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Road Game #6: Minnesota 103, Dallas 109

Season record: 2-11

1. The McCants/Jefferson Axis

The extent to which Rashad McCants and Al Jefferson create synergy on offense is perhaps the dominant storyline for the Wolves in this young season to date, and figures to remain that way at least until Randy Foye returns from his knee injury. I think it is reasonable to say that Jefferson should be the primary option in the Wolves' half court sets the majority of the time; and that in the current context, McCants should be regarded as the club's most explosive perimeter threat. Foye may supplant or otherwise skew that designation for Shaddy when he fully recovers. But there is also evidence that if McCants can curb his one-on-one tendencies more often and allow a creative point guard to serve as the fulcrum, he and Jefferson and Foye can build something. Ironically, proof of that occurred during tonight's torrid second-half comeback in Dallas, with Antoine Walker in the Randy Foye role.

I've already spent a fair amount of time on the McCants-Jefferson dynamic, but it was inescapable once again in the first half. As has been the case the past few games, the first play is run for Jefferson in the low block, and he converts it. And, as with the past few games, the half court offense ground to a halt in the first quarter whenever McCants owned the rock. There are few things more disspiriting for a young ballclub (and the people watching them) than to come off a rousing win where folks shared the ball and see McCants bent at the waist, staring down his defender and probing for lanes to drive with the shot clock ticking down, then finally hoisting up a jumper.

This has nothing to do with individual statistics, by the way. In tonight's first half, both McCants and Jefferson had nine shot attempts, with Jefferson making 5 and McCants making 4 but Shaddy getting to the line for 4-4 FT versus Jeff's one freebie. And both were minus -4 for a squad that was down 13 at the break. But McCants deadened the offense. His teammates stagnated, and he turned the ball over twice with zero assists. Jefferson likewise didn't drop a dime, but was getting his shots in the context of the offense. And as someone who has defended McCants in previous years against a legion of naysayers, I couldn't believe how differently he was playing, post-KG, as if he were the man that would make or break the offense on this team. The win over New Orleans less than 48 earlier offered a compelling rebuttal.

I say all this because McCants comes out for the second half and plays entirely differently, deferring fairly consistently not only to Jefferson, but to the point guard Jaric in terms of re-setting the offense and launching another play. Instead of making the stylish, risky bounce pass into the paint, he was taking a page from 'Toine and rifling it around the perimeter, creating a flow. The change was so stark that either somebody sent the message at halftime or Shaddy simply made up his mind to do something different.

But his teammates, including Jefferson, didn't seem to be able to convert what he was setting up. As that halftime deficit continued to grow, I was beginning to have sympathy for McCants's dilemma. Halfway through the third quarter, the Wolves had just 7 points for the period, 5 by Jaric and a couple of Jefferson free throws.

Then Coach Wittman went small and quick, replacing Mark Madsen and Ryan Gomes with Walker and Corey Brewer. And, as often happens with Walker in the game, the Wolves' spacing in the half court noticeably improved, and without Madsen in the game, the Mavs couldn't double-team Jefferson in the low block quite so blatantly.

But two things happened. McCants had generated some ball movement momentum earlier, during the inefficient time, laying the groundwork for the catalysts of Walker and Brewer. And Walker again came in and became the linchpin between perimeter passing and paint penetration, doing a lot of both without a whiff of selfishness. I hope Randy Foye was taking notes. Suddenly the personnel and the philosophy were in sync, and McCants not only deferred, to Walker and Jefferson, but enabled, running potential give-and-go's by Jefferson along the baseline that dragged his man with him and prevented double teams, and by not holding the ball.

A minute after Walker and Brewer entered, the lead was 20. Then Jefferson began to find a rhythm in the low block, and Walker started his dipsy-doodle cat-and-mouse schtick that Wolves fans should be coming to love by now. They were too quick for Dallas's bigs, and the subs Avery Johnson was bringing in couldn't stem the energy. He replaced Dampier with Diop, and then, rather quickly, changed it back, throwing Bass in for Nowitzki and Stackhouse in for Howard for good measure. Didn't matter. Both Howard (6-7, 210) and Stackhouse (6-6, 218) are players Brewer could defend with his length, and Jefferson was just owning the slow-footed Dampier down in the paint. By the time Jefferson and McCants left together, the lead was cut to a dozen.

With Smith and Telfair the new personnel, the Walker-led Wolves kept scrambling. Dallas, which had lost three in a row after winning 67 and then folding in the first round of the playoffs last year, were obviously rattled and started playing to lose. At one point in the fourth quarter the Wolves had hacked the lead back to 3, with 8 and a half minutes left to play. And while Nowitzki asserted himself and Jason Terry hit a big shot down the stretch to ice the win, it was a glorious second half for the Wolves. Jefferson went 6-10 from the field and, even more impressive, earned 12 throws in the second half alone en route to a season-high 31 points and 14 rebounds. McCants didn't turn the ball over once in more than 19 second half minutes, and managed to get up eight shots that were either in the flow of the offense or wisely aggressive in transition (an attempted left handed slam over Nowitzki on a fast break clanged off the rim). He wound up with 21 points on 7-17 FG and 7-7 FT. And after going minus -9 in the first half, Antoine Walker finished with plus +5, a testimonial to his impact in the second half.

2. Complementary Pairs

Some guys just play well together. Brewer and Telfair enjoy an affinity, a need for pace and energy and the ability to take advantage of chaos, that was on display this evening. Brewer has been mostly MIA since being disciplined for being late to practice and, perhaps not incidentally, getting roasted by Caron Butler and Peja Stojakovic in his previous two starts. But tonight he was a team-best plus +10 in just 9:07, and, to be more precise, a gaudy plus +8 in the 3:19 he shared the court with Telfair. The rook chucked up five shots in that short 9:07 without sinking any, but it bears noting that two of those were frantic layups in transition after he or he teammates stole the ball from the rattled Mavs. It was exactly the kind of helter-skelter defense you want to see from your backups against a much more talented opponent, and although neither Brewer nor Telfair can be counted on to stick a jumper, they feed off each other's energy.

A more pressing problem is finding a front court mate for Jefferson. Theo Ratliff seems convinced that he's significantly injured despite a number of doctors not being able to find anything, so the search is on, Logic and conventional wisdom at the beginning of the year posited that Jefferson and Craig Smith were redundant low-block loads who couldn't coexist, but there are signs that the Rhino can make teams think twice about doubling Jefferson with a second big, and both like to bang. Smith has been slowly but surely making a case for himself being more prominent in the rotation--tonight he sank 8-9 FG and missed two of three free throws, and grabbed 7 rebounds in just 20:01. If the Wolves are going to leave Michael Doleac on the bench, Smith is a better sidekick for Jefferson when you want to banish double teams; Madsen the choice if the center and power forward are both offensive-minded. Tonight was that rare occasion when Jefferson thrived in the center slot, in part because Eric Dampier never met an up fake he didn't bite on; a tailor-made, cobweb-footed patsy for Big Al.

3. Quick Hits

After his best three game run as a Timberwolf, Marko Jaric fended off gossip about his Victoria Secret model girlfriend and then played a stat-sheet filled 40:26 that brought him back to earth: 12 points, 7 boards and 7 assists, but 6 turnovers, 5 fouls and minus -5. More significantly, he allowed jitterbug point guard Devon Harris to penetrate at will--Harris had four layups in the first quarter alone, and triggered a 19-4 advantage in fast break points for the Mavs in the first half.

DNP-CD for Trenton Hassell. Is that a better or worse line than the guy he was traded for, Greg Buckner, who was a game worst minus -10 in 15:23?

After 'Toine made one of his mincing-stepped drives to the hoop, announcer Jim Petersen called him Twinkletoes, the single-best laugh out loud line of the year thus far.

Finally, love the Twins trade, more for the shakeup than the substance. By sacrificing young pitching in exchange for a (at least formerly) troubled outfielder with a potent bat, new GM Billy Smith went against at least two of abiding principles in the Terry Ryan catechism.

^{photo by 2007 NBAE via Getty Images}