Preview: Timberwolves at Cavaliers, January 27th
2010-01-27Relevant Statistics:
Pace: Timberwolves 98.6 (4th) vs. Cavs 93.1 (28th)
Offensive Efficiency: Timberwolves 97.3 (29th) vs. Cavs 108.0 (5th)
Defensive Efficiency: Timberwolves 108.0 (27th) vs. Cavs 100.7 (6th)
Links To The Present:
Due to time constraints, I had to fold the links into the preview today, and there aren’t many.
-John Hollinger may think Anderson Varejao is the defensive player of the year at the midway point, but he doesn’t think he’s played well enough to be one of his all-star reserves. If Hollinger doesn’t think Varejao belongs, I don’t know who will. Unless Shaq sneaks into the backup center spot, it looks like LeBron might be the Cavs’ only all-star this season.
-In case you missed it yesterday, commenter Tsunami wrote an absolute thesis on the issue of LeBron’s fouls. Very strong opinions, tons and tons of information.
-Corey Brewer, randomly good at threes now.
-Via Cleveland.com, LeBron James comes in second to Tiger Woods on this year’s Bloomberg “Power List.” Shaq comes in at ninth.
-According to Michael Lee, Gilbert Arenas is suspended for the season, and has no desire to play for Ernie Grunfield ever again.
Notes on the Game:
-The Timberwolves feature one of the most prolific low-post scorers in basketball, and also play at one of the fastest paces in the league. They are also terrible at offense. This is very intriguing to me.
-There are going to be a lot of arguments over Kevin Love’s value in the years to come.
-I’ve always liked Corey Brewer’s game, even when he couldn’t hit water from the deck of a boat. If he keeps drilling threes, he’ll be a fantastic player.
-If the Cavs let this one get close for any period of time, I’ll be saddened. My immune system needs a blowout win or two to rebuild.
-West will not play tonight, according to Windhorst.
-The Timberwolves give up the exact same amount of points per 100 possessions as the Cavs score per 100 possessions. If the Cavs score 108 points per 100 possessions tonight, I’ll be thrilled in an extremely geeky way.
Recommended Reading:
As long as Hickson stays active on the boards, he can be effective every night. Something even greater than JJ playing well happened tonight though. The Nets won. I think the world is about to end tommorow.
By my rough-and-tumble calculations (if I did it right) we ended up with 109 points on 80 possessions. Close, but not as eerily close as I initially thought it might be.. Too bad.
Also, please mention JJ’s game high +17! Not a single turnover for the guy, also a game-high 23 points with a solid 8 rebounds. I’m trying to not fall back into HicksonMania, but maybe he’s figuring it out. One can hope, at least.