Yes, my friends that is big bad Kevin Love. And yes my friends he is crying. Like a girly man. Of course that picture is three years old, when as a sophomore Love’s Lake Oswego team absolutely choked away.
Mr. Love makes his professional debut in his home state tonight at the Rose Garden against the Blazers. Coming off a 20-point performance last night against the Kings, the rookie is already earning high praise. From Canis Hoopus’ recap of last night’s Minnesota/Kings game:
“Kevin Love is already the best player on the team.”
Well….damn. Not quite sure what to say to that, high, high praise.
(Sidenote: Apologies for the lack of K-Love…umm…love but…I don’t know about any of you out there, maybe it’s an Oregon thing, shoot it’s probably just a Coup/SJ thing…but Kevin Love is unlikeable. Flat out unlikeable. I’m sorry. His unlikeability is off the charts, I mean every time I ever try to entertain the thought he does something uber-lame. But I disgress. Rant. Over.)
To tonight’s game against the Timberwolves. That’s right, the Blazers are playing the Minnesota Timberwolves. Yes, relax I’m not making that up. Yes the Blazers can actually play teams that aren’t headed to the playoffs. Seeing Minnesota is quite the refresher after the 5-game equivalent of the World Cup’s Group of Death. However, tonight’s game will speak a lot about this team. We’ll learn what the Blazers are made of. A loss would be disappointing. Seeing as how this is only the sixth game of the year, a loss would not be devastating but would be absolutely disappointing. The message that’s been preached this seasonis patience and progression…well a loss to Minny would be a stepbaNot just because it’s a home loss to Minnesota, but all of that progress made in tough wins over San Antonio and Houston would immediately be erased. A victory is expected, but considering the fact that the Blazers are coming off an emotional win over Houston and finally facing an “inferior” opponent…it has all the makings of a letdown game. Can’t have one of those, a home loss to Minny would hurt in February.
To the game. Problems #1facing the Blazers tonight will be trying to contain Al Jefferson. We’ll be counting big time on Big Joel to hassle him but you might as well put 20 and 10 next to Jefferson’s name. The rest of Minnesota? Not a lot to them. Mike Miller is playing second banana, and one thing the Blazers cannot do is let him get hot. He’s dropped 25 and 16 in his last two contests and seeing as how he is about 90% of their perimeter offense, it would be important to shut him down. Then there is Randy Foye who is finally not injured but is playing in a way that should make all Blazer fans kiss KP’s feet for making the Roy/Foye deal. And yes that rhymed. Let me put it this way…I’ll take clutch performances over a guy shooting 28% and seeing Sebastian Telfair start over him 1000000000 times.
Speaking of Mr. Telfair, he returns to Portland playing some of the best basketball of his career. And no I’m not joking. In two games he’s averaging 11 and 8.5 assists. He’s still Sebastian Telfair though. The rest of the roster….A lot of forwards, a lot of 6’7 mini-beasts and a lot of athleticism. Guys like McCants and Foye have the ability to fill it up so the Wolves cannot be taken lightly. But then again they are a Team in Progress, just like the Blazers only with half the upside. From my outsider perspective eyes, they have some pretty major flaws right now. One is Randy Wittman as head coach. I’m sorry…just no. The next is the fact that they are a defensive minded team that lacks people who can play defense. I mean you’d think Minnesota would play inside-out or run and gun with those athletes. But no. Not only that but Wittman is taking guys out left and right for defensive reasons. Yikes. Lastly, they don’t have enough perimeter offense. They have guys who can do it but no one who can consistently put it in the hole every night. I’m a Mike Miller fan but after having him on a fantasy team for 121 years in a row you never know if he’s going for 25, 20, 5 or 12.
I have enough confidence in Nate to have this Blazer team up and ready for tonight’s game. Even if Rudy is out (game-time decision) it could work out well for the Blazers as Sergio should see more minutes (all his backers on O-Live should rejoice) and it could mean more Batum, who needs an uber-sweet nickname shortly. And anyone who suggests Frenchie will get a steel chair to the head.
Keys to success:
- Play with energy and enthusiasm. For some reason I feel a post-Houston win hangover coming tonight.
- Show some defensive improvement. The defense showed up in key spurts against Houston but still showed holes. Tonight is the perfect remedy. No Kobe, no T-Mac, no Parker, no Nash to have to deal with.
- Take away easy buckets. This isn’t a great shooting team, but if Minnesota can get inside scoring from Big Al, Kevin Love and the rest of their 6’8, 220 pound beasts it could be a rough night.
- Contain Sebastian Telfair’s penetration. He. Still. Can’t. Shoot. You. Know. He’s. Driving. And. Dishing.
- Don’t let Rashad McCants/Randy Foye get going.