RUN WITH THE PACK [MIN 20-14] STATS UPDATE, RUBIO TD VS OKC

[Vespasian92]

I hate to say it, but I love seeing Omri and Cisco go off.

Without Harden, the Rockets might not even reach the postseason, much less make a deep run. Tough, but with Cicso playing like that...

[Kieran]

HUGE game for Garcia!

Good to see all your starters in double figures too, Dieng chipping in !

Dieng currently sitting first in blocks, second in rebounds and fifth in steals amoung rookies.

[Kieran]

Injuries: None | Ejections: (MIN) Rubio; (DEN) Hickson

Recap points:
- Wolves got off to a flyer, and could barely miss in the first. Faried was injured within the first minute in a rebounding contest but came back later in the 1st. Hickson and Gallinari were in early foul trouble and Lawson was not able to dominate the Wolves like he did last time the teams met.
- The 2nd quarter saw the Nuggets flip the script as they got their starters back into the game, and Ricky Rubio got into heavy foul trouble early.
- Love starred once again (POG) with solid support from the usual candidates in Pek and Martin. Encourgaing bench performances from Chase Budinger and rookie Shabazz Muhammad.
- The win not only puts the Wolves 2 games clear of the Nuggets in the Northwest Division, but also moves them to 3rd in the Western Conference.

Media:

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

[Kieran]

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK FOR NOVEMBER

[Kieran]

[Kieran]

Injuries: (MIN): Love (knee), Turiaf (ankle); (DAL) Wright (ankle) | Ejections: (MIN) Rubio, Brewer

Recap points:
- Minnesota get Alexey Shved back from injury for this game after losing Dante Cunningham earlier in the week. Mavs without Dirk for the next several weeks due to a broken jaw.
- A tough battle which saw Dallas go up by 11 in the first but the Wolves clawed their way back bit by bit to force overtime.
- Kevin Love injured early in the game after a fall and was hindered for the rest of the game.
- Nikola Pekovic's double double was the shining light for the Wolves
- Hard D on Monta Ellis by Brewer and Mbah a Moute was not enough to stop him scoring high into the 20's, with Jose Calderon (POG) getting loose and sneaking points in a range of locations

Media:

phpBB [video]

[Kieran]

Player transactions for November:

[Kieran]

Injuries: None | Ejections: None

[Kieran]

Injuries: None | Ejections: (SAS) Splitter

Recap points:
- Wolves started the game well, leading by as many as 11 in the first
- Parker and Ginobili did their thing however and brought the game back to a close contest, scores close at half time.
- Wolves depth has really been on show lately, and this game saw the likes of Budinger and Shved provide solid work off the bench to support the starters.
- This combined with Kevin Love (POG) unleashing an offensive barrage in the second half saw the Wolves inevitably blow out the Spurs who lost Splitter to his 6th foul midway through the 3rd and they really had no answer for the Wolves' big men.

Media:
Rubio tracking well this season

Trying out my new ESPN scoreboard thanks to exrxixxx

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

[Kieran]

Injuries: None | Ejections: (MIA) Bosh

Recap points:
- Robbie Hummel set a trend early in the game as he was consistently left open to knock down jump shots. The stats above show that he was able to capitalise on this all game long, and took out Player of the Game honours in a career game for him.
- Kevin Martin struggled with his shot throughout the match, but thanks to Hummel's shooting wasn't under pressure to shoot his way out of it. Coach Adelman kept him on the bench and let him rest while Hummel was performing well.
- LeBron James had foul trouble most of the way through the game, only playing 26 minutes. Chris Bosh also ended up fouling out.

Media:

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

[Kieran]

A.J. PRICE REQUESTS TRADE


After more than a quarter of the season complete, A.J. Price has only played in two games for the Timberwolves. Sources say that the Timberwolves organisation were somewhat surprised at the request. Price was the last man to make the cut in training camp, narrowly beating out Chris Johnson (who played half a season last year with the Wolves, with some good performances), and perennial D-Leaguer Othyus Jeffers who performed solidly in preseason. Sitting last in the point guard depth chart it was never expected that Price would feature highly in the Wolves campaign, and was basically on the roster for the odd occaision when Rubio, Barea and Shved were all either in foul trouble or injured. Still, even though he was hired as a backup he has become unhappy with his lack of game time and wants to persue his career elsewhere.
The Wolves are currently exploring trade options for Price.

[Vespasian92]

Wow, great to have Hummel step up from your bench. Always fun to beat Miami too.

[Kieran]

TRADE ALERT


The Timberwolves announced today they have traded away disgruntled reserve point guard AJ Price to the Phoenix Suns in return for 2nd round picks in 2014 and 2015.
Price, who as previously mentioned was the last man to make the cut this summer had grown increasingly tired of his lack of playing time and had demanded a trade not long ago.
The Timberwolves organisation wish him all the best in his future career and thank him for his efforts while on the squad.

[Kieran]

Injuries: None | Ejections: (DET) Drummond

Recap points:
- Pistons at an immediate disadvantage to their frontcourt, entering the game with injuries to Josh Smith, Monroe and Jerebko.
- Solid performance from the Detroit team however to stick with the Wolves most the game, the score was never too lopsided.
- Love and Pekovic (POG) allowed to roam around inside all night long with very little resistance. Andre Drummond had a stinker of a game, in foul trouble throughout before committing his 6th late in the third. Charlie Villanueva forced to take the center role for much of the game, playing 44 minutes. Reserves Harrellson and Mitchell just not accustomed to such a tough assignment so the Bruise Brothers of Minnesota were just beasts all game long.
- Brandon Jennings and suprisingly Luigi Datome (who got the start) were the best for the Pistons

Media:

phpBB [video]

[Kieran]

Injuries: (PHI) Young (severe ankle sprain) | Ejections: (PHI) Noel

Recap points:
- Atrocious start to the game from the Wolves, with Philly blowing the score out to 25-9 at 6 minute mark of the first. All starters under performing. Super subs Turiaf and Hummel brought in and steadied the game up for the Wolves a little.
- A monster second half after what was most likely an agressive speech by Coach Adelman at halftime saw the Wolves run out the game in a big way.
- Pekovic was on fire in the fourth and collected his second POG title in a row.
- Rookie Nerlens Noel although hampered by foul trouble, proved to be one of the most challenging defenders for the Wolves big men so far this season
- Evan Turner hitting shots all over the place despite Corey Brewer's best defensive efforts, MCW close to a triple double. Thad Young going down with a severe ankle sprain midway through 3rd

Media:

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

[Kieran]

Wolves guard Kevin Martin has suffered a strained oblique during a training session after the recent Sixers game. He will be sidelined for up to 2 weeks with the injury.

This marks the first time for the season that one of the Wolves starters has been injured badly enough to have to sit out a match, with the team's best 5 being able to start all matches so far.
Martin will most likely be replaced by rookie Robbie Hummel in the starting lineup, who's performances off the bench of late have been very hard to ignore. Hummel is also a pure shooter just like Martin so in terms of gameplan, he looks the most likely to fill Martin's shoes in the interim. His morale had also been slightly down due to varying game time but a couple of starts in Martin's absence and ample minutes should fix that right up.

[Kieran]

*No boxscore available* Injuries: (MIN) Love (sprained ankle), Shved (strained hamstring) | Ejections: (SAS) Splitter; (MIN) Hummel

Recap Points:
- A total shootout right from the beginning, Minnesota were big on their fast break game today. The Spurs who usually play a slower pace were suprisingly quick back the other way too.
- Ginobili missed the game due to injury
- Robbie Hummel continued his good play in his first start, scoring 17 points but unfortunately fouling out late in the 4th after trying to step up the defensive pressure and make himself more than just a spot up shooter.
- Tony Parker the star for the Spurs with 33 points
- Corey Brewer piled on 27 of his own including four dunks and took the POG honours.
- Love's ankle injury only sidelined him for a few minutes whereas Shved's hamstring injury occured after only 2 minutes on the court and he will now be out of action for 2 weeks.

Media:

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

[Kieran]

Days after returning from a knee tendonitis issue Alexey Shved went down with a strained hamstring in just 2 minutes of play against the spurs.
He will be out for roughyl 2 weeks. With Kevin Martin also injured, and Gorgui Dieng still not 100% recovered from his recent injury, it leaves the Wolves with only 11 fit players to face the Grizzlies.

[Kieran]

Injuries: None | Ejections: (MIN) Love, Barea

[Kieran]

Injuries: None | Ejections: None

[Kieran]

Injuries: None | Ejections: None

Recap points:
- Wesley Matthews left open way too often and ended up scoring 33 with a high shot %
- Robin Lopez strong against the Wolves big men
- Thomas Robinson gets the start in place of the injured LaMarcus Aldridge, plays a solid 40 minutes
- Robbie Hummel again disrespected by the defense, and again made them pay
- Love unstoppable inside, POG
- Really tight game all the way through except for a 5 minute stretch early in the 4th where the Wolves lead by as many as 10.

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

[Kieran]

Injuries: None | Ejections: None

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

[Kieran]

Ok, so after a brief hiatus to do some modding as well as some problems with the recording of boxscores for the association, I've now decided to switch to the NBA Stats Tracker made by Leftos.
There will be one more game with the old style boxscore, and the rest will be the new format as the Stats Tracker generates them alot quicker than I can manually type them out.

In the meantime, here are the games I was unable to obtain a boxscore for:

[Kieran]

[Martti.]

I think there's something wrong with Pek's statline, 58 rebounds and 12 points on 13-20 shooting?

If the rest is correct, then a very impressive win over OKC, nice to see Westbrook shooting 38 shots while Durant gets 25, like it should be.