obviously be part of the squad that would start and finish games. Had Alexey Shved not been pressed into service so quickly by Roy’s absence, he might have stayed on the bench longer, but it’s become clear by this point that the best balance of developing the Wolves’ future and giving them a shot to win now would mean starting Ricky Rubio, Alexey Shved, Andrei Kirilenko, Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic.

That lineup has played five minutes together this season.

This would be a mind-blowing if you weren’t already aware of the injuries — even mentioning Roy at this point is to participate in a farce — but if you already were…

It gets worse. According to NBA.com, the league’s most-used lineup is the Pacers’ starting lineup of George Hill, Lance Stephenson, Paul George, David West and Roy Hibbert. They’ve played 795 minutes together this season. Second and third on that list are the starters for the Blazers and the Thunder, who have played 764 and 756 minutes together respectively.

The Timberwolves top five most-used lineups have totalled 589 minutes this season, as shown in the chart here:

That chart is all kinds of frustration everybody should be able to get behind.

The Pacers, Blazers and Thunder all have lineups that have played 750+ minutes together so far this season while the Wolves top 5 lineups haven’t totalled 600. That’s not subtle minutiae, parsed syntax, or Latin. Find a group of guys playing pick-up basketball over their 35 minute lunch break for a single week and they will be more familiar with each other on the court than the Wolves’ healthiest lineup. Find me a more salient detail to describe the Wolves’ season.

Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Rick Adelman has missed the team’s last two games in order to be with his wife, Mary Kay, who has been in the hospital.

Adelman’s status for his return to coaching the team remains day-by-day, and he will return as soon as he is able. Until he rejoins the team, assistant coach Terry Porter will continue to serve as acting head coach.

Here’s hoping the Adelman family is going to be ok.

Before the game in Oklahoma City last night, the Wolves released this tidbit:

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced that after an examination by Dr. Andy Weiland, a hand specialist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, forward Kevin Love will require surgery to repair the third and fourth metacarpal in his right hand. He injured his hand during the third quarter of the Jan. 3 game at Denver.

Details of the surgery expected to be announced tomorrow. Love is expected to be sidelined for 8-10 weeks.

For the season, Love has played in 18 games and leads the Wolves in scoring (18.3 ppg), rebounds (14.0 rpg) and double-doubles (14).

Pretty bad news. Barring any setbacks, 10 weeks would put Love’s return just after Chase Budinger’s.

Also, more back spasms-ing, from Ray Richardson at the Pioneer Press:

Guard J.J. Barea is the latest Timberwolves player to come down with back spams.

Barea was forced to sit out the Wolves’ game Wednesday night, Jan. 9, at Oklahoma City when his back stiffened up before the game.

Ricky Rubio and Andrei Kirilenko have had back spams that forced them to miss games. Rubio was out for four games before he was able to return Tuesday night against Atlanta.

The Wolves were conservative in their handling of Andrei Kirilenko’s back spasms, holding him out for 4 games. They were beyond careful with Ricky Rubio’s, too, as he missed 4, as well. Whether Barea’s back receives the same caution, or not, the Wolves have issues with only 3 active guards on the roster and Rubio’s minutes still being limited.