Five Impressions from Opening Night: T-Wolves 92, Kings 80

J.J. Barea MVP of Game One

  How this 5-foot-8 guard (he’s listed as six feet on nba.com, ha!) makes his way to the hole and consistently finishes lay-ups or gets fouled and scores from the line is a marvel. It helps that his body seems to be one concentrated flexing muscle, that he uses that body to shield defenders from the ball. But, last night, he showed some nice passing, too, sharing it around and finishing with 5 assists to go with his team-high 21 points, and he generally pushed the pace whenever he was in, a good thing in this sluggish game. His deep threeball with 30 seconds put a nice lacquer on the win.

The Kings Stink

  Glad I’m no Sacto res, because this team ain’t pretty. Their supposed best two players are highly flawed: former Rook of the Year guard Tyreke Evans is a one-dimensional rim-charger who has trouble shooting with range, passing, and playing much D. His 3-14 shooting night was as big a reason for the Wolves win as any. DeMarcus Cousins has an injured attitude with matching facial expressions. Their little guards Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Thornton showed some pluck, but they’re third stringers on a better team.

The Wolves Can Play D

  Greg Stiemsma did his best Dikembe Mutombo impersonation for the T-Wolves, further frustrating an already-flustered DeMarcus Cousins by serving up the Kings center a number of leather sandwiches. I counted five blocks from the hand of The ’Sota Stiemer, and this in only 16 minutes of action. Kirilenko was all over the floor, diving on it twice in one play (love to see that—don’t think Big Al Jefferson dove for a ball in his three years in Minnesota), and Barea was especially pesty, too, with props to Dante Cunningham.

  Note these guys (save Kirilenko) are all bench players. Bench was boss.

Derrick Williams is Pressing

The second-year man looked tight after the game’s opening moments where he got a couple of easy buckets. Adelman gave him just 21 minutes, going with Chase Budinger and Dante Cunningham off the bench in a role similar to Williams’s. Maybe he’s just not there, gamer-wise, but I hope he can be resilient and the Adelman loosens the leash just a hair.

Brandon Roy, the Steadying Hand

  Though B-Roy had on off-game shooting it (4-14 from the field, 0-5 on threes, a number of them wide open), he played solid D, and he was the steadying hand during winning time, getting a big bucket late and taking a charge on the other end that stretched the lead toward its final, 12-point margin. He can’t jump much anymore, it seems, or he seems loath to, but he can glide, and he’s smart about saving his bursts for the right millisecond. Seems a perfect fit for the Rubio-Love style of these Wolves.