Philadelphia Freedom

(Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)

For one night, the Wolves are free to celebrate an actual victory, having stayed tough against the 76ers 102-96 at Target Center. The post-game jubilation was not unlike the video clip of their very first franchise win against the Charles Barkley led Philly team 20 years ago, shown at halftime on FSN. It seemed as if the Sixers were content to try and win it in the last six or so minutes of the game, playing lethargically other than the first quarter where they jumped out to a double digit lead. But when you're 1-11 from the three point line, and only 15 of 23 from the free throw line, chances of a road victory--any road victory--are reduced. They came into Minnesota, thought it was going to be an easy win, and suffered the consequences.

The Wolves, on the other hand, did some nice things last night. Freed from having to play Rashad McCants any meaningful minutes (out with back spasms), they shared the ball very well with 29 assists. Craig Smith came off the bench with some great energy and scored 21 points, going 7-9 from the field. The fact he had zero rebounds was somewhat mitigated by his five assists.

In the fourth quarter, the club finally found Big Al, and in return Al found Mike Miller for a huge trey at the end of the game. Jefferson scored 8 points in the quarter, and seem determined to put the team on his back...as long as he could touch the ball. Miller had a nice overall game, with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists, and was able to play good enough defense not to be a liability at the end of that floor.

This club still is a mismatch of personnel; their two primary front court players (Jefferson, Love) play primarily at the same position, and are too small to play together consistently. For the night, the Sixers outrebounded the Wolves 40-33, and especially in the fourth, were able to drive to the hoop consistently. As has been pointed out in other blogs, adding Smith to the mix only makes them more susceptible to defensive breakdowns, where they have to aggressively double-team down in the block, only to have good teams swing the ball around for open looks on the perimeter. Because Brand had a bit of an off night (9-21 shooting), Dalumbert isn't a offensive force inside, and the Sixers weren't hitting their three point shots, the Wolves weren't exposed in this manner last night.

But small ball won't work consistently on this club. Overall team transition speed--especially in the front court--is mediocre at best, and would expose more of the club's weaknesses than play to their strengths. Furthermore, the NBA seems to being moving away from the D'Antoni-Nelson, glorified All Star game type of ball, where everyone runs and no one plays defense. If that's true, thank God. Save that type of junk for the D-League, college or European leagues. I love a good fastbreak, but let's play at both ends of the court please. Good defense can lead to great offense.

In the end--despite having to be told TWICE on the FSN broadcast about Jim Pete's appointment to the Lynx coaching staff--this win was one to savor, because there aren't many coming the Wolves way just yet...and the champs are coming to town on Friday.