Defense
I took a little trip out to the bar the other night to watch the Wolves on a big screen. Despite the fact that I've lost a lot of my enthusiasm for the team, I continue to watch almost all of their games (I may not be able to watch tonight's). So we sat down and before you knew it, we were down 19-5 and we were giving up threes left and right. Normally, I would have been pissed off, but luckily for me I was drinking beer and eating chicken wings so I barely even noticed. Is it just me, or does beer just taste better when taken in conjunction with spicy chicken wings?
At this point, I had all but conceded the game. Sure it was the first quarter, but there's nothing that Kevin McHale would be able to do to make THud a good perimeter defender. I just assumed the barrage of three-pointers would continue and we'd lose by 30.
Then, the unthinkable happened. The Wolves stepped it up and started playing like a championship team. Their defense was intense. They outrebounded the Nets 52-41. They got 7 blocks and 6 steals. They held the Nets to only 31% shooting from the field.
Maybe it was the beer or maybe it was the noxious fumes from the chicken wings, but I became elated. How long have I waited to see the Wolves look like the dominant team they were supposed to be?
Apparently, McHale's been preaching nothing but defense since he took over. His basic MO seems to be "Who gives a shit about offense? We got KG, so we'll find ways to score. We need to get it done on defense." Well, his defense did wonders on Tuesday night.
It wasn't until later that night when the effects from the beer and chicken wings had subsided that reality set in.
We were playing the Nets.
But it wasn't like we were really playing a full team, it was more like we were playing the Cartermercerkidds, since they were the only ones who seemed to show up--nobody else on the team had more than 3 points. We're supposed to beat the shit out of a team like that. Still, it's been so long, and we haven't done that to anybody in a long, long time. I'll give McHale the credit for putting together a good game plan, but we've still got a long way to go to respectability.
At this point, I had all but conceded the game. Sure it was the first quarter, but there's nothing that Kevin McHale would be able to do to make THud a good perimeter defender. I just assumed the barrage of three-pointers would continue and we'd lose by 30.
Then, the unthinkable happened. The Wolves stepped it up and started playing like a championship team. Their defense was intense. They outrebounded the Nets 52-41. They got 7 blocks and 6 steals. They held the Nets to only 31% shooting from the field.
Maybe it was the beer or maybe it was the noxious fumes from the chicken wings, but I became elated. How long have I waited to see the Wolves look like the dominant team they were supposed to be?
Apparently, McHale's been preaching nothing but defense since he took over. His basic MO seems to be "Who gives a shit about offense? We got KG, so we'll find ways to score. We need to get it done on defense." Well, his defense did wonders on Tuesday night.
It wasn't until later that night when the effects from the beer and chicken wings had subsided that reality set in.
We were playing the Nets.
But it wasn't like we were really playing a full team, it was more like we were playing the Cartermercerkidds, since they were the only ones who seemed to show up--nobody else on the team had more than 3 points. We're supposed to beat the shit out of a team like that. Still, it's been so long, and we haven't done that to anybody in a long, long time. I'll give McHale the credit for putting together a good game plan, but we've still got a long way to go to respectability.
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