Not just a blowout
I mean, the freaking wheels came off, or something. I don’t know what’s happened to the formerly-lowly Timberwolves, but McHale’s Navy came on like gangbusters tonight, opening up a 42-24 lead after the first quarter and then expanding on it in the following stanzas, thrashing the Thunder, 129-87. This is, I think, the first time I’ve ever seen garbage time starting in the third quarter.
And Minnesota could do no wrong: Randy Foye got 26 of his 32 points in the first half, five other Wolves scored in double figures, and twelve of 28 treys fell their way. They owned the boards (57 rebounds, including 18 off the offensive glass), and they capitalized on the usual 15 Oklahoma City turnovers.
It seems almost irrelevant to mention the two double-doubles in Thunderdom: Russell Westbrook (16 points, 12 assists) and Nick Collison (17 points, 10 rebounds). The Thunder shot 39.8 percent, and Kevin Durant would love to have been that effective: he was 3 for 13 with a mere 9 points. We did, however, see the debut of Nenad Krstić, who played 14 minutes, scoring 6 and rebounding 5.
Chucky Atkins must be wondering what the hell he’s getting into. In the meantime, there’s a long flight home, and the arrival of the Houston Rockets on Friday.
Flack »
7 January 2009 · 9:48 pm
I have heard of people losing their luggage while flying before, but I’ve never heard of a whole team losing their momentum mid-flight before. Maybe it got left in an overhead bin or on the tarmac or something.