By Anthony Maggio
FOXSportsNorth.com
March 1, 2011
Anthony Randolph was acquired for nights like these. Now if he could only acquire another 40 pounds or so.
Oh, and a couple of teammates with similar length, athletic ability and additional size.
The Minnesota Timberwolves did a whole lot right on Tuesday night at Target Center, but still succumbed to the Los Angeles Lakers, 90-79, on the strength of their superior interior and Kobe Bryant's peerless closing skill.
Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol grabbed five offensive rebounds each and the Lakers picked up 18 as a team, which they turned into a 28-7 advantage in second chance points.
"We limited their second chance opportunities in the second half to a reasonable number, but 20-some that they got in the first half was a real killer for us," Wolves coach Kurt Rambis said. "We could've built ourselves a nice little lead."
The Wolves held Los Angeles to 22.7 percent shooting in the first quarter and Bryant to just four points in the first half, yet went into the locker room at halftime up only five points. The offensive glass was the reason, as Los Angeles turned 13 offensive boards into 22 second chance points.
Minnesota leads the league in rebounds per game, but even with Randolph's help was no match for the Lakers' experienced bigs.
"It's tough," Randolph said. "They've got great offensive rebounders on their team. That's a credit to them. We've just got to be a lot more aggressive and have everybody. We've got to gang rebound hard."
Rambis agreed, saying the guards did a much better job helping in the second half as Randolph, Darko Milicic and Kevin Love were forced to help on penetration and rotate defensively, keeping them from getting good rebounding position.
Even when the Wolves were in the right spots, the strength of Bynum, Gasol and Lamar Odom made securing the ball a difficult task. Still, it's one Randolph covets.
The 21-year-old got his most extensive action in his four-game career as a Timberwolf, scoring four points and grabbing four rebounds in nearly 14 minutes. His highlight was an alley-oop flush on a fast break from Luke Ridnour
