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_{Photo copyright 2009 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)}

Game #72, Road Game #36: Philadelphia 96, Minnesota 88

Season Record: 20-52

1. Short Term Player Motivation Required, Fan Apathy or Anger Optional

The situation is literally embarrassing for all concerned. I happen to think Kevin McHale is a pretty good coach. He and the entire organization are aware that almost the only thing that matters in the final 10% of a dreadfully lost season is future player development. But he and the entire organization are also aware that you can't keep going out and playing like you know you are going to get beat, at 80 percent of your physical energy and 40 percent of your maximum intensity, without there being some kind of consequences. So Wednesday night on the road in Philadelphia, McHale benched the starting five that have quit on the rest of this season--some of them know it, some of them don't--and put in the schmoes that performed relatively better in the past few garbage times. In lieu of Gomes-Love-Miller-Foye-Telfair, the Wolves started Smith-Cardinal-Carney-Ollie-Brown. Think about that for a moment. None of those five starters figured to be among the team's top 7 or 8 when the season started. And while Cardinal, Carney, and Smith, in that order, have provided solid team play at various points during the season, none of them will be important on-court contributors to the Wolves a year from right now (although I'm not *absolutely* certain Cardinal won't make me eat those words). As for Kevin Ollie and Bobby Brown, save that starting backcourt for future trivia punchlines, as a reminder of how rotten and utterly dispiriting were the 2009 Timberwolves coming down the stretch. 

Meanwhile, all of the benched players with the possible exception of Mike Miller are expected to comprise a second core of talent around Al Jefferson, either proving themselves capable of remaining in those roles or getting pushed out by superior talent in the years ahead. In other words, about the only reason to play these final dozen or so games is to give these folks more seasoning and time on the court together. It is when we understand this that we realize just how horrible the situation has become, and why we are becoming belligerently apathetic about the present disease sweeping across the roster: The Wolves' lack of heart and pride (and, if you want to be charitable, health and experience) is preventing the franchise from exercising a normal, logical mode of development because they don't want to reward quitting and thus engender worse habits than are already beginning to crop up with this squad.

McHale decision to include rookie Kevin Love in this benching is unfortunate. The motivation is understandable--Love is part of a poorly performing unit, and the coach doesn't want to further foster cliques and resentments arising out of a "teacher's pet" dynamic against a player who has been lavishly praised by McHale the entire season. But Kevin Love has performed with more poise, more effort, and more talent these part two weeks than anyone on the ballclub with the possible exceptions of Cardinal and, perhaps, Smith. On the other hand, to continually run Love out there not only as a pivot man in the low block, but with a succession of woefully undersized "power forwards" beside him on the front line does little to stimulate the rook's development. I mean, if you're going to play Kevin Ollie, why not Jason Collins? Or, here's a wild thought: Why not Mark Madsen? On a ballclub that is just crying for a little jolt of energy, tossing the Mad Dog alongside Love for 8-10 minutes a night would not be nearly as disastrous, nor as boring, as the rejects who don't dare make the sort of chaotic, clueless hustle plays that Madsen flings into the mix during his time on the court. It doesn't always work, but it doesn't always fail either, and you can believe opposing bigs who currently feast without fear on Love would have a little more focus on their peripheral vision looking for Madsen's hip checks and Zamboni-like box-outs. Brian Cardinal is a lot of fun to watch--besides Love's overall game  and Craig Smith's uncanny ability to get his shot off, the ways he enhances his team's odds is the rare, odd pleasure for Wolves' viewers--but much of it takes place in the midrange and perimeter zones of the half-court. Madsen would give Love a buddy in the paint, a kindred pee-er in the sandbox. As long as he doesn't hoist any threes...

2. Pet Peeves

You don't see the Atlanta game included in the top synopsis, but I watched the entire Atlanta game. Aside from two blacked out games that I didn't try to finagle past League Pass, I've seen every Wolves game thus far this season. I just don't feel the need to dignify games where I've seen the dysfunction before; only the combination of errors is different. The game in Atlanta, like the one against Oklahoma City the night before Atlanta, featured shameful effort and a disregard for team play. These players don't like each other right now. And I know exactly how they feel.

So let's talk, briefly, about Wednesday's game in Philadelphia. The 76ers were clearly tired and overconfident, with good reason on both accounts. They just finished a better-than-expected west coast swing that included wins over some quality foes, and they were coming home to face the Wolves. They were flat, missing many decent looks at the hoop. The Wolves weren't much better--six different players committeed turnovers in the first quarter--but did manage to hit a couple of threes to finish the period up two, 16-14. In the second period it was more of the same; the Wolves' six point lead stemmed from their being 6-12 from behind the arc while the 76ers were 0-6--an 18-point swing on three-pointers.

As badly as Philadelphia was playing, however, the Wolves couldn't put serious distance between them aside from a two-minute stretch midway through the second when the lead fluctuated between 8 and 10 points. When the halftime score was only 43-37, the idea of Minnesota hanging on to win on the road seemed far-fetched. Because Philadelphia wasn't going to stink up the joint that grossly two halves in a row, not with a playoff berth and momentum from its coastal trip at stake. And the Wolves, as we all knew in our bones, had neither the talent nor the will nor knowledge to match their inevitable improvement.

Okay, time for the pet peeves. I am very very very sick and tired of watching this ballclub execute its ugly half-court weave, in which player after player drives into the middle of the court and then kicks it out to a teammate, who repeats the process, who repeats the process, who repeats the process, and who then hoists up a difficult jumper because the shot clock has almost expired. Never has so much dribbling energy produced such ersatz, which is to say bullshit "hustle" and "energy." Maybe the players are fooling themselves with this little drill, but they aren't foolish viewers and they sure as hell aren't fooling opposing defenses.

The weave occurs because this team ranks among the very worst in the league at running the pick and roll. If Al Jefferson could step on the court for just three minutes per night, it would be my wish that the coach would call a half-dozen pick and rolls--and keep in mind that the Wolves weren't very good on the pick and roll when they had Jefferson healthy. It is just that now the play is practically nonexistent, or a detriment leading to turnovers and uncertainty over when to pass, shoot, penetrate or whatever off the defensive reaction. (BTW, Minnesota is equally awful at defending the pick and roll, but that's another peeve for another evening.)

On to smallball. Jason Collins did not play tonight. Mark Madsen did not play tonight. Shelden Williams did not play tonight. Kevin Love played a grand total of 22:23. The Sixers have their share of bigs (Dalembert, Ratliff) and bruisers (Evans, Speights). In the second half, Love logged a mere 7:57, while McHale went with a front line that included Gomes (16:46 in the second half), Smith (15:43) and Cardinal (14:08). Is anyone surprised the Wolves were outrebounded 24-9 in the second half, including 16-5 in the third period? Oh, and to the small, outmanned frontcourt, add a slow-footed, turnover-prone backcourt and, for both reasons, sit back and watch the boatload of fouls being committed to deter putback, transition layups, and penetration by bigger, stronger players at most every position. You want a deadly stat? Philadelphia didn't shoot its first free throw until there was 5:14 left in the first half. They finished the game 34 of 40 from the charity stripe, which means 40 free throws in the final 29:14. God bless Rodney Carney for nailing a whopping 7 of 8 treys tonight for 21 points, but did anyone notice how often Carney fouled Thaddeus Young, who went to the free throw line 10 times in the third quarter alone, and finished the game with 29 points--8 more than Carney.

3. NBA Hit and Run

Has Houston really, truly, decided to live and die on the caliber of Ron Artest's decision-making? After the Rockets lost to Utah 99-86 on Tuesday, coach Rick Adelman remarked. "We were very impatient offensively and it cost us." Well, Artest had 5 more shots (22) and four more assists (7) than anyone else on the ballclub, and as anyone who watched the game on TNT can attest, plays ran through him--or, more accurately, stopped with him--way too frequently. That Artest can shoot 5-22 FG and still have enough touches to dish for seven dimes means that Yao Ming and Luis Scloa and Shane Battier and, ah, point guard Aaron Brooks aren't seeing the ball nearly enough. Throughout this season, Artest has sabotaged this team this way on a fairly regular basis. But everybody is afraid to tell him he's a *defensive specialist* and not the second coming of Larry Bird because they're afraid he'll wig out. Artest playing the right way--devoting himself to shutting down his man and being more low-key on offense--would make the Rockets a very dangerous team in the postseason. But what is the likelihood of that happening to Artest on the big stage?

With tonight's loss to the Magic, the Celtics have now increasingly set themselves up for a brutal gauntlet of series--on the road against Orlando, on the road against Cleveland, on the road against the Lakers--if they want to repeat. With no Posey and no PJ. Not going to happen.

It won't have any impact on the grand scheme of things, but that first round matchup between Atlanta and Miami looks like a doozy, doesn't it? The floor will be full of athletes between 6-3 and 6-9. And if there is ever a time for Joe Johnson to lose that "underrated" tag--one way or the other--it is in this mano-a-mano versus D Wade.

Who is the Defensive Player of the Year? In no particular order, my list of candidates down the stretch includes Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard, Artest, LeBron James, Chris Paul and perhaps Shane Battier and Kevin Garnett. Am I missing anybody?