Boston 96, New Jersey 87

[recap] [box score]

Ideally, we'd beat the Nets -- now 4-45 -- by more than nine, especially at home. But New Jersey fought hard all night, and on the bright side, we saw Boston come through with a second consecutive decisive fourth quarter.

Eddie House's ten-point fourth quarter probably saved us. Other bright spots included Ray Allen's second-half shooting and 13 points off the bench for Glen Davis, just his fourth double-digit scoring game in 20 contests this year.

VIEWING ALERT: Orlando comes to Boston tomorrow for the teams' final matchup of the regular season (ABC, 2:30 p.m. Eastern). Paul Pierce, who has missed the last two games with a foot injury suffered Monday in Washington, practiced on Saturday, which makes it seem like he's more likely to play than not. We beat Orlando on Christmas Day without Pierce, but we'd obviously rather have him in the lineup. On the other hand, though a strained foot doesn't seem like the type of injury that will get worse, it's also not the kind of thing we want bothering him the rest of the year. If he needs to rest to get healthy for the second half of the season, I don't mind being shorthanded against the Magic.

TMJF: Happy 21st birthday, Jonny Flynn! The rookie point guard celebrated an hour or two early last night, scoring 19 points in Minnesota's surprising 117-108 win in Dallas over the Mavericks. Flynn, who will return to Dallas next weekend as part of the NBA All-Star rookie-sophomore game, also handed out seven assists against just one turnover.

TMJF: Wolves 108, Sixers 103, Overtime

Stat Line: 43 minutes, 9-16 FG, 2-2 3FG, 9-10 FT, 29 pts, 4 rebs, 9 assts, 2 stls, 3 TOs.


It'd been a while since I got to watch a full Wolves game, and I picked a good one. Jonny Flynn had struggled in several games in January, but played one of his two best games as a professional here on MLK Day. After falling behind by as many as 20 points, Minnesota rallied with a huge third quarter and won for the home crowd in overtime.

What I liked most about Flynn's game was not the way he kept his team alive with 13 first-half points or the way he scored the first four points of the extra period, but the way he managed the game, in the second half in particular. Earlier in the year, I criticized him (forgive me, Jonny) for not settling his teammates down and getting the ball inside to Al Jefferson. Minnesota has some young players that need to be reined in when the team is struggling offensively, and that ultimately falls on Flynn, as the point guard and therefore the man with the ball in his hands.

Against Philly, however, the story was different. When Ryan Gomes got hot in the third quarter, Flynn fed him the ball. In the fourth, the Wolves rode Jefferson to victory. Everyone on the team deserves credit for that, but as the point guard and Minnesota's second-best offensive weapon (especially with Kevin Love out due to the flu), Flynn deserves special recognition in that regard.

TMJF: Spurs 117, Wolves 99

Stat Line: 29 minutes, 7-14 FG, 1-3 3FG, 2-2 FT, 17 pts, 1 reb, 2 assts, 2 TOs.



San Antonio, behind a brilliant performance from Manu Ginobili, was in control of this one early. Jonny Flynn's scoring got a boost in the fourth quarter, when he had seven of his 17 points. This seems like a trend with Flynn. I don't have numbers to back it up, but there have been several games this year where he's piled on the points in the fourth.

While there have been one or two games where his late scoring binges, such as they are, have come in close contests, the majority come when the Wolves seem hopelessly behind. As far as I can tell, it's not something that Kurt Rambis ever wants Flynn to do. My hunch is that Flynn's competitive streak takes over in those spots; he's willing to play a minimal scoring role up to a certain point, but when the game is slipping out of reach, he'll do everything he can to bring it back. That doesn't appear to be anything Rambis wants, either, as Flynn was yanked with about three minutes to go after taking a long jumper early in the shot clock.

Catching Up

It's been...two weeks since you heard from me.

(Did I really just mark my return by paraphrasing a Barenaked Ladies song?)

Yes, two weeks without a post, part of which time coincided with a stretch where I was actually too busy to watch basketball, a concept I heretofore didn't think was possible (which may explain my poor GPA from the previous year). We've gone 4-2 in my blogging hiatus:

Boston 110, Memphis 105 (12/14) - Paul Pierce's 19 points led six Celtics who scored at least 13 in what I was told was a very entertaining game with a Grizzlies squad that is on the rise.

Philadelphia 98, Boston 97 (12/18) - The final two of Elton Brand's 23 points off the bench came on a tip-in with 7.7 seconds left, snapping Boston's 11-game win streak. I didn't get a chance to watch this one, either, but we had a 15-point lead in the third quarter, not the kind of margin we typically blow at home. Also, Rasheed Wallace was ejected for the first time this season.

Boston 122, Minnesota 104 (12/20) - I was supposed to watch this one in person but, as the folks at Delta/Northwest are about to find out, I missed it due to some serious ineffeciencies and incompetencies in their systems. Pierce had 29 points to lead seven Celtics in double figures, and made all six of his three-point attempts. Minnesota's leading scorer on the night? Jonny Flynn, with 21 points.

Boston 103, Indiana 94 (12/22) - I was able to get to Beantown in time for this game, and for a while, it hardly seemed worth my effort: The Cs trailed by 15 at the break. Despite playing without Kevin Garnett, who suffered a thigh bruise in the Minnesota game and was a late scratch, Boston need just more than seven minutes to erase that entire deficit, then put the game away in the fourth. It was a truly dominant second half, as Indiana scored just 37 points in the final 24 minutes. (This was one of those games were Indy was throwing in everything for the first half, then got cold in the second.) Ray Allen led Boston with 23 points, and Pierce scored 21 despite missing his first ten field goals.

Boston 86, Orlando 77 (12/25) - Christmas Day 2009 was better than the 2008 version (when the Celtics lost to the Lakers). Boston avenged an early-season home loss to the Magic with this road win. Offensively, Orlando was about as bad as you'll ever see a legitimate title contender be, scoring just eight second-quarter points. Boston was only marginally better, grabbing a 38-27 lead, but it was enough to hold on when things returned more to "normal" in the second half.

A little bit of good news/bad news for Boston. The good news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce; the bad news was that they won this game without Paul Pierce. The Celtics captain has a knee infection and is supposed to miss a couple of weeks. That we won such a big game without Pierce is encouraging, but we missed him two days later (see below) and it's a little unfortunate that we go into one of our big West Coast trips without our closer.

This was the second straight game with the Magic that could be called an abomination offensively for both teams (or, more charitably, a masterpiece defensively for both teams), which stands in sharp contrast to games 6 and 7 of last year's Eastern Conference semifinals, when Orlando made just about everything they put up on their way to stealing the series. I don't have an explanation for it, other than that these are the two best defensive teams in the East.

This game was huge, though, in terms of home court advantage (never too early to start thinking about that).

Los Angeles Clippers 92, Boston 90 (12/27) - A frustrating, annoying loss, sure, but one that probably doesn't matter. For the second straight year, Boston lost to the other team from L.A. in an eminently winnable game. (Walking out of the Staples Center last year while being taunted by Clippers fans is a low point in my life.)

Rajon Rondo will end up shouldering most of the blame here: Tied at 90 with 1.5 seconds to go, he missed two free throws, then allowed Baron Davis to catch the ball too easily on LA's ensuing inbounds play (though Baron still made a very difficult fallaway for the win).

Offensively, I'm still deciding whether I liked the call on our final possession, an isolation for Rondo at the top of the key with the shot clock off. The issue wasn't whether he was going to beat Davis off the dribble; he had been doing it all night. The issue is what happens once he does.

What happened on this occasion was that Rondo found himself in the clear, the Clippers' help arriving late. As he went to the bucket, Davis reached back and grabbed his right arm, smartly preferring to send the 53% free throw shooter to the line than give him a relatively uncontested layup.

What might have happened is that Rondo, after beating Davis, encounters one or more Clipper defenders, and kicks to an open teammate on the perimeter (Boston had four decent-to-excellent options from outside on the floor at the time: Garnett, Wallace, Eddie House, and Ray Allen).

The problem with what did happen is that Rondo is a 53% free throw shooter and has not, to my recollection, ever found himself in a spot where he was shooting potentially game-winning free throws. The problem with what might have happened is that NBA players tend to waste too much of the clock before making their move in these situations, and NBA defenses are usually pretty good about rotating to the first open man (it's the second pass that usually gets them). So Rondo, having started his move late, might have found a temporarily open teammate, but their shot might not have been a good one, and they wouldn't have had time to make the second pass to someone who was wide open. A high pick-and-pop with Garnett or something for Ray Allen coming off screens is SOP for us here, without Pierce.

On the other hand, Rondo is our point guard and our future, and at some point, he'll have the ball in his hands more often than not in these spots. On the road against the Clippers in mid-December, with no Pierce and the score tied, isn't a bad time to start breaking him in.

It's a shame that Rondo missed those free throws, because he had played a very strong game to that point, and it came on the heels of a 17/13/8 performance against the Magic (he had points/assists double-doubles against Philly and Minnesota, his fifth and sixth in the first nine games in December). He's playing more consistently aggressively than we've ever seen him, and I hope this isn't a setback in his mindset.

A couple of notes on other players:

Tony Allen has now played nine games on the season, starting each of the last two with Pierce and Marquis Daniels out. While he still has caused me to roll my eyes at times -- he's almost always in the wrong place on offense, and left two midrange jumpers against Orlando short before rocketing a third off the backboard -- he's acquitted himself pretty well, averaging eight points and four rebounds, and hitting double figures four times. Last night against the Clippers was his best game back: 10 points and 10 rebounds in nearly 40 minutes, with four steals, including two late in the fourth quarter that really should have saved the game for us. I still think we're betting off trading him once Daniels is close to coming back (Pierce should be back by then), but I need to give him his due when he deserves it.

Glen Davis made his return to the lineup against Orlando, prompting my buddy Joel to send this sarcastic text message (I'm paraphrasing): "Glad Big Baby has stayed in shape while he was out. He looks like he ate Eddie House." Davis did nothing noteworthy against the Magic, but had eight points and six boards -- five on the offensive glass -- against the Clippers. He also threw in a running left-handed hook which, it goes without saying, is not what I expected.

In a related story, Shelden Williams got the DNP-CD against the Clips, his second in three games, which means it looks like his run as a rotation player may be coming to an end. He's still around to help out in case of foul trouble/injury/Wallace suspension, but with Davis likely to get more minutes and he gets back into playing shape (has Big Baby ever been in playing shape?), I wouldn't expect to see Williams take his warmups off before garbage time too often.

TMJF:

The Wolves have played seven times since the last time I blogged, and have gone 4-3 in those games. They're also on a two-game winning streak, their first of the year. I haven't had a chance to see any of it, except the 110-108 win at Utah in which Jonny Flynn wasted Deron Williams on Minny's final posssession for the game-winning bucket.

Stat lines from the seven games are below:

Wolves 110, Jazz 108: 29 minutes, 11-19 FG, 4-6 3FG, 2-3 FT, 28 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts. 1 stl, 4 TOs

Clippers 120, Wolves 95: 30 minutes, 3-12 FG, 0-3 3FG, 3-4 FT, 9 pts, 3 rebs, 3 assts, 3 TOs

Wolves 112, Kings 96: 26 minutes, 5-8 FG, 2-2 FT, 12 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs

Celtics 122, Wolves 104: 31 minutes, 8-15 FG, 1-3 3FG, 4-4 FT, 21 pts, 2 rebs, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs

Hawks 112, Wolves 87: 27 minutes, 5-13 FG, 1-2 3FG, 5-6 FT, 16 pts, 1 reb, 2 assts, 1 stl, 4 TOs

Wolves 103, Nets 99: 37 minutes, 9-19 FG, 1-5 3FG, 3-4 FT, 22 pts, 1 reb, 5 assts, 4 stls, 3 TOs

Wolves 101, Wizards 89: 25 minutes, 2-12 FG, 1-2 3FG, 3-4 FT, 8 pts, 3 rebs, 6 assts.

TMJF: Kings 120, Wolves 100

Stat Line: 28 minutes, 4-14 FG, 0-1 3FG, 8 pts, 2 rebs, 4 assts, 2 TOs.

I think this game was played on Saturday. It might have been 8 billion years ago.

Terrible performance from the Wolves, playing their fourth game in five nights. Jonny Flynn wasn't good, but neither was anyone else in a blue jersey not named Al Jefferson, and Flynn wasn't particularly bad. My big complaint with his game this time around was not settling the offense in the third quarter, when the Kings made their big run to put it out of reach. The team needed to slow down and find Big Al J inside, and Flynn, as the point guard, is in charge of that. It's not so much that he rushed or forced things offensively; he just didn't calm the team down. But he's a rookie, and he'll grow into that.

TMJF: Lakers 104, Wolves 92

Stat Line: 25 minutes, 3-8 FG, 0-1 3FG, 4-6 FT, 10 pts, 2 rebs, 4 assts, 3 stls, 4 TOs.

Reduced minutes for Jonny Flynn because Ramon Sessions was red-hot from the field. Not much noteworthy from Flynn in this one, although his teammates did blow a few of his assists.

TMJF: Hornets 97, Wolves 96

Stat Line: 33 minutes, 4-9 FG, 1-3 3FG, 5-7 FT, 14 pts, 2 rebs, 9 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs.

For the second straight night, Jonny Flynn had to go to bed thinking about a late crucial play that may have cost his team the game.

Unlike Tuesday's crucial turnover, however, last night mis-step was almost entirely Flynn's fault. Just a tick under four seconds remaining, the Wolves up, and the Hornets inbounding the ball on the sideline. Chris Paul was the trigger man, and given that he's the Bees' best playmaker (indeed, one of the NBA's best), you just knew the ball was going back to him. Paul inbounded to David West, took a step like he was going to go around West to take a handoff, then cut to the basket.

The wire story says that Flynn turned his head to look at West; I don't think he did. I think Flynn was, for whatever reason, unconcerned with Paul cutting to the basket and was concentrating on keeping the ball out of hands up top. Maybe he thought he had help behind him (which he should have). I don't know. It was just a bad defensive play, and the Wolves lost.

It's too bad, too, because it overshadowed a very nice defensive play that Flynn made a few possessions earlier on a New Orleans fast break that preserved the would-be victory. Flynn stripped Peja Stojakovic and then saved the ball to a teammate while flying out of bounds.

For a while, Flynn had his first double-double, but a late Corey Brewer jumper was (correctly) taken off the board because it came a split-second after the shot clock buzzer went off. Flynn's seven first-half assits included a beautiful, one-handed forty-foot bounce pass -- probably the toughest pass to throw in basketball -- to a streaking Ryan Hollins. Flynn also paid homage to Paul on a pick-and-roll with Hollins, arcing a lob between two defenders that Hollins, every bit the leaper Tyson Chandler was with New Orleans when he and Paul ran this play to perfection over and over, skied for and rammed home.

TMJF: Raptors 94, Wolves 88

Stat Line: 32 minutes, 6-14 FG, 2-4 3FG, 3-4 FT, 17 pts, 4 rebs, 8 assts, 3 stls, 3 TOs.

Nice all-around game from Jonny Flynn, mostly against Jarrett Jack, as regular Raps starter Jose Calderon sat out this game with an injury. Given Calderon's weaknesses on defense, that may have actually hurt Flynn's production.

Flynn's eight assists included three of his most spectacular passes this season: a looping, three-quarter-court flick that hit Damien Wilkins for a layin and a foul; a soft bouncer threaded between two defenders that found Wayne Ellington for an easy two on a fast break; and a left-handed no-look from the right corner that found Wilkins alone under the basket. He also made two very pretty left-handed post feeds to Al Jefferson off the dribble that led Big Al J perfectly for easy buckets.

The dish to Ellington, along with a pass-that-led-to-an-assist to Corey Brewer, are particularly noteworthy. Toronto's color guy on the broadcast, Leo Rautins -- the Canadian national team coach -- mentioned this in connection with the pass to Brewer, and it's what got me all excited about Flynn the first time I saw him play. Flynn is one of the few point guards who leads his teammates with passes to where they should be. Rautins, whose son, Andy, is a sharpshooter for Syracuse, would know about this, having followed Flynn's two-year career with the Orange rather closely. (Leo himself is a 'cuse grad.)

Unfortunately for Flynn and the Wolves, one such pass didn't work out, and it cost them a chance to take the lead late. With the score tied at 84, Flynn ran the pick-and-pop out high on the right wing, and Flynn flipped a blind, behind-the-back bounce pass to where he thought Love would be. However, Love had, for whatever reason, faded all the way to the opposite wing. Flynn's pass bounced twice before being picked off by Hedo Turkoglu, who coasted in and gave the Raps a lead they didn't relinquish.

Because the pass was thrown behind his back, I was worried that Flynn was going to take some heat for it at such a crucial time. But this post over at Canis Hoopus, despite the title, lets Flynn off the hook, and quotes T-Wolves coach Kurt Rambis as more or less doing the same. I didn't rewind the play to see whether Love made a mistake, but when they've run that set in the previous two games, Love has been right there to catch and fire. It was just an unfortunate time for a missed connection.

TMJF: Wolves 108, Jazz 101

Stat Line: 34 minutes, 7-12 FG, 2-3 3FG, 16 pts, 1 reb, 4 assts, 1 stl, 1 TO.

This game was played two days ago and I didn't watch it until this morning, half-awake after three hours of sleep. Really just posting to keep anyone interested updated.

Best game of the season for Jonny Flynn. Career-low in turnovers despite playing the second-most minutes he's played in a single game this year; his lone transgression was an overly fancy dish on a three-on-one that he zipped through the hands of a teammate. Other than a heat check three-pointer in the first quarter after having drained a couple, he didn't do anything else that made you shake your head.

He didn't get to the line (the second time this season it's happened) but that's not for lack of aggressiveness. The three three-pointers he attempted to start the game aside, Flynn took just one shot outside of ten feet in the other nine attempts. He's going to the basket more and more.

TMJF: Hornets 98, Wolves 89

Stat Line: 27 minutes, 2-8 FG, 1-2 3FG, 1-2 FT, 6 pts, 2 rebs, 4 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs.

Frustrating night, I'm sure, for Jonny Flynn, who had a relatively quiet game against one of the players he says he looks up to, New Orleans' Chris Paul. Flynn wasn't bad in this game, he just didn't do much. He gave Paul a little too much space on defense, perhaps over-reacting to Paul's cold start from outside (which may be attributable to his having missed the previous eight games with an ankle injury). Paul ended up with a ridiculous line -- 16/6/15 with eight steals -- but it's not like he just abused Flynn or anything.

(You can tell Flynn has borrowed from Paul's game, particularly on the pick and roll, where Paul leans in to the recovering defender to keep him on his back. Flynn does the same thing, although he needs to work on protecting the ball better and making quicker decisions.)

I thought Kurt Rambis would've gone to his two-point-guard lineup with Flynn and Ramon Sessions when the Bees went small with Paul and rookie Darren Collison. Wayne Ellington was having the best game of his rookie season, however, so it's understandable that Rambis wanted to ride him.

Last night marked the return of Kevin Love to the Timberwolves' lineup, and the difference is easy to see. Love had a double-double, and Al Jefferson had his best game in a while.

TMJF: Grizzlies 97, Wolves 95

Stat Line: 30 minutes, 5-12 FG, 1-4 3FG, 1-2 FT, 12 pts, 2 rebs, 9 assts, 2 TOs.

A career-high in assists for Jonny Flynn, mainly because his teammates knocked down a few jumpers. Flynn's averaging around four assists per game, but I think it could easily be six if Minnesota could shoot it a little better as a club.

Only two turnovers for Flynn, and they came on back-to-back possessions in the third quarter. He missed a tough layup that would have given the Wolves the lead with about 30 seconds to go, but other than that, this was a solid game for the rookie. He played most of the fourth quarter alongside Ramon Sessions, who kept the Wolves in the game with his offense in the second half. Kurt Rambis has for the most part resisted deploying his two point guards at the same time despite the fact that they are probably the team's two most dangerous offensive players not named Al Jefferson, probably for defensive reasons. Memphis' dimunitive -- but effective -- backcourt of Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo let Rambis go small. As productive as the Flynn-Sessions combo was, I wouldn't expect to see it too often.

TMJF: Wolves 106, Nuggets 100

I'm as surprised as you are. Minnesota gave up 40 points in the first quarter and then only 60 the rest of the way, jumping on Denver in a 31-12 third period that gave them the lead for good. A lot had to go right for Minnesota -- Denver missed a bunch of shots, basically stopped trying for a while, while Ryan Gomes was white-hot and Corey Brewer made about four shots that had no business going in -- but when you snap a 15-game losing streak, against one of the league's best teams, no less, you don't worry about such things.

This game really turned me off on Denver, by the way. After the 40-25 first quarter, after which it appeared to everyone (including me, and including, apparently, the Nuggets) that it would be an easy victory for the home team, they just basically turned off their effort and assumed that victory would take care of itself. The entire third quarter, as they were imploding, they acted entitled to foul calls that weren't really there, barked at officials even more than a typical NBA club, and did a bunch of cheap physical stuff that I thought was out of line.

Now, on to Mr. Flynn

Stat Line: 29 minutes, 7-17 FG, 0-4 3FG, 2-3 FT, 16 pts, 4 rebs, 6 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs.

Great game for Jonny. The shooting numbers aren't great, but at least two were legitimately in and out, with another two just a fraction of an inch off. He got past his man most of the night, finishing well at the rim (especially with his left hand) and finding teammates.

Moreover, he only committed two turnovers, matching his season (and career) low. And you can see that he's becoming more comfortable running an NBA team; directing his teammates on the court, calling for the ball after a rebound, picking his spots to be aggressive more judiciously.

A big step forward for a player and a team that needed it. Next up is Memphis, which just got outscored 33-7 -- yes, you read that right -- in the fourth quarter to lose 98-88 at the Clips. Too early to talk about a winning streak?

TMJF: Suns 120, Minnesota 95

Stat Line: 29 minutes, 5-13 FG, 2-5 3FG, 6-6 FT, 3 rebs, 6 assts, 2 stls, 4 TOs

What I liked about this game is that it re-enforces that, at least without Kevin Love, Minnesota's point guards are their most dangerous offensive players not named Al Jefferson. Jonny Flynn played alongside Ramon Sessions quite a bit once the game got out of hand. Sessions was on fire, hitting 10 of his first 11 shots on his way to 23 points. Meanwhile, Corey Brewer went 1-for-11.

TMJF: Nuggets 124, Minnesota 111

Stat Line: 38 minutes, 6-15 FG, 2-5 3FG, 6-8 FT, 20 pts, 2 assts, 5 TOs.

Don't be fooled by the final score; this one was over by halftime. Jonny Flynn's stat line is a little misleading, too; he had nine points and two turnovers in the meaningless fourth quarter.

Denver's in the middle of what has to be the easiest four-game stretch in the NBA this year, and maybe league history: New Jersey (0-15), at Minnesota (1-14) , New York (3-12), and Minnesota again. They then host 5-9 Golden State before their schedule gets tougher.

TMJF: Clippers 91, Wolves 87

Stat Line: 29 minutes, 6-12 FG, 2-2 3FG, 3-3 FT, 17 pts, 5 assts, 1 stl, 2 TOs.

Due to a class review session, I didn't attend this one as I had planned. Law school is no fun around this time. Last year, I missed a Metallica concert to study for my Civil Procedure exam; this year, I missed one of Jonny Flynn's best games to study for Bankruptcy.

Flynn was absolutely masterful in the first quarter, with ten points, three assists, and a steal. One of those dimes was perhaps his finest pass of the season, a perfect little behind-the-back bouncer in tight quarters to Oleksiy Pecherov. Flynn also made up for a couple of mistakes -- a turnover and a play in which he ran into traffic while streaking for an outlet pass that was ultimatley intercepted -- by draining a 26-foot three-pointer on the next possession. It was his second three of the quarter, and he also scored on a floater and a pair of free throws.

The second quarter was evidence of how frustrating rookies can be, however. After sitting the first five minutes or so of the second period after playing all but a few seconds of the first, Flynn returned to the court for three minutes, recording two fouls, a turnover, and a wild shot in the process.

He scored five points in seven minutes to start the third quarter on a drive, a jumper, and a technical free throw. He was replaced, as he always is, by Ramon Sessions, who did nothing notable offensively while repeatedly getting torched on the defensive end by Sebastian Telfair. Bassy scored on four straight Clipper possessions at one point, as the Wolves went up from three up to three down with Flynn on the bench.

Flynn re-entered at the 10:26 mark and scored on a lightning-quick drive with 8:45 left, Minnesota's only points over a six-and-a-half minute stretch. Perhaps because of Minnesota's offensive struggles, perhaps because of one tough shot he took, Flynn was yanked in the middle of that stretch and didn't re-enter (this time for Corey Brewer) until 1:12 remained, about 40 seconds after Sessions burned a key Wolves possession by jumping in the air with no real plan, and throwing the ball to LA's Marcus Camby. On the possession immediately following Flynn's re-entry, he sliced through two defenders on a high pick and found Ryan Gomes for a wide-open that cut the lead to two.

Forgive me for the play-by-play, but this was a night where coach Kurt Rambis' substitution patterns with regard to his point guards made less sense than it usually does. After a hot-shooting first half, the Wolves had gone cold; their main offensive threat, Al Jefferson, was struggling, and Flynn was the only guy creating offense for himself. And yet he sat crucial minutes. It's true that the Clips extended their fourth quarter lead from three to eight with Flynn on the floor, but there's no way that the kid was responsible for that.

Frustrating night for Flynn fans in that regard, and frustrating for Wolves fans, whose team has now lost 13 straight. Los Angeles, a mediocre club at their best, was bad tonight and Minnesota played relatively well, at least for them, and they still lost. They could play for a long time without Kevin Love and not win again. Hopefully, Love will be back in the two weeks he says it will be.

TMJF: Portland 106, Minnesota 78

Stat Line: 33 minutes, 3-11 FG, 3-3 FT, 9 pts, 3 assts, 3 TOs.

Flynn got all his points going to the basket in the second half, including one very nice reverse layup. I had the Portland feed for this game on League Pass, and the Blazers' announcers, of all people, were practically begging Kurt Rambis to let Flynn loose. Even if you don't think Minny is sitting on a goldmine with him, almost everyone recognizes that the system they're playing now minimizes everything: Flynn's effectiveness, Sessions' effectiveness, the team's chances of winning, etc. Everyone but the coach.

TMJF: Rockets 97, Wolves 84

Stat Line: 24 minutes, 4-12FG, 0-2 3FG, 1-1 FT, 9 pts, 1 reb, 2 assts, 3 TOs.

Blah.

My enthusiasm for writing about Minnesota is waning. I still have faith in Flynn, but he's in for a long year.

TMJF: Grizzlies 97, Wolves 87

Stat Line: 30 minutes, 5-14 FG, 0-3FG, 2-2FT, 10 pts, 3 rebs, 3 assts, 1 blk, 6 TOs.

I had to watch this game on League Pass broadband and it was a frustrating experience for a variety of reasons and I didn't really finish it. Here's his stat line. I think this was probably his worst game as a pro.

TMJF: Mavs 89, Wolves 77

Stat Line: 30 minutes, 4-9 FG, 0-2 3FG, 3-6 FT, 11 pts, 2 rebs, 4 assts, 3 stls, 4 TOs.

The stats show a rather unremarkable night, but tonight we saw a little more of the real Jonny Flynn than we have all season. More of the most part, he was assertive without being overly aggressive, snapping one-handed bounce passes to open jump shooters, flipping the pill behind his back to a cutting Ryan Hollins on a fast break, even mixing it up with Dirk Nowitzki when the German got tangled up with Hollins in the third quarter. Flynn's 11 points and four assists were team-highs, and he would have had two or three more helpers if his teammates had hit shots and finished plays that you would expect NBA players to finish.

I'm too tired to do the research on this and I'll be gone all day tomorrow, but it seems that coach Kurt Rambis is playing Flynn alongside Ramon Sessions more in recent games, with Sessions handling the point guard duties and Flynn playing off the ball a bit more. Flynn's future in the Association is as a point guard, but Rambis may be realizing that in the absence of Al Jefferson (out due to an illness and his family) and Kevin Love (injury), Flynn is his most dangerous scoring option.

RwH Wednesday Night Mashup

Apologies for posting this a day late. I had a ton of basketball on my plate last night and didn't get all the away through it. I don't know how Kelly Dwyer does it. It was a bit like being drunk: I don't remember parts of the evening; I fell asleep in my chair; at one point, I made a sandwich but didn't bother using a plate, resting it on my chest in between bites.

This afternoon, though, I caught up. Brief thoughts on everything I watched.

Boston 105, Utah 86 [recap] [box score]

I DVRed this game and watched it after getting home from Clips-Thunder (see below). It seems like it was one of these games where no one and nothing in particular stands out, except for the fact that one team seems overmatched. I supposed Rajon Rondo's night stands out, statistically, but it wasn't one of those games that he just controls; his 14 points and 11 assists came rather quietly. In all, Boston had seven guys in double figures, led by Kevin Garnett's 18. The Jazz, now 3-5, certainly don't look like a playoff team right now.

TMJF: Blazers 107, Wolves 84

Stat Line: 25 minutes, 5-11 FG, 1-2 3FG, 4-4 FT, 15 pts, 6 rebs, 1 asst, 2 TOs.

I sorta zoomed through this one this afternoon because I already knew the score (it turns out that trying to avoid learning the score of three NBA games while attending another NBA game is a fairly pointless exercise). Jonny Flynn had what is becoming his usual game, playing solidly until he felt the game slipping away, then trying to force the action a little too much. Coach Kurt Rambis gave him an early hook after a few poor trips before the half and to start the third quarter. Flynn's replacement, Ramon Sessions, had his best game of the year (1o points, 5 assists), and I guess we'll soon see how steep Rambis expects Flynn's learning curve to be.


Muy Beno: Oklahoma City 83, Los Angeles Clippers 79

Wow, this was an ugly game. The Thunder seemed content to shoot jumpers all night, missing most of them, while LA's Chris Kaman, perhaps upset by being left off the All-Star ballot despite being the reigning Western Conference player of the week, missed a variety of bunnies on his way to a nice little 9-for-26.

At this point, you're probably wondering, "What did you expect?" And it's fair to wonder why I'd even bother going to a Thunder-Clips game. The answer, of course, is Kevin Durant. KD is liable to put on a show every time he steps on the hardwood, and so when he comes to town, you go see him, particularly if you can get tickets for $2.99 on Ticket Exchange.

Durant had a relatively quiet 30 points on 12-of-20 shooting, but it's really jarring to see this guy in person. He's a peculiar mix of tall, long, and thin, a unique combo of lanky and gangly and athletic and smooth. Of course, you know this from his reputation and from watching him on TV. But until you see him live, you can't appreciate just how odd it is to see a guy built like him operate the way he does, draining long jumpers, gliding in for dunks, putting the ball on the deck, pulling up, and shooting in what seems like one continuous motion, the ball at the bottom of the net before you even realize it's left his hand. He's still one-dimensional, all offense, but what a spectacular dimension it is.

I love his nickname -- The Durantula -- but while his phsyique is vaguely insectual (!), his long, thin body and vast wingspan does nothing to recall the meaty, plodding arachnid from which the moniker is derived. It's a great nickname, but it's so inapt. Think I can drum up any public support for calling him The Praying Durantis?

Muy Beno: Cleveland 102, Orlando 93

This was by far the best performance of the season by a Cavs team that has struggled in the early going. The difference between this game and last season's Eastern Conference finals is that last night, Lebron James had some help from his teammates. Heading into last year's playoffs, all the talk was that James finally had the supporting cast he needed to win a title. But that cast, after playing so well all year as Cleveland amassed the league's best record, turned into a bouquet of shrinking violets in losing four out of six to the Magic last summer. Quite frankly, the rest of the Cavs looked afraid to create anything for themselves during that series, as though they feared that if they shot and missed, they'd be criticized for not getting the ball to the league's most dominant force.

Last night, the Cavs went to new acquisition Shaquille O'Neal early and often, drawing two quick fouls on Dwight Howard. Mo Williams, whose disappearance in the Eastern Conference finals was probably most notable because of how effective he had been during the regular season, was assertive from the outset. His confidence was no doubt buoyed by the fact that he was white-hot, hitting his first nine shots. Cleveland shot absurdly well for the stretch of the game that mattered, settling in at 48 percent for the night only after cooling off considerably in the last half of the third quarter and all of the fourth (with the game well in hand).

This wasn't on display last night, but it's been clear through the season's first couple of weeks that Cleveland and Orlando are both struggling to consistently incorporate new players into their attacks, though injuries and suspensions and other absences have no doubt contributed. That had to be expected, though, and it's worth noting in these pages only because it's in contrast to the entire KG-Ray Allen era in Boston. Two seasons ago, everyone expected the new-look Celtics to take some time to gel, but they hit the ground running on the way to league's best record and the franchise's 17th championship.

This year, a completely revamped second unit has meshed extremely well, despite losing a key component (Glen Davis) to injury on the eve of the season. Eddie House is still a chucker, and no one (including me) has a problem with it. Not even Rasheed Wallace, a guy who -- while he's never had an alpha dog complex -- is something of a volume shooter himself. No one seems to care that Wallace spends most of his time hoisting threes on the perimeter. Marquis Daniels has subordinated his playing time and statistics (he was a starter in Indiana, remember), gladly playing the role of facilitator for the bench guys. As a unit, they seem to have the same sort of chemistry that the starting group has.

Credit the coaching staff, I guess, as well as the leadership of the veterans that set the tone for the team. In a year where the race for best record in the East promises to be tight and homecourt advantage just might tip the scales in the playoffs, little things like a fast or slow start to the season just might make the difference.

Housekeeping: Please see the important update to Tuesday night's post on timing issues in the Denver-Chicago game.