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Excuses. This team should be top 5 in rebounding in all categories (maybe not offensive rebounding).
They have the bigs to rebound and all of their other positions should be above average rebounders (RJ, Manu, TP are all good rebounders for their positions).
Views from the Other Side:
Quote:
http://www.startribune.com/sports/wo...7PQLanchO7DiUr
Technically speaking, Spurs whistle past Wolves
After a third quarter riddled with five technical fouls -- Kurt Rambis was ejected and three other players were T'd up within 10 seconds -- the Wolves lost to the Spurs for the fourth time this season.
By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune
Like the characters in a classic Martin Scorsese film, the Timberwolves spoke on Tuesday night with both their hands and their mouths, a combination that hastened their 107-96 loss and season-series sweep to San Antonio at Target Center.
Trailing by six early in the third quarter, the Wolves protested the perceived injustices of the night -- and perhaps of a season that now has included nine victories and 30 defeats.
They were whistled for five technical fouls -- including two consecutively that got coach Kurt Rambis ejected from the game -- in a mere 10 seconds by veteran official Kenny Mauer, who apparently was out to prove that Joe isn't the only Mauer whom paying sports fans will come downtown to see.
The Spurs turned the ensuing five made free throws into a 68-57 lead. The Wolves never again got closer than seven points against a Spurs team that, at 32-6, owns the NBA's best record.
Corey Brewer and Darko Milicic received almost simultaneously technicals for complaining about calls, then Rambis came to their defense and got two more himself.
Ten seconds later, Kevin Love grabbed a rebound, complained that no foul was called and received the fifth and final technical.
"That's my first time playing basketball that I had seen two technicals at the same time," Brewer said. "That's the first time I had seen five in a row."
The Wolves have known all season that NBA officials are cracking down on "overt gestures" as well as whining and complaining about officiating in an effort to clean up the game.
They finally discovered fully Tuesday night what that point of emphasis means.
"I don't like getting 5 T's in 30 seconds," Wolves forward Michael Beasley said, overestimating the time by 20 seconds. "But it has been happening all year. If fans can tell you're yelling at the ref, then they're going to 'T' you. I hope you never see it again. I just think we were all emotional."
Beasley naturally might be the most emotional of all the Timberwolves, but he didn't receive one of the five.
"I just shut up," he said. "When you get emotional, you tend to talk with your hands. When the ref got going, I don't know, I guess he thought he was under attack."
Assistant coach Bill Laimbeer -- not assistant Dave Wohl, who took over a game late last season in New Orleans when Rambis was ejected -- assumed head-coaching duties, and shortly thereafter engaged Mauer in this exchange.
Laimbeer: "You can't toss them all."
Mauer: "I hope not."
If the Wolves had been as prudent with their words and their actions during the game as they were after it, they might not have walked out into the good night winless this season against a mighty Spurs team that they led by 21, 15 and nine points in three previous games.
"I like my money so I don't want to say anything too outlandish here," Love said. "That was just crazy."
Even the veteran Spurs, who have almost seen it all, sounded surprised.
"Maybe three I've seen," guard Manu Ginobili said. "But five, so close?"
San Antonio found a way to win the series' first three games, including the first two that Ginobili said "we didn't even deserve" to win. "I'm really glad that we aren't playing them anymore," he said.
Tuesday, the Spurs took the five gift free throws and regained a double-digit lead that the Wolves never seriously challenged again. They did so by getting double-digit scoring nights from six players, including four of five starters.
"Popovich's playbook is probably three inches thick and they all know it and they all understand it," Rambis said, referring to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "They know who they are and we are still trying to figure out who we are."
They're reasons more than they are excuses.Quote:
Originally Posted by DPG21920
I agree, though, they should be a top five rebounding team. But what to do you expect when Duncan and McDyess are having their minutes managed and Bonner is regularly out there for 12-15 minute stints? It's bound to happen.
Blair needs to pick it up, though, no excuse for him. If he's not going to rebound better, then he has no business playing, because he kills this team defensively and is an afterthought offensively.