Waitin' For the A Game

     When I played high school ball in small-town southwestern Minnesota in the early 1990s, we called the game before the varsity game (or the A game) the B game. The B game was waged by mostly freshmen and sophomores, maybe the occasional unfortunate junior or up-and-coming eighth grader. These games were fine and dandy, and sometimes the action was both fierce and skillfully rendered. But there were also nights where the action was, well...B.
     After the end of last night's Timberwolves/Bobschits game, I was waiting for the A game. Except that the Bobs' 89-87 victory over the Wolves was the A game, apparently.
     Yeah, the T-Wolves' comeback was great, the resolve of the remaining injury-free players was fine, Kemba Walker's game-winning shot with less than a second left was exciting. But this was a B game.
     The way the Wolves failed to take over this game throughout the entire second half was pretty deplorable. The Bobschits even gave the Wolves three legitimate chances to win: the phantom timeout call by that clueless Jackson guy, Ramon Sessions (an 83% foul shooter) bricking two clutch free throws, and Tyrus Thomas's ridiculous falling-out-of-bounds play.
     And the Tenacious Wolves were culpable. You don't win by shooting free throws like you're wearing a blindfold (talking to you Lou Amundson and Greg Steimsma, among others), throwing the ball away with limp-ass passes (c'mon Alexey Shved and Luke Ridnour!), or choking away clutch opportunities to make yourself look good (did your first of two crunchtime free throws actually hit the backboard first, Derrick Williams?!). Kirilenko had a nice game in some respects, but he was no prince at the line either (5-9, gross) and had five turnovers.
     I won't go on, because it's just one game, but this wasn't to too impressive for being played under the auspices of an NBA game. An NBA A game, anyway.
P.S.: Hear the Woofs are looking into Josh Howard. All I can say about that is, Ugh. I mean, I suppose the injury pile-up necessitates the move, but in previous stints in the League, Howard has been a bit of a clown whose best play peaked some five years ago. I'd be more inclined to go for Mickael Pietrus, a guy who's had some meaningful play in the playoffs the past couple years and isn't afraid to D it up a little bit. Or what about Adam Morrison, if you're looking for some offense? Guy had a decent preseason in his comeback with the Blazers before getting cut right before the season. Has the West Coast ties that Adelman seems to like, reasonable youthfulness, intrigue. I'd even take somebody like Michael Redd over Josh Howard.