Game Five: Wolves At Houston Wrap-Up

96-91 Wolves. Wolves were dominant in the first quarter, putting up 36 points and getting off to a fast, shooting start. It seemed like the Wolves number one priority from the beginning and throughout the entire game was to push the ball up the court quickly, and it seemed to work all game. This game could have been a rout, but instead the Wolves blew their massive lead in the second quarter. I think they were about halfway through the quarter and had scored just four points. Of course, this was while Kevin Garnett sat out for a while, which is something of a testament to how great he is. And he was great again tonight. Not a whole lot of points, but he didn't take a ton of shots tonight either. He did make some big shots though, including one with under ten seconds to go with the shot clock at one that put the Wolves ahead for good. But to see his true story tonight, you have to look past the points and look at everything else he did: beyond his ho-hum 20 points, he also accumulated 17 total rebounds and nine assists, just shy of the triple-double. A very well-balanced performance by Garnett, which is pretty much typical for Mr. Twenty-Ten-And-Five. This game got a little sketchy in the middle of the fourth quarter, with the Rockets taking the lead at one time, but the Wolves managed to hold them off just enough to come out with the win, a little less dominantly than they had started, but ahead none the less.

Next up for the Wolves is Shaq-Fu and the Miami Heat at the Target Center. From one big man to the next. Hopefully the Wolves can do just as well against Shaq as they did against Yao and his team tonight. Shaq has historically been more dominant against the Wolves than Yao, but, that being said, that was with the Lakers, a team that has had other threats to distract from Shaq (as much as you can try to hide a 7'1", 325 lbs. man with other players). And while I have nothing but respect for Dwayne Wade, and in fact, he's probably my favorite young player, he's no Kobe Bryant. We'll see how the Wolves strategy against Shaq varies now from the Western Conference Finals. This may be more of a Western Conference Finals rematch than our upcoming games against the Lakers, the franchise that actually beat us, will be. Should be a fun game to watch.