I've Never Seen This Before...
Last night, in the final two seconds of the Wolves/Bucks game, I saw something new. The situation was this: The Wolves were up by 2, and Troy Hudson was shooting free throws for Minnesota. The Bucks were out of timeouts, for reasons only Milwaukee coach George Karl understood. So, in an effort to draw up a final inbounds play, Karl had some of the Buck on the court come over for an impromptu huddle and play diagram on one of those small coaches' whiteboards. This is all while Hudson is shooting free throws. Garnett tried to protest to the refs, because such huddles (according to Steve Aschburner of the Star-Tribune) are illegal. But Garnett got no relief from the refs, so he did something even better.
He went and joined the Bucks' huddle. He can do that, since it was not during an actual timeout, which is something I didn't know. SportsCenter had a great shot of it last night, the Bucks having their huddle, Karl drawing up a final inbounds play, and Garnett is just standing there with them, like he's one of the Bucks. I don't know if they didn't see him, or what.
Hudson only makes one of two, meaning that with only a three-point lead, the inbounds play is extremely important. So what happens? Garnett steals the inbounds pass. Afterwards, his explanation was simple: "I saw the play."
I'm not going to suggest that other NBA players wouldn't have had the brains to go get in the huddle, but there was no other Timberwolf who had the idea (or was tall enough to see into the huddle). It might have just saved the game.
Look Who's Fourth
There was much gnashing of teeth in the Twin Cities last week as the Wolves stood pat. You'd think the team was lottery-bound. I'll admit that I was hoping to see a deal; this team still has some large holes.
But let's be real. This team has won 10 of 11, and they are starting to play very well together now that Wally is back in the mix. And all of this has been done without Rod Strickland and Joe Smith. They now own the fourth-seed outright, and seem to have a team together that is capable of putting up a fight to keep that spot. They are quietly overachieving their way to a very good chance to have home court in the first round. More importantly, they are showing signs that they can win close games, and beat good teams.
The only problem is, why do all these 18 point leads turn into last-minute nailbiters?
10:15:38 AM 
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