Wednesday
night, April 17th the Timberwolves closed the 2012-2013 campaign
with a win in San Antonio.
The win
broke a 16 game losing streak in San Antonio. Yes, the Spurs rested their stars
in the 4th quarter, but it was still nice to see the young Wolves
stay hungry and end the year on a positive note.
The last 3
months of April the team had 1 win total, but this year the team finished with
5. The team down the stretch showed me why I feel I can be excited about the
future. This season in the last 16 games the team played .500 ball at 8-8. The
year before the team went 2-14. I love this progress and the effort Coach
Adelman and the team put forth.
The
Timberwolves finished 31-51 this season which also marks the most wins a
Timberwolves team had without Kevin Garnett.
The home mark
ended at 20-21 which is remarkable. I had hoped to get the .500 mark. The road ended at 11-30.
The team
battled the injury bug all year which is no excuse to not win. The whole team
is professional and when one goes down the next guy on the bench needs to step
up.
I love the
play of Ricky Rubio and without him I believe the win total may not have been
this high. I am in hopes of the team keeping Derrick Williams on the court. I
see a bright future for him. The team needs to sign Nikolai Pekovic to a long
term deal. This guy besides Rubio might just be my favorite player to watch.
This team
needs 1 or 2 players more I believe and the Western Conference had better be
ready for a hungry Timberwolves team.
I look back
at the schedule and see 2 five game and 2 six game losing streaks which is hard
to look at.
The team
also had a 4 game winning streak in the month of December. The Wolves had 2 big
win at home over Oklahoma City, who is only the number one seed in the playoffs.
The Wolves also had 2 blowout wins on the road. They pounded Phoenix by 31 and
Detroit by 23. These 2 teams are not big powerhouse teams but still the Wolves
played well enough to embarrass the home teams.
I went to a
home game in March against San Antonio and the Wolves blew them out by 24. The
Spurs were without Tim Duncan and Tony Parker would be an argument. The Wolves
dressed 9 players that night. Each team’s
fans can argue why this happened, the only thing I know is the final.
I believe
this team is so close to being relevant.
The team needs to get Kevin Love back. Rubio is only going to get better
which is hard to believe the way he plays already. I would love to see Kirlenko
and Chase Budinger part of the team as well.
I believe
Coach Adelman did his best job yet with the injuries and getting the young
players to buy in. Thank you Coach and please
come back for 2013-2014 season.
Thanks for
reading
Purplestick
Source:
Startribune.com
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