Week Six Wrap - wolvesjr34's Dynasty

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Week Six Wrap

Posted on May 26, 2011 at 04:03 AM.

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Rider helped the Wolves to a 3 - 1 record in week 6 of the season.

Results
December 6th Minnesota 105 @ New York 84
December 8th OKC 97 @ Minnesota 106
December 10th Detroit 86 @ Minnesota 106
December 11th Minnesota 106 @ Chicago 123

During the first game of the week the Timberwolves turned the tables on the Knicks, who had defeated them earlier in the season. Isaiah Rider provided a dominating performance for the away team, scoring 30 points while dishing 10 assists and shooting 7 of 8 from the free throw line. The other pleasant surprise for the Wolves was the continued improvement shown from Eric Bledsoe, who managed to score 22 points in 19 minutes of action shooting 10 of 19 from the field, while also handing out 7 assists. Deandre Jordan and Anthony Randolph provided solid defence, each snaring 3 blocks.

Bledsoe scored 22 for the Wolves.

The game had been pretty even in the first half, but the Wolves blew it open with a 32 points to 19 effort in the third, from which the Knicks were never able to recover. The Knicks, already without Amare who was injured the last time these two teams met, lost Landry Fields early to a 2 week injury. Knicks faithful would be forgiven for thinking the Wolves had it in for their franchise. Unfortunately for the Knicks the Wolves shut down Carmelo Anthony, while top scoring with 17 for his team, shot a terrible 7 of 27 from the field. Chauncey Billups continued to showcase his veteran leadership with 16 points and 10 assists, although his shot selection from distance had a lot to be desired, shooting a paltry 2 of 10.

Rider top scored with 30 for the Wolves against the Knicks.

The first time the Wolves faced the Durant-less Thunder, they had blown them so far out of the water it was hard to imagine what was to come in their second match up. The Thunder, on the back of an exhilarating performance from Russell Westbrook started the game on fire, playing impressive defence while also scoring efficiently. The Thunder had shocked the Wolves, and took a 33 to 19 lead into the first break.

Opening the second Westbrook and James Harden continued to tear the Wolves apart, stretching their lead over the Minnesota team to 22 before the young Wolves led by Eric Bledsoe started to chip away at the margin, reeling it back to an 8 point deficit by the half. Bledsoe combined well with Sebastian Telfair who managed to dish 7 assists in 9 minutes of game time. Wes Johnson provided the defensive impetus to fight back amassing five steals and two blocks during the game.

Flynn throws down a dunk during the fightback

The third saw a back and forth affair as the Wolves pushed hard to cut the margin. The Thunder held for a while, but the Wolves finished strong to once again cut the margin by four, meaning they only trailed by four points going into the final quarter. Westbrook and Harden continued to play well, ably supported by Nate Robinson who scored 19 points on the night, but the tide had turned and Rider and Bledsoe tore the Thunder apart on their way to a 33 to 20 point quarter and a 9 point victory.

For the Thunder Westbrook scored 29 points while dishing 12 assists (however he had 10 turnovers) and Harden scored 25. For the Wolves Bledsoe backed up his 22 point performance against the Knicks with the team high 27 points. Rider scored 21 while shooting terribly from beyond the arc (1 of 6) and Beasley scored 18. Jonny Flynn recorded 7 points and 13 assists, in another excellent effort directing the team.

Bledsoe top scores for Wolves with 27

Despite an awesome 46 points from a completely unstoppable Rip Hamilton (who kept Detroit in the game until the final quarter, the Pistons just could not stay with the Wolves who went with a complete team effort to ground the Pistons down.

Rip, ripped into Wolves, scoring 46 points

Michael Beasley scored 20 to lead the team, while also grabbing 8 boards. Rider scored 19 and Martell Webster returning from injury scored 18 off the bench, although continued to complain of a sore back after the game. Anthony Randolph also added 18, 8 boards, 3 blocks and 2 assists on his way to the player of the game performance (although best individual performance was that of Hamilton by far).

Randolph was named player of the game

Eric Bledsoe struggled during his appearance, only scoring 6 points, but he did dish 10 assists, one shy of the assists dished by Flynn who also scored 6 points. Despite this lesser performance, it is understood the Wolves are viewing Bledsoe with one eye to the future. It has been said that Flynn, while prolific with assists, doesn't look to score enough at times. Bledsoe has a smooth shooting touch and at 19 years of age shows a lot of promise. Will be interesting to see how the Wolves progress in the future at the point spot, especially with several solid point guard prospects in the draft.

Rider flies high against the Bulls

The final game of the week saw the Wolves meet Chicago and just never get out of second gear. The Bulls, lead by a dominant Derrick Rose (20 points, 12 assists, 5 steals) and Luol Deng (31 points) took a 12 point lead into the half and despite the best efforts of Isaiah Rider (40 points), nothing the Wolves did could allow them to peg back the margin, especially after Deandre Jordan went down hurt in the second period. Bledsoe scored 17 points on the night, and Martell Webster put in a shocking shooting performance on his way to 12 points and it was at this stage the Wolves made a decision to not play any hurt players in any subsequent games, the risk was just too high.

Rambis had this to say post game, "That Rose kid is just amazing, his vision is incredible. We didn't work hard enough tonight and we settled for too many deep looks rather than pushing into the rack. JR was the only guy out there willing to work hard for us in the paint. There just are not too many nights a guy drops 40 and his team loses by 17. A few guys will need to take a look at themselves after this performance.