More of the Same
February 20, 2016

What began as a year of high expectations with the drafting of sensational Kentucky star Karl-Anthony Towns has slipped back into another classic Minnesota Timberwolves season of loss and confusion.

The biggest loss, of course, was the untimely death of coach Phil “Flip” Saunders. From there, everything tilted downhill. New coach Sam Mitchell has tried, but even he will readily admit he’s no Flip Saunders.

Any magic that Flip might have created vanished early on, and the Wolves settled into a rhythm that continues to make them a lasting symbol of mediocrity in the National Basketball Association.

Spectator support as waned, so it was somewhat surprising when 16,663 of them showed up to watch a 17-38 home team face the NBA charter member New York Knickerbockers on February 20. The Knicks were no prize, either, having undergone a mid-season coaching change and managing only six more wins than the Wolves.

The new Knicks coach is Kurt Rambis, an erstwhile Timberwolves mentor. Rambis managed to outcoach Mitchell and guide his boys to an easy 103-95 victory. Mitchell’s substitution patterns continue to baffle as he consistently failed to put his players in the best situations to succeed.

Knicks center Robin Lopez entered the contest averaging less than 10 points and six rebounds per game. Yet the Timberwolves made him look like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in his prime. In 28 minutes of play, Lopez scored 22 points and snatched 14 rebounds.

“Give Lopez credit,” moaned Mitchell after the game. “He never left the paint. He never left the rim, and we couldn’t move him. Karl tried. Gorgui [Deng] tried. They’re young. Their bodies haven’t developed.

“Robin Lopez knows who he is. He hurt us inside. Our guys are not physically there yet to stop him. Karl tried. Gergui [Dieng] tried, but Lopez just killed us.”

So its wait until next year again for Minnesota. Wait for the young guys to mature physically and mentally. Meanwhile fans can console themselves with the sweep of the triple crown in the preliminaries to the NBA All-Star Game in Toronto. There, Zack LeVine repeated as slam dunk champion, Towns won the Skills Challenge trophy, and Andrew Wiggins was the most valuable player in the Rising Stars event.

Now if those three can put it together in the same lineup in an actual NBA regular season game, we might have something.