MINNEAPOLIS -- With little tradition and even less recent
achievement to their credit, the Golden State Warriors' brand of up-and-down,
light-you-up basketball rocked the NBA landscape last season.
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson draining 3-pointers left and
right. David Lee locking things down inside offensively. Jarrett Jack coming
off the bench to further inflate team point totals. Those cool golden-yellow
jerseys with short sleeves flying from baseline to baseline.
A franchise that had been to the playoffs once in the past
18 seasons stormed to a 47-35 mark and shocked the Denver Nuggets in the first
round of the playoffs. Then it contended with eventual Western Conference
champion San Antonio before falling in six games.
The way Minnesota's roster is built, the Timberwolves may
not follow Mark Jackson and the Warriors front office's blueprint to exact
specifications.
But they can learn a thing or two from their Western
Conference foe, Kevin Love said after shootaround Wednesday.
"We'd like to do what they did last year," Love
said. "They had a great run. Steph and Clay Thompson and David Lee are the
anchors. Those guys really helped them to be the darlings of the NBA."
No arguments fro coach Rick Adleman.
"They took it, and they got it going," said Adelman, who coached the Warriors from 1995-1997. "They did what you want your team to do; they got better as the year went on, and they didn't back away. They just got better, and in the playoffs, they had a lot of confidence."
The Timberwolves -- in the midst of a nine-year playoff
drought of their own, now the league's longest active one -- would take being
the darlings of the Twin Cities at this point. Off to a 3-1 start with a
healthy Love, they're certainly in good position.
So far. It's only a week into the season.
It took Golden State, which also entered Wednesday's clash
at the Target Center 3-1, until April 10 to seize its postseason goal.
"We haven't done anything yet," said Love,
currently the league's No. 3 scorer at 26.5 points per game. "After the
last couple years and injuries, we just want to continue to keep playing, keep
fighting. I still think, early on, we've had some good showings … and
resiliency, too. So if we can do that, keep fighting hard, the future
definitely looks good for us."
Mutual respect between Brewer, Iguodala: Timberwolves small
forward Corey Brewer is painfully familiar with what an all-cylinders Warriors
club can do. Golden State's 4-2 series victory over Denver precipitated the
dismantling of the Nuggets' front office, and Brewer was around to witness it.
"Clay couldn't miss. Steph couldn't really miss,"
said Brewer, who signed with Minnesota this offseason after spending the past
two years in Denver. "We just caught them at a bad time, I guess you could
say."
After falling in the first round for a fourth straight year,
the Nuggets fired coach of the year George Karl -- a guy who Brewer credits
heavily for his improvement as a defender and transition offense fiend. General
manager Masai Ujiri, named the league's executive of the year, left for a
position in Toronto's front office.
Brewer and fellow wing stopper Andre Iguodala bolted, too,
but not after a year together in side-by-side lockers that forged an
appreciation for each other's games and personas.
Iguodala signed with Golden State. Wednesday night's matchup
is the pair's first as adversaries since the Denver diaspora.
"Corey's a good dude," Iguodala said. "He's
one of those guys where he can sneak up on you, so being able to play against
him every day, seeing him play, it helps you have a respect for him and it
helps when you're guarding him in a game."
Said Brewer: "That's my guy."
Rubio, Dieng remain confident: Ricky Rubio displayed nothing
but graciousness when asked about sitting out the entire fourth quarter of
Minnesota's one-point setback Monday at Cleveland.
The team's clear-cut No. 1 point guard suffered a horrid
night shooting -- 0-for-7 from the floor, 0-for-3 from distance -- and he knew
it. So he did his best to cheer on J.J. Barea and the rest of his teammates on
the floor as they nearly overcame a 23-point chasm.
"It's tough, but, I mean, they were playing great and
did a great comeback," Rubio said. "It was awesome watching the
effort they put in."
But Rubio's not making more than $4 million this year to sit
and watch while games are on the line. When they are, the last place he wants
to be in is in a chair next to Adelman.
Rubio's primary focus this year has been developing his
shot, in some part so he can be on the floor when the Timberwolves try to rally
late. His first two games, both at home, were more what he and the club are
looking for -- 39 percent on field-goal tries, 13 and 14 points each night --
before his production dipped on the road against the Knicks and Cleveland.
He's done what's become expected in the distribution and
defense departments, though, notching at least five assists (double digits in
every game save for) and three steals in each contest.
"He'll be fine," Barea said. "He's just got
to keep getting better every day. He works hard. He's gonna get a lot of
chances to have experience in those (late) situations."
Love said it wasn't just Rubio, either.
"We just had no legs," Love said. "It was our
first back-to-back. There's no really replicating playing in Madison Square
Garden (Sunday against the Knicks), playing heavy minutes and coming out the
next night and asking for the same kind of output. We'll start gaining our legs
a little bit more here and there."
Rookie center Gorgui Dieng hasn't lost any self-confidence,
either, after struggling in his professional debut. Filling in for injured
Ronny Turiaf, he's picked up seven fouls in just 17 minutes of play.
But rather than sulk, he has spent some extra time watching
film with assistant coach Jack Sikma and doesn't plan on backing down any.
"I'm not gonna stop playing aggressive, but I just need
to know my job," said Dieng, the Timberwolves' second first-round draft
pick. "I know that if I stop playing aggressive -- I don't need to do
that."
Injury updates: As of Wednesday afternoon, no timeline had
been issued for Turiaf's return. The veteran center left Friday's victory over
Oklahoma City with what was later diagnosed as a radial head fracture in his
right elbow
Adelman said Turiaf currently has no movement in the elbow. Until he does, doctors won't be able to estimate when he might be able to come back.
"He's doing better, but it's gonna be a while," Adelman said.
Turiaf worked out with trainers during the team's
shootaround Wednesday morning with his right arm in a light wrap.
Golden State coach Mark Jackson told reporters that forward
Harrison Barnes (toe) will be a game-time decision. If he were to play, it
would be sparingly, Jackson said.
