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^{AP Photo, by Tom Olmscheid}

Game #67, Home Game #35: Memphis 94, Minnesota 98

Season Record: 17-50

1. Jefferson Dominant

The transformation point of the Wolves' 98-94 win over Memphis last night was when Al Jefferson willed his team back into contention during the first 7 minutes of the third period after an abysmal first half. Smallball didn't work for Minnesota in those two periods--Memphis forwards Gay, Miller, and Warrick racked up 32 points and 16 rebounds while Snyder, Gomes, Brewer and Smith amassed just 10 points and 3 boards--but Jefferson, who had 6 of the Wolves' 15 total rebounds (vs. 32 for the Grizz) in that first half, came out spitting nails. He destroyed Darko Milicic in the paint.

Simply detailing the line gives you a little flavor of this man-among-boys stretch of play. Jefferson's offensive rebound on a Randy Foye miss led to two second-chance points via Ryan Gomes' free throws. Then he got fouled by Rudy Gay and made one of two; cleaned up a Gomes missed layup with a putback slam dunk; hit two more free throws after being fouled by Darko; grabbed a rebound off a Gay miss that eventually led to a Foye bucket; snuffed a Gay layup with a beautiful block; came down and hit a banker in the lane; and then fed Foye for a trey. A grand 3:12 had elapsed, and Jefferson had 7 points, three boards (two on the offensive glass), an assist and a block in keying a 14-2 Wolves run that turned a 14-point halftime deficit into a one-possession game.

You think he was done? In the ensuing 3:29 after the Memphis timeout, he scored 5 more points, grabbed two more offensive rebounds, and scaled the scaffolding with Gay as the latter drove the baseline and attempted to throw it down, turning him back with an above-the-rim block. When Jefferson laid the ball in off a Foye feed with 4:19 to play in the third, the Wolves had their first tie since 0-0, and Jefferson had 12 points, 4-4 FG, 4-6 FT, four offensive rebounds (and 5 overall) and a pair of blocks in less than 7 minutes of play. That's how you make All Star teams and have teammates look at you a little differently in the locker room and at practice.

2. Working The Seams

Let the record show that Randy Foye and Rashad McCants were a combined 11-31 FG last night, and that it doesn't even come close to revealing how well they played, individually and together. The standing cavaet here is that this was the Memphis Grizzlies, not quite as pathetic as the Clippers without Kamen the other night, but certainly earning their new status as one of the three worst teams in the NBA (the Wolves are now 4th, crushing ping pong balled dreams throughout the frozen tundra). But as coach Randy Wittman said in the postgame, Foye and McCants have been told to work the seams of the defense via penetration and then dish to the open man if and when their path to the hoop is deterred. Both players did that last night, often feeding each other, and the only concern is that they weren't finishing each other's assists. As it was, Shaddy had five dimes (it could have been 8-10) and Foye 3 (could have been double that), even with Craig Smith agains enduring a loud and mysterious 1-7 FG clanking.

Foye's numbers weren't even as good as McCants's mediocrity, but for all the times I've ripped him for generating results while looking like anything but a point guard, tonight is payback: Despite the numbers, his floor game lent credence to the idea that he can run this ballclub in the half court. My one criticism is that it is a little too noticeable how much Foye suddenly changes personality and looks more for his A) when Jefferson isn't in the game and B) in the 4th quarter. I think both situations warrant more scoring aggressiveness; I just wish it wasn't so easy for a scout to write this tendency in his report and have it come true.

But here's the deal: Wittman sits his stud Jefferson with 1:59 to play in the 3rd, and sits Foye with 25 seconds to go in the third. The Wolves head into the final period with that pair on the pine, and down six points, 62-68. Time for Rashad McCants to screw seam-working and get his own; and lest there be any doubt, Wittman throws the clanking Gators, Brewer and Richard, out there along with a stone cold Craig Smith and Marko Jaric. So 16 seconds in, Shaddy nails a 12-foot pull-up. He sinks the T on Memphis's defensive 3-seconds. He cans a 20-footer on a feed from Jaric. And then flips in a layup on a dish from Smith. It's McCants 7, Memphis 2 in 3:02 of the 4th. Timeout Grizzlies at 69-70, with Jefferson and Foye soon to come back fresh. By the time they are both good to go, at 6:31, Minnesota is down 4. But McCants erases Memphis's last lead by getting back to seamwork, finding Foye for trey to cut the deficit from 4 to 1 and then dishing to Jefferson for a six-foot hook that puts the Wolves up for good. For the 4rh quarter, Shaddy is an ugly 3-10 FG--on paper. On the court he was the crunchtime linchpin, with 9 points, 3 dimes, 2 boards and plus +10 for the period. And Foye has an efficient 7 points in 6:31 (2-2 FG, 2-2 FT, 0 assists but 0 turnovers) and is plus +6.

3. Hit and Run

It sure would be fattening to play the Grizz every night. The "tanking" concept is way overused lately, so let's just say it was a curious decision for Grizz coach Mark Iavaroni to go with the Not Ready For Prime Time Player Mike Conley at the point instead of the far more polished Kyle Lowry down the stretch. And, after Jason Collins snagged his 5th foul, to toss clueless Kwame Brown in as red meat for Jefferson when Memphis was up by just two points with 7:07 to go in the game and Brown hadn't seen one second of burn up to that point. Are we surprised that Jefferson scored five points and drew two fouls on Brown during the latter's 2:34 of play, a stretch that saw the Wolves go on an 8-4 run? And let's not forget Juan Carlos Navarro, whose shot selection had Gerald Green holding his head and running around in circles in his living room watching the game at home. Navarro's 0-4 FG in 3:31 went nicely with Conley's 3--7 FG in all 12:00--neither one had an assist.

For the game, Navarro was 5-17 FG, Conley 3-10 FG--that's a flatulant 8-17 FG out of your starting backcourt, folks--*with zippo, nada, zilch, assists. The guys spooling out all the dimes for this Grizz squad? Darko and Kahim Warrick, with 3 apiece. Meanwhile, Rudy Gay and Mike Miller, so effective in the first half, combined for 6-17 FG in the second half--because no one could get them the damn ball in any position to score. That little chime you heard when Jason Collins scored on a wide open layup after a feed from Warrick with 9:32 to play in the 4th quarter was the signal that Memphis had used up its allotted one assist for the entire second half. They would not be granted another--not with Conley and Navarro in the backcourt.

Before we go, two quick shout-outs. Ryan Gomes suffered through a terrible shooting performance--and because Gomes pretty much only shoots open looks, you know he's off when he's 1-11 FG. But in the final 70 seconds of play with the Wolves up by one, there was Gomes with a savvy strip-and-save of a Memphis dribble penetration to produce the steal, then a no-hesitation swish on a wide open 20-footer to give Minnesota a little cushion. Big shot, which shores up one of the few places where Gomes hasn't been reliable this season, clutch scoring.

Finally, it would be a shame to overlook another guerrilla-effective performance from Jaric, who merely led the team in assists (7) and plus/minus (+9) in 31:01. That's a very Telfair-like 31 assists and 6 turnovers for Marko in the last 5 games. At my prompting, Wittman admitted he thought about getting Jaric more burn in the final 6 and a half minutes in place of Kirk Snyder--"but I was afraid of Rudy Gay's size at the 3; I didn't want him getting inside" creating switches and open looks for him and others, he replied.

Except that his dunderheaded teammates plus Jefferson's commitment to protecting the rim stopped Gay far more than Snyder, who seemed overmatched most of the evening. But yet another way to look at it is that Wittman played a 24-year old newbie (Snyder) over the established commodity (Jaric) and found out a little more about this soon-to-be unrestricted free agent. Wittman's take on Snyder? "Solid. He does everything decent. He's worked himself into my confidence at the end of games." Meanwhile, Corey Brewer and Chris Richard can trade nostalgic memories of March Madness on the sideline...