#-1: Lynx (Last Week: -1). Oh, no. It can't be. False hopes, has to be. Shit, I buried this team, like, two weeks ago. But, even though it's only one game, I'll be damned how things have turned around for this team.
Wednesday in their annual weekday afternoon/camp game, the Jynx beat the leaders of the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Dream, 83-81. And they did in gutsy, last-minute fashion. Down two with 38.1 seconds left, Nicky Anosike stole a Dream pass, was fouled, and hit both her free throws to tie the game. After a Dream airball, Anosike hit Rebekkah Brunson on the down low with 7.2 seconds left for the winning points. (Atlanta had two shots to send the game into overtime but they missed both their shot and the ensuing putback.)
Amazingly, the Phoenix Mercury lost in triple overtime to the Seattle Storm that evening. That means that the Lynx -- the Lynx! -- rose to second place in the Western Conference, where they sit as of right now. Sure, they trail the Storm by 9 1/2 games, and if they were in the East, they'd be in dead last by 1 1/2 games. But shoot, man, they're 5-2 in their last seven. Who thought they'd be able to take themselves out of the abyss? They continue their homestand with a Saturday matinee against the best team in the WNBA, Seattle, followed by a game against current fourth-place team San Antonio.
#-2: Twins (Last Week: -2). I apologize for not getting my WMNSS out before Friday night's games; shit's been crazy lately. This is the second week I've been able to incorporate the Twins' Friday result. At least this week it was a win, versus Chicago, to give them a 2-2 week. Pitching is still giving the squad fits, but at least with tonight's stunning performance, Francisco Liriano has proven he's a #2, maybe even a #1A, with Carl Pavano at the top of the rotation.
At the bottom however ... yeesh, if Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn and Kevin Slowey were all sent to the bullpen, demoted to Triple-A, or traded, I wouldn't mind. They've been terrible, so terrible that many seamheads have demanded Brian Duensing replace Blackburn as a starter and this guy named Anthony Slama -- awesome name, the stadium crew will have a field day with his name -- take a chance in the Big Show. Shit, why not? Crazier ideas have propelled teams to championships. This week, they finish their four-game series against the ChiSox, complete their homestand with three against Cleveland, then start a series at Baltimore.
#-3: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3). OK, I had thought for a while the Woofie Dogs knew what they were doing. But clearly, I now have to differentiate. The marketing and fan relations departments know what they're doing when they sell tickets for a song and offer concession deals on the cheap. That's what'll get the fans coming back to watch an inferior product.
And it will stay inferior so long as David Kahn keeps making bullshit moves like the ones he made this week. Kahn may not know what he's doing, and some in the organization appear to have to cover for him. This week's moves that may have a point, although I don't see one from here: Al Jefferson, far and away the best player on the team, traded to Utah for Kosta Koufos, two first-round draft picks and Traded Player Exception (whatever that is), and the signing of Point Guard Luke Ridnour.
Both moves are baffling because, in one sense, they cancel each other out. It became clear to me the past season that both Big Al and Kevin Love are Power Forwards, and if both are to reach their potential, one of them would have to go. Obviously that's Jefferson because he's older. (The trade represents the flag over the coffin of the Kevin Garnett trade and, thus, the regime of former VP of Player Personnel Kevin McHale.) But Love has yet to prove he can play defense. He has tremendous vision and can rebound like a motherfucker, but there's going to be a plateau to him if he doesn't become more three-dimensional. Meanwhile, although Big Al has only one dimension, post offense (he couldn't D up worth shit either), that dimension was awesome. I'll miss the guy, a high school draftee who was the discarded centerpiece of not one but two aborted rebuilding plans.
But if the Jefferson trade tried to eliminate duplication, the Ridnour signing added to it. They now have four PG's: Ridnour, Jonny Flynn, Ramon Sessions (which they're trying to trade), and the non-extradited Ricky Rubio. Why the fuck do you need three PG's? And why are you trading Sessions when you signed him just last year? Most importantly, is there a gas station between here and any pride for the Woofie Dogs?
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