A report from the US Airways Center in Phoenix, where the Timberwolves faced the Suns on January 16th.At first glance, you probably wouldn't have expected the Timberwolves to go into Phoenix and beat the Phoenix Suns as they did on Friday night. After all, Minnesota was just 11-26 before this one, and the Suns -- though up and down at times -- have begun to figure things out and seem to be a team on the rise.
But if Minnesota's win was really that much of a surprise, you probably haven't been paying close attention.
The T'Wolves have been playing much better of late, and were winners in five of their last six. Meanwhile, the Suns were coming off of a late night, tough loss to the Nuggets the night before, and were predictably ripe for the picking.
While the play of Al Jefferson and Randy Foye was instrumental in Minnesota's win, it was Kevin Love's energy that was arguably the difference for his team, particularly in the fourth quarter.
Love finished with 13 points and 14 rebound, seven of which came on the offensive end. He grabbed six of those rebounds in the decisive fourth quarter, one of which was a great play where he came from behind Shaq to out-jump him and literally take the rebound out of his hands.
Not only was Love a beast on the boards, but for a long stretch in that fourth quarter, he held his own defensively against O'Neal, doing a respectable job of stopping him without the assistance of a double team.
Wolves' coach Kevin Mchale gushed about Love's play afterwards, and said he had to remind himself that Love is only 20, because he's rebounding at a much higher level.
"I've been telling people all along, for a 20-year-old kid, that guy rebounds the ball at such a high level it's ridiculous," McHale said. "I keep on forgetting he's 20 at times. When he gets his endurance up -- he's still got that transformation going between young man and man, where your endurance picks up, everything gets stronger, and when he goes through that ... I'll tell you what, he's good right now, he's going to be tremendous. He's been really good for us."
"He's got great hands, he goes and gets rebounds, he snatches 'em, he fights, he makes you foul him. He drew a huge foul and they got a technical, and he's just a battler. He's a tough, hard-nosed kid."
The play McHale was referring to was a key one that happened with under four minutes left, when Love was fouled by the Suns' Matt Barnes. Love had gotten yet another offensive rebound, and had jumped awkwardly, catching Barnes in the torso with one of his legs. The play wasn't intentional on Love's part, but Barnes' retaliation appeared to be: he fouled Love on the ensuing put-back attempt, and made sure the shot wouldn't go in by smacking him in the face after the whistle blew. The refs called Barnes for the technical, and a 95-all tie turned into a three-point lead for the T'Wolves.
After the game, Love was asked about that play, and while he didn't seem upset, he also didn't hesitate to call it a "cheap shot."
"Oh man, he gave me some love right to the chin, right to the nose," Love said. "I guess there's no hard feelings, but hey, that was a little bit of a cheap shot."
You get the feeling that Love has no problem being the one that takes those kinds of shots (cheap or otherwise), just as long as the T'Wolves can continue showcasing their newly discovered ability to play a winning brand of basketball.
