Felton Spencer Memorial Blog

Wolves lose to Seattle 103-92

2004-11-25T19:23:00.000-05:00

Wolves lost to Seattle the other night. I don't know how they've done it, but Seattle has become a formidable team in the West this year. I still think it's too early to tell if they're just off to one hell of a start, or if this team has all the right pieces.

Tonight the Wolves hope to feast upon an injured and suspended Indiana Pacers team. Its safe to say that after the brawl a week ago, the Pacers are a few short of a cornicopia. Can Kevin Garnett and the Wolves mash what's left of the Pacers like potatoes? Or will the Wolves spoil like two-week-old leftovers? Can this Pacers team actually grab a piece of the pie? Or are they just a bunch of turkeys? I think I'm about done now.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from us here at FSMB.

Wolves over Dallas, 83-82

2004-11-23T01:04:00.000-05:00

Garnett fouled with five seconds left down by 2. Garnett solid from the free throw line. Wolves play big D in the Big D for the final five seconds. Wolves go home winners.

'Nuff said.

(I know I've been lazy with this blogging thing lately, but I haven't been able to watch much of the games. Tomorrow, I'll have extensive coverage of the Wolves/Supersonics match-up. I promise. I've got nothing better to do.)

Wolves over Hornets, 99-94

2004-11-22T18:20:00.000-05:00

I only caught the end of this game, because I was at the high school football semi-finals on Friday night, cheering dutifully AGAINST my sister's school, Totino-Grace. I can't stand those private schools, but that's a different matter entirely. I didn't see Garnett get injured, but it's good to see that he came back and looked to be okay. The big story though was Eddie Griffin coming off the bench and scoring 24 points. He may wind up being the difference between getting knocked out in the Western Conference Finals last year and making it all the way this year. If he keeps having good performances, especially for a bench player, like he has so far, he will make a fine x-factor for this team.

Pacers/Pistons Brawl

2004-11-20T03:34:00.000-05:00

First thing's first, I didn't write anything on the Wolves' loss to the Pistons the other night. Not much to say about it; the Pistons came in and played their game in the fourth quarter. Not much to say about it.

Now then, to the more pressing issue. By the time everyone reads this, they'll likely see the video or at least hear about the incident in Detroit tonight with the Pacers/Pistons brawl. I'm seeing it now shortly after it happened, but I'm sure it will be all over the news for the days to come. It is quite honestly the worst fight I think I've ever seen. That's my definition of mayhem now. One news report I read compared it to a prison brawl, and that's exactly what it's like. I've seen video of the legendary brawls in sports. Ten cent beer night in Cincinnati in 1974 and Disco Demolition Night in Chicago in 1979 immediately comes to mind. I've even been to games myself where the fans have gotten a little too involved, but never anything even close to this. This has set a new level of shame. And that is the worst thing possible for the NBA. This is a league where a large portion of the country simply ignores it because it seems none of the players are respectible human beings. Even when there does seem to be a good one in the bunch, a diamond in the rough if you will, most people just sit back and say "we'll see in time." I remember Sprite commercials that lauded Kobe Bryant as an angel. And I truly believed he was a good guy, that he actually had his head on straight. Needless to say, now no one quite looks at Kobe the same way. Month after month, NBA players, and occasionally superstars, get caught with drug charges and other arrests and charges. Carmelo Anthony was caught just a few weeks ago with weed in his car. He seemed like he had everything going for him. Now I can't look at him the same way either. And readers of this site may remember the other night before the Wolves played the Pacers when I had nothing but praise for Jermaine O'Neal. Outside of the Timberwolves, he was my favorite player in the NBA, not only because of his talent, but everything I've heard about him says he's one of the greatest guys you could meet. And while certainly he wasn't the worst of the bunch in tonight's brawl, I saw him throw a few punches, and it was just another little note in my head about NBA players.

I know that not every NBA player is a selfish, violent, arrogant, egotistic, disgraceful (and so on...) human being. But this is the final straw, and now whenever I hear a glowing report on the personal side of any NBA player (and this will probably extend out to all sports as well), I have to take it with a grain of salt. And I feel this will be how it is for all fans from here on out as well. We've been fooled too many times, and at some point, you stop getting fooled.

As to who is to blame for all this, I'm not going to take a side. Everyone involved is equally responsible. Ben Wallace, Ron Artest, the fans, everyone. About the only person I've cleared is Larry Brown, who I fear might be so pissed off that he's going to quit the NBA entirely. This truly is the lowest day in NBA history, and the fallout from this will be intense, both in the form of suspensions and more long-lasting changes to the league. But what will be most interesting will be watching how the fans react to this, because who really wants to watch two teams of juvenile delinquents paid millions to play a game for a living, just so they can go buy weed or a gun? It's a shame the sport has been brought down that far, but that's where we stand now, and this incident has magnified that to the whole world.

I'll continue to watch and follow the Timberwolves. I think (and hope, and pray) that they generally hold themselves a little bit higher than this. But all it takes is a rivalry like Indiana and Detroit. Like perhaps a game against Denver. All it takes is two hothead players and a couple idiot fans and we get something just like this, and it brings the whole league down one more notch. Latrell Sprewell's comments at the start of this season already lowered my view of him forever, moreso than his previous history has. Sam Cassell begging for more money did the same thing, though he wasn't nearly as bad as Sprewell. Everything I've heard says Kevin Garnett is an outstanding guy, but now you just have to wonder.

I guess I feel a little more strongly on this than some others do, because during my childhood, I idolized Kirby Puckett. He was my hero. I grew up wanting to one day play center field for the Twins, just because he played out there. Kirby Puckett was one of my first words when I was just learning how to talk. And even to this day, I still want him to be my hero. Not only was he the greatest Twins player while I grew up, the reason why anybody even went to a Twins game for most of those seasons, but everything I heard said he was a great guy off the field as well. He gave countless dollars to charity, signed autographs, and just seemed greatful that he wasn't still working on a Ford assembly line or in the projects of Chicago. And then a couple years ago, just around the time he got inducted into the Hall of Fame, all this stuff comes out about him, about how his wife actually did all the charity stuff and stuck him in front of it all, how he beat his wife and threatened her and his kids, how he had affairs. So much stuff about him. I couldn't take it. I wasn't mentally ready to watch my hero fall from grace. But I knew it was true. And that was when I started to see that not all these sports heroes are what they're all cracked up to be. Charles Barkley probably saved himself from all this when he said "I am not a role model." But that's a whole 'nother can of worms.

Funny thing is, before I heard about this fight, I was planning on buying Troy Hudson's new rap album when it comes out, and maybe even shelling out $20+ to see his concert at the Target Center in December. And while this brawl has nothing to do with T-Hud, now I have no desire to do either one at all. Why build up sports heroes, just so they can disappoint in the future?

Everyone should feel free to comment on this in the comments section. I want to hear everyone's thoughts on this, because I think everyone's take on it is a little different.

Wolves Game Six: Wolves vs. Miami Recap

2004-11-17T17:16:00.000-05:00

It seems like it's been forever since I last wrote here. I hope everyone had an excellent time during their five days without Wolves basketball. But now, after such a long hiatus, the Wolves are back with two games in two nights, and they showed no signs of rust in the first game against Miami. The Wolves won 108-97, with a 25 point, 21 rebound performance by Kevin Garnett. What more do you need to know? On the Miami side of the ball, Shaq had 20 points and 15 rebounds, and Dwayne Wade had 25 points, including 20 in the first half alone. But the Wolves were just better all-around. All in all, a good game against one of the more promising teams in the east. Which bodes well for the Wolves tonight heading into Detroit.

Jazz vs. Raptors; Jazz vs. Pistons

2004-11-15T01:22:00.000-05:00

A close loss to the Raptors, 95-104, on the 10th. They got very strong play from their role players. The box score war was hard-fought. I liked the numbers, except for Kirilenko's being limited to 9 points. He had three blocks.

Steamrolling over the Pistons, 108-93, on Saturday. Even scoring on the other end. Howard Eisley was strong off the bench for us, as was Okur with 19 playing against his former team. Kirilenko with two blocks. "Only" five in the past two games; he still is averaging an astonishing 5.17 blocks per game over the first six games, as well as 1.83 spg and 16 ppg. His rebounding is down a bit as he no longer has to play out of position, but it's still at 6 rpg. I want a replica jersey or something already.

Schedule Woes

2004-11-13T13:45:00.000-05:00

I looked at the Wolve schedule after the game on Thursday night and I didn't notice this then, but upon a second glance, we don't play the Heat until Tuesday! That's four whole days inbetween games. In baseball, which is the sport that I know best, the only time you get four days off in a row is if you win your playoff series in a sweep. And even still, you might only get two days off, even in that situation. Four days off is ridiculous. And especially during a weekend. People would show up for a Friday or Saturday night game or a Sunday afternoon game. No one wants to go to a Tuesday night game and get back at 10:30, if they live near the Target Center. If you're coming from, say, White Bear Lake, that's a long drive back, and that makes for one long night. I could understand four days off if they played a game on a Sunday and then skipped Monday-Thursday and played Friday. But to have the schedule give them four weekend days off is just terrible scheduling. And, on top of the problems with the in-action, I also have a problem with the action as well: after what should be a fairly difficult Miami Shaqs game on Tuesday, the Wolves have to take on the NBA Champion Detroit Pistons the next night. IN DETROIT. That means the Wolves probably fly out of Minneapolis late Tuesday night and probably never get settled down in Detroit until it's practically morning. They lose an hour going into the eastern time zone, and the game starts at 6:30 central time (which their minds will still be on). And then you have to play the NBA's toughest team? A night after you work hard to contain Shaq? Whoever came up with the NBA schedule this year should be fired. If not shot.

Game Five: Wolves At Houston Wrap-Up

2004-11-12T01:58:00.000-05:00

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.

Game Five: Wolves at Houston Preview

2004-11-11T18:14:00.000-05:00

Sorry for nothing on the 102-101 loss to the Pacers Tuesday night. The truth is, when I saw the Wolves losing by quite a bit, I flipped to PBS to watch a special I wanted to see. If I would have known the Wolves were going to pull it that close, I would have Tivo'd the special and watched the Wolves game. But what's done is done. I must look ahead towards tonight's game in Houston. Which is what the Wolves must do as well. We all know this Wolves team is better than a 2-2 record would suggest. 2-2 is a little ugly, but factor in the fact that the Wolves were one missed shot away from winning both their losses. If one or both of those shots go in, we're sitting pretty at 4-0. And really, it's best to get these tough losses out of the way early on in the year, when you can write them off to just getting warmed up. That's a lot harder to do come April. So no worries from me. Except the fact that Houston looks to be a good team this year. That has me worried. Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, that might not be fun tonight. What would be fun is getting a win tonight against a formidable team like that and grabbing a winning record record.

Edit: Okay, I guess I didn't realize McGrady was injured. Not a huge difference; he's not that great in my opinion.

Wolves Game Three: Wolves vs. Hornets - Wrap-Up

2004-11-07T01:38:00.000-05:00

Not a whole lot to say about this one because I missed it while running around town. Although I get the feeling I wouldn't have had much to say about it anyway. 99-92 Wolves win it. Kevin Garnett with 29 points and 15 boards, about par for the course. By all accounts, it sounds like a pretty boring game.

Pacers come to the Target Center Tuesday in the Wolves next game. The Indiana Pacers have to be my favorite Eastern Conference team. Jermaine O'Neal is a credit to the NBA for being a general, all-around good guy. He once made a half-assed promise to a teenage girl at an autograph signing when she asked him on a whim to take her to her prom ... and he actually followed up on it. Everything I've heard about him is good. So while I'll want the Wolves to win big, deep down I'll be rooting for Jermaine O'Neal as well. Should be a very entertaining game.

Jazz at Nuggets 3-0 Wrap-up

2004-11-07T01:03:00.000-05:00

Another blowout, this time against the well-respected Nuggets, 106-82. Hey Ryan, does this mean that since the Jazz beat the Nuggets and the Nuggets beat the Timberwolves, the Jazz are better than the Timberwolves? Wow. Or maybe the Nuggets are just screwed up, which I could have predicted.

30 and 17 for Carlos Boozer-- tearing it up. Ridiculous. 8 more blocks for Andrei Kirilenko-- he's got 21 in three games! It's unbelievable, baby!

Jazz at Warriors 2-0 Wrap-up/Keith McLeod

2004-11-06T13:04:00.000-05:00

Didn't get to see this game. 102-80, another blowout-- though we were threatened until the late third quarter. The Warriors rebounded after a 27-14 first half on our part to cut it to 46-40 at halftime and pulled within one point in the third before collapsing.

Keith McLeod is a second year-player out of Bowling Green and a former Ohio Mr. Basketball who was a bench-warmer for the Wolves last year, having one of his best games against Utah last year (7 points, 7 assists came out of nowhere to steal Howard Eisley's hastily erected new role as emergency point guard with 10.5 ppg and 9 apg, including 10 vs. the Warriors (third in the NBA at this early date) in only 28.5 minutes. He scored 15 in this game, almost the leading scorer behind Carlos Boozer (16).

So far Mehmet Okur is not becoming the starting center I thought he would be. With only 4.0 ppg and 3.5 rpg in 17.5 mpg, he's clearly a reserve but more importantly not a center. I shouldn't have been surprised-- wishful thinking on my part, I guess. I've wished for a good starting center for the Jazz since I started cheering for them in 1997-- so sue me.

Andrei Kirilenko has 13 blocks already. Amazing. He gets my informal Baller of the Week vote.

Wolves Game Two: Wolves at Nuggets - Wrap-Up

2004-11-05T03:02:00.000-05:00

94-92 Nuggets (1 OT)

Its still so early in the season to call this game a "rough game to lose." It really isn't. The team is still trying to figure out how to play with each other, trying to get back into the rhythm of playing games against high-caliber NBA teams. Still, in just the second game of the season, this Wolves-Nuggets rivalry has become firmly established. Which is a good thing. There are some teams where you drop a game to them and you don't care, because they're a good team with a deep bench and some strong players who play the game the right way and were superior that night. Those are the games where you shake your opponent's hand and look ahead to beating your next team. And then there's those teams where you have to beat them, because you can't stand the thought of losing to them. You don't want to give them the joy of being on top for even one night. You will play your heart out and to all ends just to stop them from winning. What I'm saying is, if the Detroit Pistons beat you, you move on. Sure, you wanted to win, and think of the boost you'd get from beating such a great team, but sometimes its just not in the cards. But when the Denver Nuggets beat you, especially in a game where no team took a strong lead the entire game, a game that went into overtime, a game with lots of fouling and technical fouls and even ejections, those are the games that linger in your mind. If this were late December, I'd say this one hurts. As it is, the Wolves showed signs of fatigue. It seemed as if the team generally just was a step behind what they typically are at all game. A big part of that probably comes from being exhausted from flying into Denver late and not being used to the rigours of an NBA schedule. This team looked flat pretty much the entire game, but that's the kind of thing that will work itself out through time. This team will be able to win games on back-to-back nights, just not this one so early in the season, not against an already hated rival in Denver.

The rest of the games in this season series with Denver will be exciting basketball, I'm sure, as both teams will step up their game when that part of the schedule rolls around. For now, the Wolves need to forget this game, as hard to put it in the back of their minds as it may be, and get ready for their next game.

Wolves Game Two: Wolves at Nuggets

2004-11-04T21:54:00.000-05:00

I like the new divisions in the NBA this year. It makes sense, it's easy to follow, and I think it works out well for the Timberwolves being in the Northwest Division. It's not quite as good as being moved to the Eastern Conference, but now that's the land of Shaq anyway, so I think it all worked out well as it is. At a glance, the Wolves biggest Northwest Division rival has to be the Denver Nuggets, the team the Wolves knocked out of the playoffs in the first round last year. These teams do not seem to like each other, and they always seem to play each other hard. I suspect this will remain the case this year, and I anticipate some very good basketball games between these two teams this year.

Wolves Game One Recap

2004-11-04T21:46:00.000-05:00

This is what we're used to. We expect to win the first game at home. Call us spoiled, but the Wolves have won the last nine home openers. This one was a given. What was on everyone's mind was how hard Sprewell would play after saying he'd want a new contract or to be traded by this game. While he didn't put up spectacular numbers, its hard to say he wasn't playing hard. We'll see how the next few games go. I loved the guy with the "Food Donations For Spree's Family" sign. I think if Latrell gets a new contract with the Wolves, one stipulation should be that he has to start a food shelf charity. It'd be good press all around.

It goes without saying that Kevin Garnett had yet another great game, but when doesn't he? No change from the playoffs. He puts up amazing numbers, but the best thing about KG is that he's consistant. There are some players that will have an off-night once in a while, and certainly no one faults them for it. KG never has an off-night, and that's why he (finally) won the MVP last year, and why he has to be almost expected to at least be in contention again this year.

All in all, a great start to what should be a promising season. In many ways, the Timberwolves played their opener as smoothly as a mid-season game. No problems at all with their performance last night.

Jazz vs. Lakers Opening Night Wrap-up

2004-11-04T01:32:00.000-05:00

Jazz owned, beheaded, defenestrated the Lakers 104-78 despite 38 points or so from Kobe Bryant, many at the free-throw line or on threes; remains to be seen whether Jazz really that good or Lakers really that bad. Kirilenko had eight blocks, a personal best.

Jazz vs. Lakers Halftime Update

2004-11-04T01:02:00.000-05:00

Jazz point guards Carlos Arroyo and Raul Lopez are both MIA today, though Arroyo will be back within a week; to help cover the position, the Jazz today quickly signed reserve guard Howard Eisley, a member of the late 90s Utah Finals teams, after buying out his Phoenix contract. He is considerably crappier and more trigger-happy than he was in those days. Nevertheless, the Jazz have a commanding 45-28 lead in the Delta Center at halftime thanks to an amazing 9 blocks in the first half, the first 4 by Kirilenko. Carlos Boozer is also tearing it up; I believe he has 12 but cannot verify at this time. Harpring is not starting despite 16.2 ppg last year, a close second on the team, but is a factor as a reserve. Jazz fast break looks good, an excellent sign for a young team.

Jazz vs. Lakers Redux

2004-11-03T23:02:00.000-05:00

Game started half an hour ago. I have no idea what the score is. I'm going to watch it now. I still maintain 93-88.

My official Jazz prediction sheet, pre-season style:

Starters:
G Carlos Arroyo - 12.6 ppg (steady-- career high 16), 5.0 apg, 2.2 TO, 2.3 PF with UTA 03-04
04-05 stats? 14 ppg, 6.5 apg
G/F Matt Harpring - 16.2 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 2.0 apg, 0.06 bpg with UTA 03-04
04-05 stats? 17 ppg, 7 rpg
F Andrei Kirilenko - 16.5 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 3.1 apg, 2.8 bpg, 1.9 spg with UTA 03-04
04-05 stats? 21.5 ppg, 8 rpg
F/C Carlos Boozer - 15.5 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 2.0 apg, .99 spg with CLE 03-04
04-05 stats? 17 ppg, 12 rpg
F/C Mehmet Okur - 9.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 78% FT with DET 03-04 (33/71 starts)
04-05 stats? 11 ppg, 6.5 rpg

Bench players to watch:
1. Raja Bell - 11.2 ppg, almost entirely off bench with UTA 03-04
2. Gordan Giricek 11.3 ppg after traded from ORL to UTA 03-04 (18/25 starts)
3. Raul Lopez - 7ppg, 4apg with UTA 03-04
4. Jarron Collins 6 ppg, 4 rpg with UTA 03-04 (31/81 starts)
5. Kirk Snyder - 6ppg in preseason with UTA 03-04
04-05 total? 22 ppg

Northwest Division Standings

Minnesota 54-28
Utah 48-34 (Jazz win season series vs. Denver)
Denver 48-34
Portland 42-42
Seattle 35-47

Game One: Jazz vs. Lakers

2004-11-03T20:20:00.000-05:00

This blog will be a two-man show. I will generally cover the Timberwolves games and stories, and my collegue Traz will cover the Utah Jazz. Due to a couple technical snafus early on here, Traz cannot post yet, so I'll post his prediction for the first game of the Jazz season: Jazz 93, Lakers 88.

Is this the work of the ghost of Felton Spencer running wild early on in our blog's history? Who knows.

Game One: Wolves vs. Knickerbockers - Let's Get It Started

2004-11-03T19:56:00.000-05:00

Who's excited? The NBA is underway, and the Wolves are coming off their best playoff run ever with a team that looks nearly identical to last year's. Could this be the year? The road begins tonight. Former Knickerbocker Latrell Sprewell has garnered the interest of most people in tonight's game, which Sprewell said he wouldn't want to play if he didn't have a contract extention. He has a family to feed, you see. Too bad that cop couldn't ticket him for idiocy as well last night. Could this be the Knickerbocker's chance to laugh at the Wolves for actually wanting him? They can laugh all they want as long as the Wolves pick up the win. Very anxious to see this team get it going again. Back with more after the game.

Welcome To FSMB

2004-11-03T19:52:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Felton Spencer Memorial Blog. This will be a joint Minnesota Timberwolves/Utah Jazz blog, regularly covering both teams throughout the season. Felton LaFrance Spencer was a center for the Timberwolves from 1990-1993 and with the Utah Jazz from 1993-1996. He may not actually be dead.