That's No Bull...

Copyright 2009 NBAE (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)

Lacking energy in the first quarter and defense for nearly the entire game, the Wolves persevered despite a poor performance from their back court, coming back from an early first quarter, 16 point deficit for a 109-108 OT victory over Chicago at Target Center Sunday. With 13 seconds left in the overtime period, Minnesota actually defended Derrick Rose and survived a couple point blank tip-in attempts to pick up the win. A video recap of the game can be found here.

Now once again, who says defense doesn't matter? It was pretty clear by the middle of the fourth quarter that the team who could make the most stops was going to win this game, and that Sebastian Telfair's ability to play Rose straight up at the end of the fourth quarter as well as the OT period were huge for the squad. Those two possessions were about the only things the Wolves backcourt did well all night, as Big Al and Kevin Love flexed some serious muscle against a surprisingly tough Chicago front court of Joakim Noah, Tyrus Thomas, Aaron Gray, Luol Deng and Andres Nocioni. Jump shooters need not have applied in this game; and as was correctly pointed out by Jim Petersen during the game, and Paul Allen at the FSN post-game wrap up, Jefferson was not in the mood to pass the ball out of the double and triple teams. Love showed some improved ability to finish in addition to his superb rebounding.

Petersen worked the All-Star angle for Jefferson all night, and tried yet again to trumpet Love's stature by denigrating another rookie performer, Brook Lopez. On both fronts, I'm not sure the logic is accurate. First off, based on the lists I saw and heard from both national columnists and broadcasters alike, Jefferson is not on anyone's short list. Based on his offense, Jefferson is a worthy choice, but until the Wolves get closer to actually a winning record, it's going to be a hard sell. A consistent defensive effort would help as well. As for Love vs. Lopez, Petersen tried to make the point that the New Jersey center plays a lot more minutes than our rookie in comparing rebounding statistics.

Key Stats between Lopez and K-Love:

Player	Games	Minutes	FG%	RPG	BPG	PPG	Eff
Lopez	42	29.6	485	8.0	2.0	11.3	+15.31
Love	40	22.8	422	8.4	0.6	8.5	+12.65

Now, I'll grant that seven minutes a game is somewhat significant (but not THAT much). However, if you take a look at the fact that a top draft pick like Lopez can actually start for his team, perform actual center tasks like blocking shots, clogging the middle, be a better finisher--at least right now--AND would allow Jefferson to play his natural power forward position, still trying so hard to spin the Love pick is futile and premature. At least he's not trying to salvage yet another McHale pick--Rashad McCants--by saying he should play point guard, or worse, lead guard.

I'll be honest though; I don't see why Love isn't starting. I think he's more than proven himself capable, and, on a rebuilding team...why not? Isn't seeing what your players can or can't do part of the rebuilding process? How much of his own Celtic career does McHale want to channel through K-Love? I get the fact that by coming off the bench, he can play "center", allowing Brian Cardinal to play power forward, but they are undersized as it is. Simply sit Al or Kevin down and mix in either Cardinal or Smith as the matchups present themselves. Stop babying the rook and let him play.

Mike Miller is another issue, and a curious one at that. After getting hurt late, why did McHale leave him in the game? Especially in overtime, replacing Miller with Carney would have given the club a more reliable three point shooter to spread the floor with. Here's another example of Petersen spin; the guy came here to shoot, he's been in a slump, and now he's being touted as this all around baller. Britt Robson has been pretty vocal on the subject; it seems that what the Wolves have gotten is not Miller High Life, but Miller Lite. With the February trade deadline approaching, here's another storyline worth following...will this guy get moved?

In the end, one can't really bitch too much about this win. The fact Minnesota continues to find paths to victory is encouraging. As I pointed out, luck is again with them. With Milwaukee losing Michael Redd with both an ACL and MCL knee injury for the season, it will be fascinating to see if the team can show some energy in a back to back game--especially given the overtime stint.

The drama continues tomorrow...