#-1: Lynx (Last Week: -2). I didn't know Seimone Augustus came back on the 10th. I thought she returned this week, and that's why the Lynx went 3-0 to top the WMNSS.
Seriously, it's like night and day. They whip the Bastard Detroit Shock in a home-and-home last weekend, then beat the Liberty in New York. Augustus was named Western Conference Player Of The Week for the sweep of Tulsa. This team was so bad that I didn't think one player, even one with as silky a shot as Augustus, was going to make a difference, but thank Buddha I might be wrong.
Unfortunately, the Jynx have suffered another huge setback: With eight seconds left in the win over New York Tuesday, Candice Wiggins ruptured her Achilles' tendon, and she is done for the year. Again, I like to think the team was waiting around for Augustus to lead, but can it weather the absence of their sixth or seventh player? This week will be a very good test if the Lynx are completely unlike the disaster that started this season: at San Antonio Saturday, at Atlanta Thursday.
#-2: Twins (Last Week: -1). I hope this is just a swoon, because their 2-4 week represents their first real bad stretch this season. Capped by an inexplicable sweep at Milwaukee, they are 4-7 in their last 11 games. Nothing has been going right. The pitching has been medicore at best this week, save for Carl Pavano's gem at Philadelphia Sunday. Worse yet, the offense has been impotent, especially with runners in scoring position.
They are now only 1/2 game ahead of Detroit and 2 1/2 games in front of the hard-charging Chicago White Sox, who have won nine in a row. The Twinks try to hold the lead by finishing interleague play at the New York Mets (and former ace [and philanderer and possible rapist] Johan Santana, who'll hurl against them Saturday), then come home for three against closest competitor Detroit for three, then start a series vs. Tampa.
#-3: Timberwolves (Re-Entry!). Does David Kahn know you can draft more than one position each year? Last year all he did was pick Point Guards; this year all he did was hoard Small Forwards.
Kahn's getting his ass kicked on his performance in last night's NBA Draft. Wesley Johnson, thankfully, fell to the Woofie Dogs at 4, even though New Jersey tried to scare them into thinking they were taking Johnson instead of Derrick Favors, their eventual pick. Still, I'm not absolutely sure he's the game-changer this organization needs. Johnson only blew up this year, his junior year, and he still has a tendency to disappear in games, especially if he gets double-teamed. This wasn't a great draft to begin with, but I'm still nonplussed about Johnson.
And then Kahn makes a lot of noise for not a whole lot to show for it. The Wolves had three first-round picks -- can you have too many first-round picks? -- and traded the middle pick, Luke Babbitt, along with Ryan Gomes (who had a tradeable contract and, in my humble opinion, a pretty good game still) to Portland for Martell Webster. Some more hocus-pocus brought us Lazar Hayward, the Marquette player who stepped on the line that cost his team a game in the 2009 NCAA men's basketball tournament, and some international dude we're stashing overseas to age like wine. In other words, we have warm bodies and certain logjams in the 3 and the 4 (between Al Jefferson and Kevin Love). The bottom line: Did last night make the team any better? The answer, from the pundits, is fuck no.
Oh, and I have to say this: KKKKKKKKKKAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!
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