MinnesotaSportsScene.com

The Rick Adelman era officially begins for the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday as his team faces off with Oklahoma City. Unfortunately, although it’s a home game, it’s likely to be a loss since Oklahoma City was selected to be a potential Western Conference champion this season.

Meanwhile, the Wolves’ hopes are just to avoid being the worst team on the NBA again. Especially considering their draft pick isn’t their own, this season. The sins of the Kevin McHale era are still coming home to roost, on that one.

So, out with the eyelash enhancers and the excuses; it’s time to win some game and make a solid step toward being a playoff team.

There’s talent on this roster, a much better coach atop the heap, and a long-awaited Rubio to lead the point. Time to win some games.

Tags: eyelash enhancers, Rick Adelman

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The Minnesota Vikings won their third game of the season on Saturday, but it was hardly a welcome event. Lots of reasons why.

First, Adrian Peterson suffered a really bad ACL injury, and perhaps more damage, and it looks like he’ll be out for at least six months. That means Toby Gerhart needs to finally live up to his potential, not only next week but possibly for the early part of next season.

Second, QB Christian Ponder was knocked out of the game one play later, replaced by Joe Webb, who led Minnesota to a come from behind victory. Credit the Vikings’ secondary for finally showing some signs of life, I guess.

The third reason the win is bad news is that it takes the Vikings completely out of contention for the top pick in the NFL Draft, which they might have had a chance at if Indianapolis were to win next week. Now it’s out of the question.

And if the Vikes win next week, they might not even end up with the second pick, which they need if they intend to use the pick themselves, to restock top-flight talent on their offensive line. If they intend to trade their pick for multiple picks, it would be even better if they had the second overall pick than if they slip down a bit; the lower the pick, the less value it has in a trade.

At worst, the Vikings will pick sixth overall in April.

Tags: Adrian Peterson, Christian Ponder, Joe Webb, Toby Gerhart, Vikings

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It came down to a last-second shot by Michael Beasley, and the game saw K-Love twist his ankle … hopefully not seriously. And the team played the entire game without its Spanish backcourt of J.J. Barea and Ricky Rubio.

Even so, the Rick Adelman-coached Timberwolves won by one point over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Too bad Glen Taylor can’t lobby the NBA to get both preseason games to count. But perhaps with Adelman in charge, that won’t be as critical to reaching a half-decent number of wins this season.

Sure, preseason games are pretty much meaningless. It’s not like K-Love is in need of any Philadelphia wedding photography over this. But man, the Wolves have been so unsuccessful for so long, even two decent preseason wins are enough to get a person fired up a little.

Tags: Kevin Love, Philadelphia wedding photography

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Rick Adelman isn’t the first Timberwolves head coach to preach defense to the Minnesota pro hoops team, and he likely won’t be the last. But he is the first to try teaching defense of last season’s league-worst defensive team in the NBA.

Adelman is hoping to feature the talents of Kevin Love, Michael Beasley and Derrick Williams on the floor at the same time as the team’s three big men up front, with Love shifting to center. But for that to work, he says, the three need to be capable defenders, not just guys who can score in bunches.

Sure, like any good Durham maid service, Kevin Love can clean up on the boards; he led the NBA in rebounds last season. But good defense is more than cleaning up after an opponent has taken a shot. It includes blocking a few of those shots, applying pressure, and forcing them to take off-balance, poor shots that are less likely to go in.

The Wolves’ inability to play defense has flustered many a Wolves head coach; it completely destroyed Kurt Rambis, once believed to be the second coming of Phil Jackson. So it’ll be interesting to see how Adelman handles it.

Tags: Durham maid service, Rick Adelman

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Ricky Rubio finally debuted in a Minnesota Timberwolves jersey last night, and he played 24 minutes off the bench, logging six points and seven assists in Rick Adelman’s new offense. The hiring of coach Adelman could be a godsend for Rubio’s debut, as the 20-year coaching veteran might finally return some stability to a franchise that hasn’t seen a coach last more than two seasons since Flip Saunders was released back in 2005, following a ten-year reign.

It’s taken six years since then, with growing pains including the trade of Kevin Garnett, five different head coach terms prior to Adelman’s arrival, and a complete roster makeover, but finally there seems to be a new, solid nucleus in place.

With Adleman as coach, the Wolves have a lot of interesting looks to toss at teams. The power trio up front appears destined to become Kevin Love, Michael Beasley and Derrick Williams, while the most dynamic back court combo could be a double-point-guard combo of Ricky Rubio and J.J. Barea. That would leave plenty of talent coming off the bench, including Wes Johnson, Anthony Tolliver, Luke Ridenour and Martell Webster, among others. The addition of veterans like Brad Miller are sure to help, as well.

Anyway, the Wolves won the preseason game against Milwaukee by a comfortable margin and will face them one more time, in Milwaukee, before the regular season begins.

For the first time in a while, it seems like a good season to be a Wolves fan.

Tags: Rick Adelman

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No one in the Timberwolves organization is pondering any cheap furniture stores in Los Angeles like the Vikings may be. Not yet.

But the NBA Lockout may cost the Wolves if a resolution isn’t reached soon. Point guard Ricky Rubio, who finally signed an NBA contract last summer with the team that drafted him two years ago, may head back to Spain in order to keep playing and growing his game, unless a settlement on a new CBA is reached soon, according to several online reports.

That could mean that even if a later agreement is reached, the Wolves will be without Rubio’s services for a third year since drafting him. Boy, things just keep getting better in the Nausea Battle Association, don’t they?

Tags: cheap furniture stores in Los Angeles, Ricky Rubio

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It was close – 22-21, to be exact – but the Minnesota Gophers eked out a win over the Iowa Hawkeyes to breathe some like into new coach Jerry Kill’s team. The victory marks the Gophers’ first Big 10 win of the season and the second overall.

Duane Bennet ran for over 100 yards, Kim Royston had a career-high 16 tack les on the game and Marquis Gray looked solid, scoring a touchdown run himself in the victory.

It’s good news for a program in need of some; Minnesota has twice seen Coach Kill leave the sideline with seizures and wins have been hard to come by as he’s begun the task of rebuilding a team left in shambles by the previous regime. If they can add a few more wins, maybe then can even hire a Houston web design company to spruce up their home page.

Tags: Houston web design, Iowa Hawkeyes

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So, there’s at least one bit of good news out of Winter Park this week.

Christian Ponder started, made the Packers sweat despite falling short of a win, and somehow managed not to get charged with a felony, or released. Such was not the case for some of his teammates.

Cornerback Chris Cook has been charged with felony domestic abuse, and while the details aren’t worth going into, his future with the team is certainly pretty doubtful, at this point.

Already released, as of this week, is WR Bernard Berrian, who certainly had it coming after going 25 games without a touchdown catch. He was four years into a six-year deal and spiraling downward quickly.

Without a proven receiver to replace him, the Vikings hope Ponder can make due with Percy Harvin, Michael Jenkins, Greg Camarillo, Devin Aromashodu and Stephen Burton. Of those, Harvin, Jenkins and Burton are the folks in the purple’s three-wide set, but with only Harvin a real threat, you can bet that if the season continues to go dismally for the Vikings, they’ll be hoping Notre Dame’s Saint Paul-native star WR, Michael Floyd, is available when they draft.

He’s projected to go as high as second overall; that’s a position this year’s team has a shot at, as coach Leslie Frazier begins the work of rebuilding the team from the shambles Childress left it in. Rumor is, Brad didn’t even keep the team’s rv insurance up-to-date.

Okay, maybe he wasn’t quite that bad… but he left the team pretty messed up, for sure.

Tags: Bernard Berrian, Chris Cook, Christian Ponder, Minnesota Vikings, rv insurance

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Gophers’ biggest test of the season may be next week’s game against Nebraska. Sure, the team is loaded with poor players left over from the previous regime, but if Minnesota can even look competent next Saturday, it will be a big confidence booster for the team that will inspire players to get plenty of personalized Christmas gifts for her, the her in this case being their girlfriends.

Sure, it’s a tall order. Nebraska is immediately the class act of the Big 10 in its first year immigrating from the Big 12. Looking competent in a loss would certainly help the new coaching staff with recruiting.

Can they do it? It’s gonna be tough.

Tags: >personalized Christmas gifts for her, Gophers, Huskers

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If players and management can’t reach an agreement by Tuesday, NBA Commissioner David Stern has said enough regular season games will be cancelled that it could result in no games will be played until after the first of the year. That means LeBron James might be more involved in guitar lessons than three-point shots this holiday season.

The biggest sticking point remains the division of millions between players and owners. The previous CBA guaranteed players 57 percent. Owners originally wanted to reel that back for 43 percent. Now owners have conceded ground enough to offer a 50-50 split, a seven percent move up.

The players, meanwhile, claim they won’t settle for less than 53 percent, a mere four percent move.

It’s clear that the owners have moved more than the players; a 50-50 split would seem to make sense to most average fans, so the ball appears to be in the players court. If they can move to the middle with owners, this whole thing could be settled soon. If more of the regular season is cancelled, it will be the players who look selfish.

Of course, the players have LeBron James on their side of the table, so maybe that’s inevitable.

Tags: CBA, guitar lessons, LeBron James, lockout

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Even before the first quarter was over, the Minnesota Vikings trailed the Chicago Bears 16-0, and by the time the game entered the fourth quarter, everyone knew there would be no late comeback. So finally, rookie QB Christian Ponder was put out on the field to complete his first regular season NFL pass.

Ponder responded well in a hopeless situation. He completed his first two passes and finished the game completing nine of seventeen passes for 99 yards. Not bad considering it took McNabb three quarters to compile 15 of 19 passes for 138 yards. While Ponder was in the game at a point where the running game had to be abandoned, more or less, it became clear during his time on the field that he’s at least no worse than McNabb while being more sound mechanically, as well as a bit more mobile.

No diamond rings are being given out just yet, but his performance was solid enough that the Vikings are definitely going to be headed for a QB crisis if McNabb comes out as the starter next week.

Tags: Christian Ponder, diamond rings, Donovan McNabb

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Freshman point guard Andre Hollins may get an honor coach Tubby Smith has only extended to a freshman once before in his long and distinguished coaching career: he may be named the Gophers’ regular starter at the position in his first year of college-level play. The only player previously so honored was Rajon Rondo, who went on to become a star with the Boston Celtics.

Now, being named the Gophers’ starter is no guarantee Hollins has similar success inscribed all over his future. He could just as easily face the prospect of spending his life searching for money-saving promo codes to make ends meet. But is it a good start to his college career? It certainly would be.

Hollins is perhaps the best of a weak crop of point guards Smith has recruited since beginning his stint in Minnesota. Last year’s starter, Al Nolan, was recruited by his predecessor, and the heir apparent Smith landed, Devoe Joseph, became impatient waiting his turn at Minnesota and transferred to Oregon last winter.

Yet Smith won’t just give Hollins the ball automatically; he still has to work hard and prove he deserves the nod over Julian Welch and Maverick Ahanmisi.

Tags: Andre Hollins, Julian Welch, Maverick Ahanmisi, promo codes

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