Hungry Like the Wolf

[brutusbrutus]

The team is playing out of their mind right now their record is 29-16, if the season ended now the Timberwolves would be the 4th seed in the western conference making them legitimate contenders for the title!

Travis Tennell is playing well again raising his TS% up to .572. Everyone seems to be overachieving. The only downside is there are not enough minutes to go around. Anthony Morrow is not happy with his playing time and seems to be phoning it in on the defensive end, which is disastrous considering he isn't that good already. Sandler makes Morrow replaceable.

Morrow has a long but reasonable contract considering his skill level he should not be hard to move, I might hold on to him this year anyway.

McDermott is scoring 20 PPG and has a TS% over .6, he is becoming a star before everyone's eyes.

[brutusbrutus]

This is a wonderful Dynasty report. I also think I love it because it reminds me of the way I trade. I LOVE to get 1st rd dradt picks. I am enjoying this dynasty very much............................................................Z

Thanks, I love to watch players develop I would love for Gary to add the ability to produce HTML reports for player stats so I could show you guys how well these guys are doing in detail.

I find this game too easy when I can just sign Dwight Howard or Chris Paul easily, so I am trying to make this dynasty realistic by not giving myself that ability.

[brutusbrutus]

Jim Beasley won the Slam Dunk Contest with a finger roll reverse dunk.

Steve Nash who is probably in his last year in the league won the 3 point contest with a score of 20.

The Sophmores defeated the Rookies 109-94 McDermott won the MVP scoring 36 points. Sandler scored 21 points for the rookie team.

The East defeated the West 129-111 Derrick Rose won the MVP with 30 points and 10 assists.

[brutusbrutus]

Anthony Morrow was shopped but not traded, the team continued to play well their record is now 35-22, McDermott is going through a small slump the team hopes that soon he will pull out of his funk and go back to being the leading scorer that he has become. Teoh has really stepped up his game this year, scoring nearly 13.0 points a game with over 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game. He is also shutting down his opponents on defense on a consistent basis.

[brutusbrutus]

The team went into a full blown funk and is now 42-31. Hopefully they can pull through in time for the playoffs which they are practically certain to make. I believe that all of the youth on the team is running into a endurance wall, and although the team's offense isn't suffering I can see it on the defensive end. This last stretch will be important I want the team to play hard and be ready for the playoffs.

[brutusbrutus]

Matchups
The teams final record was 48-34 good enough to be ranked 4th in the Western Conference. Utah was 47-35 good enough for fifth. This will be a hard series to win both teams are rather even.

Lets look at the Matchups

Travis Tennell Vs. Deron Williams

Travis Tennell is a mediocre point guard in most all respects, except he has above average ball distribution. Williams is a perennial all-star, Utah wins this one.

Winner: Utah

Terrence Williams Vs. David McDermott

McDermott is a superior scorer, but Williams is slightly better at defense, Williams length might cause some problems for McDermott but aside from that McDermott is the clear winner.

Winner: Minnesota

Andrei Kirilenko Vs. Shang-de Teoh: Kirlenko in his prime is what Teoh wants to be in his prime, at the moment one player is a year or two before his prime and the other is a year or two beyond his prime.

Winnter: Draw

Jerome Turner Vs. David West: West is better offensively by a mile, Turner is better defensively and much better at rebounding. The big problem with Turner is the fact that he shoots below 40% and he is a starting PF.

Winner: David West

Tim Duncan Vs. Nikola Pekovic: After all these years Duncan is still playing, he isn't the scoring threat that he once was but he still rebounds and defends. Duncan's defense is much better than Pekovic and Pekovic is no slouch in that department.

Winner: Tim Duncan

Bench: Hands down Minnesota has one of the best benches in the league, With Sandler and Morrow coming off the bench in the backcourt and Przybilla and Garnett coming off the bench in the font court there is a good balance of offense and defense.

Winner: Minnesota hands down.

[brutusbrutus]

Game 1(W)

Utah did not come prepared, The Timberwolves played their best defense of the year limiting Utah to 83 points while scoring 103 themselves. This was the first playoff win in Minnesota in a very long time and the crowd went haywire.

The MVP for the game was David West who scored 24 and added 6 rebounds.

Game 2(W)

Utah lost again this time to the effective and efficient Timberwolves the final score was 119 to 106. David West again won the MVP this time with 25 points and 13 rebounds.

Game 3(L)

Utah came back to defeat the Timberwolves 100 to 84 at home the MVP was Jerome Williams who scored 21 stopping David West in his tracks on the other end of the floor.

Game 4(L)

Deron Williams final came alive scoring 18 and winning the MVP for the game allowing Utah to tie up the series. The final score was 99-92.

Game 5(W)

The Timberwolves put themselves within one game of advancing the hero for this game was Pekovic who withstood the defense of Duncan to score 19 and grab 8 rebounds while blocking two shots the final score was 104-89

Game 6(W)
The Timberwolves traveled to Utah and ended up winning away from home. Pekovic won the MVP mostly because he dominated the rebounding with 20 boards. This was good enough for Pekovic to win the series MVP.

The Timberwolves advance! This is great news for the state of Minnesota.

Series MVP: Pekovic 15.2 PPG, 10.2 RPG .639 FG%

[brutusbrutus]

Matchups Sacramento Vs. Minnesota

Sacramento was the number 1 seed but they just finished playing a grueling series against Memphis.

Darren Collison Vs. Travis Tennell

Collison is basically what Tennell will be in a couple of years right now the slight edge goes to Sacramento.

Winner: Sacramento

Tyreke Evans Vs. David McDermatt: Evans is skilled physically and is a much better defender than McDermatt, recently Evans has been suffering minor injuries which have held him back, if Minnesota is going to win this series they will need McDermatt to play his very best.

Winner: Minnesota

Adam DeLoach Vs. Shang-de Toeh: Teoh will have his work cut out for him with DeLoach who is one of the best young players in the league. DeLoach can play defense just as well as Toeh and he is much better at offense.

Winner: Sacramento

David West Vs. DeMarcus Cousins: Cousins is a natural center but plays PF on Sacramento, he is a force to be reckoned with in the post he will easily overpower David West, but can David West use his quickness to defeat Cousins?

Winner: Sacramento

Yao Ming Vs. Nikola Pekovic: Both are good centers, with Yao Ming having the edge simply because of experience, if Pekovic can perform well in this series he will gain a huge amount of reputation.

Winner: Sacramento

Bench: Sacramento has a great bench filled with contributors like former Timberwolf Justin Henderson and sharp shooting SF Omri Casspi, in the end though the Timberwolves have the best bench in the league.

Winner: Timberwolves.

The Timberwolves have their work cut out for them, but the series is winnable if the bench and McDermott perform at the top of their games.

[Zorro]

Goooooooooo Wolves..................................................Z

[brutusbrutus]

Game 1(L)
Sacramento forced the game into a slow pace that favored them, Yao Ming scored 22 and grabbed 15 rebounds dominating the Timberwolves with his size. Sacramento scored an indelibly efficient 119 points to the Timberwolves 99.

Game 2(L)
The Timberwolves did not fare much better in game 2. Adam DeLoach took over late in the game and scored 25 to win the game MVP. The end result was 117-104.

Game 3(W)
The Timberwolves performed much better at home scoring 115 to Sacramento's 112. It was in fact a last quarter comeback that brought the Timberwolves the win. Shang-de Teoh did his best in all categories scoring 22 points racking up 5 assists and seven rebounds, he even added 3 steals and a clutch block on DeLoach in the final seconds of the game.

Game 4(W)
The Timberwolves tied up the series in one of the games of the year. Disaster struck early on as Pekovic snapped his ankle in the first two minutes of the game! This allowed for one of the most surprising and gutsy performances in Joel Pryzbilla's career the backup center scored 29 and grabbed 8 rebounds to take home the game MVP. Shang-de Teoh also had a second great game scoring 20 points grabbing 7 rebounds, dishing out 5 assists, blocking 4 shots and grabbing 2 steals.

NEWS: Pekovic will miss all or most of next year with his injury!

Game 5(W)
The Timberwolves pulled out a shocker on Sacramento's home turf putting Sacramento on the verge of elimination. McDermott came out of a recent funk to score 23 and win the MVP, he was also particularly nasty against the an ailing Tyreke Evans who was limited to 0 points by McDermott's pesky defense. The final score was 102-86

Game 6(W)
The Timberwolves came home to one of the most ruckus crowds in the history of the arena, it was a drag out battle and McDermott stepped it up yet again scoring 15 points with 5 assists 7 rebounds 3 steals and a block. The final score was 115-104. This team is going to the semi finals!!!

News: Sandler twisted his ankle in this game and will not be 100% for the rest of the playoffs.