Sniff, Sniff

While it's not 100% official yet, it looks like my roommate, best friend, and co-blogger will soon be leaving me for a job in sunny California. On the plus side for all of our readers, they have internet out there as well, so it won't affect any of you too much. As a result, I'll probably provide most of the Timberwolves specific content, while Petey will likely give you more general NBA content.

The reason you haven't heard from him for a while is that he's been living out there in a hotel and been extremely busy with work and deciding whether or not to take the job out there. This is also the reason he was never able to finish up his previews of the different conferences. However, for those of you who would like an interesting an entertaining preview of the East and West conferences, you should check out what Bill Simmons has to say. He has a few surprises in store.

1. The Lakers at #3 in the West. For those of you who have been reading, we have been discussing the Lakers and how they'll likely be better than people thought. However, I think Simmons might be going a bit overboard here. However, he does pick them to lose in the first round of the playoffs.
2. The Kings and Rockets miss the playoffs. He has the Kings all the way down at #10. I'm not quite ready to count the Kings out yet, but they certainly have an uphill climb. They've started out horribly, losing again to Seattle by 30 last night. They're probably the second most disfunctional team in the league, behind the Blazers.
3. He's giving Charlotte 9 wins on the season. As I've said before, the Bobcats will be bad, but they won't be that bad. They've already won one game, and have been embarrassed in none. Not the characteristics of a 9-73 team. However, we'll see how they respond when they start losing to the Western Conference powerhouses by 40 points.
4. Cleveland takes third in the East. They certainly haven't looked that good yet (though they had a very impressive comeback on national TV last night) and I think they're still a bit young. Of course, if Ziggy can keep shooting like he did last night, they'll go a long way.

Of course, there are other interesting things in there as well, but these are the biggest ones I found. I recommend reading the whole thing for those of you who are interested.

From the T-Wolves camp, they had another tough and disappointing loss against the Pacers the other night. The Pacers just completely dominated the game for the first 3 quarters until it looked like they finally realized that there was a basketball game going on and had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but came up just short. On the plus side, the Wolves were almost able to overcome being outrebounded 47-30, and a terrible free throw shooting night by KG (6-14) to almost get the W. On the minus side, the Pacers blew us out for most of the game without Ron "Rap Star" Artest or Reggie Miller. This is the same Pacers team that lost to the Clippers the subsequent night at home by a score of 102-68. For those of you who've never heard of the Clippers, they're currently the third best professional basketball team residing in the city of Los Angeles (behind the Lakers and the Sparks).

I'm gonna play the denial card here, and say that the reason they lost so badly was because they used up everything they had in the tank to beat Minnesota the previous night. A boy can dream, can't he?

Undefeated at home

Yesterday's game against the Hornets was a good victory, but it was painful to watch at times. In the second quarter, the Wolves looked as strong as they've looked all season. They out scored the Hornets 33-13 and built a 14-point halftime lead.

Then the third quarter started. Ugh. The third quarter was the antithesis of the second. Everything that could go possible went wrong. They couldn't make shots, couldn't get calls, and every time it looked like they were going to get something going, something would happen to turn it around. Eventually, everybody's favorite lobster, Mayor Freddy Zoidberg, drained a couple threes to help stop the bleeding.

The Wolves got some life back in the fourth and eked out a win. I was expecting a big win, but I'll take it anyway I can get it. However, the meltdown in the third quarter is a cause for concern. We may be able to overcome a quarter like that against a team like the Hornets, but against an elite team, if we have a quarter like that, we're just going to lose. Period.

At the same time, it was good to see the Wolves able to overcome such a terrible stretch. A younger team might have lost their composure and started hucking up wild shots, but the Wolves didn't fall into this trap. They just kept playing their game, knowing that playing their game would eventually get them the W.

Elsewhere in the NBA

• Congrats to former Timberwolf Sam Mitchell, whose Toronto Raptors are now a surprising 3-0. I'm not sure what he's been teaching them up there, but they've gotten wins against Houston and Detroit. Not too shabby.
• Bobcats now 1-1. They got their first victory in team history by beating the crap out of the Orlando Magic. There has been a lot of talk about whether or not they'll break the NBA record for worst win percentage (9-73). I don't think they'll do it. For starters, the bar has been set pretty low. To beat the record, they'll need to win fewer than 10% or their games. That's pretty hard to do and with one win under their belt, they may have already blown their chance to make history. Secondly, they play in the East. Yes, the East has some good teams now, but the majority of the conference is still garbage. They'll get 3 more against Orlando, not to mention 4 against the Bulls, Wizards, and Hawks.
  
• During the Wolves game against Denver, the commentators noted that Earl Boykins can bench 330 pounds. Are you kidding me? That guy is like 3 feet tall. Pound for pound, that must make him one of the strongest players in the NBA.