The Golden State Warriors scored a remarkable 146 points to the Minnesota Timberwolves 105 last light at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA. The game wasn’t too out of reach for Minnesota until Golden State ran up the score in the final minutes of the second quarter to lead 74-55 at the half.  They racked up 22 steals as a team, which marks the most produced in a single game for the franchise since 1989.

“This is what we’re capable of doing,” said Warriors PG Monta Ellis. “We got a lot of deflections, got the fast break going. We did a lot of help defense, rebounded the ball and got out and ran.” Six players for Golden State contributed with double digit performances. Stephen Jackson played floor general with 10 points and 15 assists. Kelenna Azbuike led all in scoring with 31, followed by Anthony Randolph and Anthony Morrow with 23 and 20.

The Timberwolves at 1-7 so far this season will look more long term in regards to the future success of the organization. “We’ve maintained from the beginning this is going to be a process, this is not something that’s going to turn around in the first 10 games of the regular season,” said coach Kurt Rambis. “We knew we were going to take some lumps. Until we have an idea of a nice starting unit and a set rotation where guys can feel comfortable and when they’re going to play, we’re probably going to continue to play up and down and be inconsistent.” 

Minnesota will now look ahead to their matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers this Wednesday while the Warriors travel to Indiana to face the Pacers.

Rajon Rondo took charge as floor general and scored 14 of his 18 points in the third quarter as the Boston Celtics beat out the Minnesota Timberwolves 92-90 yesterday at the Target Center. Rondo and the rest of the starting five all produced double digit numbers for the C’s.

Minnesota looked as though they were the dominant team of the night through the first half. Eventually Boston’s veteran leadership overcame the inexperienced and young Timberwolves roster.

“We played hard, we played with a lot of energy,” said Wolves forward Oleksiy Pecherov. “We just have to learn how to finish these games. We’ve been playing the last three games with great effort. To lose at the end of the game is kind of hard. It’s what we need to learn about.” Pecherov and former Celtics big man Al Jefferson led Minnesota in scoring with 24 and 18.

Kevin Garnett posted a nice stat line against his old squad with 12 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. “I’m so numb when I come in here,” said Garnett. “I sort of put my face on as I say. I get so intense…It’s easy to come in here and focus because I don’t have any of my old teammates here anymore.”

After battling through their first true road test the C’s will welcome the Phoenix Suns to the TD Garden this Friday at 7:30 PM. Boston Celtics tickets are available now!

After a summer of repeating that the NBA is the right place for him this upcoming season, Ricky Rubio just recently backed out after the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Spanish team DKV Joventut reached contract agreements for him to play in the U.S. Rubio told Timberwolves president David Kahn earlier this week that he wanted to stay in Spain for another two years, in order to further develop his game for NBA league play. 

“It appears now we will have a two-year wait. But if you frame it as he’ll be 20 years old and he’ll have two more years to develop, I can think of a lot worse things to happen to us as a franchise,” said Kahn. “It’s just been a tough summer. From an 18-year-old’s perspective and his family’s perspective, it was very nerve-racking.”

Minnesota will now turn to their second choice Johnny Flynn as their starting PG.  Flynn has certainly impressed the T-Wolves during NBA summer league play, winning rookie of the month for July.  Looking ahead the Timberwolves are scheduled to take on the New Jersey Nets at the Target Center October 28th for their first regular season game.

Minnesota Timberwolves tickets are available now!

Minnesota Timberwolves recent draft pick Ricky Rubio is still not sure if a deal can be worked out for him to play in the NBA this season.  DKV Joventut Badalona (his professional team in Spain) still has him under contract for two more seasons, but has offered a $6.6 million buyout option.  Under NBA rules teams can conduct a buyout for no more than $500,000. 

Timberwolves president David Kahn assures fans that they are doing everything they can to improve the situation.  “I believe we kind of know what the parameters are and I think that we have a chance,” said Kahn. “I wouldn’t even begin to state the percentage toward that chance of this being accomplished this season versus next season or even two seasons. It’s still very problematic.” Rubio is currently training with the Spanish national team, and hopes to join the NBA as soon as possible.  After meeting with the Rubio family in Spain, Kahn insisted that Ricky’s single issue preventing him from joining the Wolves is this buyout.  Jonny Flynn is currently expected to run the show at PG for Minnesota this season.  Their first notable pre-season test is set for Friday, October 16th against the Chicago Bulls.

Minnesota Timberwolves regular season tickets are available now!

Less then one month after the Boston Celtics captured their 17th NBA Championship, many teams around the league are already beginning to try and make some adjustments so that they can put themselves in contention for a title run. Many teams have begun to sign their lottery draft picks and several free agents are close to signing multi-year deals with new teams.

It is expected that the Golden State Warriors will sign Corey Maggette to a five year deal estimated right around $50 million dollars. Last season, Maggette averaged 22.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game for the struggling Los Angeles Clippers. At 6-foot-6, great speed and a soft perimeter touch, he would fit right into Golden State coach Don Nelson’s run and gun style of play.

The Philadelphia 76ers continue to make moves, freeing up salary cap space which many suspect is so that they can make a strong offer to Elton Brand to come and play for them. On Tuesday the 76ers traded away forward Rodney Carney, a future first round draft pick and reserve forward Calvin Booth to the Minnesota Timberwolves for a future second round draft pick and $2.8 million dollars. The Sixers now have another $2 million in salary cap space to add to the $11 million in space available that they hope will land them the post player in Brand that they desperately need to become a contender in the East.

First round draft pick O.J. Mayo (third pick overall) signed a multi-year contract with the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday. The Grizzlies pulled off an eight player trade the night of the NBA draft to acquire the rights to the third pick and land Mayo. Memphis also announced the signing of Darrell Arthur, the 27th overall selection of this year’s draft.

The number one and two picks of this years’ NBA Draft have been in the spotlight in the early action of the NBA’s summer league games. Michael Beasley (2nd pick in the draft) scored 28 points in the first game of the summer season for the Miami Heat but then followed it up with only a 9 point outing in the second game a night later. Derek Rose of the Chicago Bulls (1st pick in the draft) scored 10 points in his NBA summer league debut against Miami and Beasley and then followed it up with 9 points in his second game against the Indiana Pacers.

In other league news, the NBA set the new salary cap at $58,680,000 for the 2008-2009 season. This year’s cap went up by more than $3 million dollars over last season’s, which was set at $55.630 million. The minimum team salary for 2008-09 was 75 percent of the cap, or $44.010 million.

The 2008 NBA trade deadline is over and has left some teams feeling confident about making a run into the playoffs, and left others wondering how long it will take the potential talent they traded for to actually turn into the superstars they were hoping they might become.

Sorry Timberwolves fans, but that’s just never going to happen for you.

Unlike years past, the league saw some big names relocate from struggling franchises onto playoff contending teams which is not only great for those organization’s playoff hopes, but its great for the NBA as well. Maybe for one month now we can forget about how overpaid Isaiah Thomas and the Knicks are and focus on the fact that there is actually a race going on in the West this year for the top spot in the playoffs, and the best team is the league, the Celtics, are coming out of the East. Who would have thought?

A huge winner in this years’ trade deadline has to be the L.A. Lakers. Landing Pau Gasol makes them instantly a Western Conference finalist contender. The Lakers have gone 8-1 since they acquired the big man, and that is without a healthy C Andrew Bynum. Pretty much all they had to do to get Gasol was give up Kwame Brown, yea remember him, first pick in the 2001 draft (HA!). That may go down as the worst first pick in the history of the NBA draft, but regardless, dishing him out to Memphis was brilliant because his contract expires at the end of the year anyway.

Another huge trade that was really unexpected, and at this point no one knows how it will pan out for either team, was the Shaquille O’Neal trade to the Phoenix Suns. Shaq is averaging career lows in points and rebounds, hasn’t been completely healthy for two years, and is going to be 36-years old in a few weeks. The Suns gave up former all-star power forward Shawn Marion and a talented point-guard in Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat in exchange for O’Neal. The former league MVP leaves the team with the worst record in the NBA to join the Suns who have the 2nd best record in the West. If neither team makes out in the deal, the person who did was Shaq.

Ben Wallace has found a new place to call home… again. The defensive specialist joins Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers after he was dealt from the Chicago Bulls for four players in total including Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden. The Cavs also traded for Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Joe Smith so the team chemistry may be off for a few weeks, but hopefully they begin to click before the playoffs. The moves they made are definitely an upgrade, but you may not see the results this season.

The biggest name to move right before the deadline may have been future hall of fame point guard Jason Kidd. Kidd was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in an eight player deal that left the New Jersey Nets hurting…even more then they had already been, but with $3 million dollars more in their pockets. The deal also left the Mavs excited for the second half of the season to get underway with Kidd running the show. Mavericks GM Mark Cuban finally got something he wanted, if he couldn’t buy the Cubs, well at least he could buy Jason Kidd… like Jay-Z really needs the money!

Some other moves that were made that wouldn’t be considered blockbuster deals, but are definitely worth mentioning include the San Antonio Spurs landing PF/C Kurt Thomas from the Seattle Supersonics. It’s not a flashy name, but a good move for the Spurs who needed some more size to compete with Shaq and Gasol who they will now be seeing more often playing in the West.

Mike Bibby was traded to the Atlanta Hawks which is an upgrade at point guard from Tyronne Lue who is now with the Sacramento Kings, and the move shows that Atlanta still has signs of life in them and wants to try and sneak in the eight and final spot for the Eastern Conference playoffs. They will need to play better basketball on the road where they are currently at a pathetic 6-19, but Bibby’s leadership could help turn that around.

So when all is said and done with, who were the biggest winner and loser after this year’s trading deadline?

Biggest Loser: The Minnesota Timberwolves – They traded away Gerald Green whom they had just traded for in the off-season when they gave away Kevin Garnett to the Celtics. It seems like this team has been rebuilding for ten years now, and its not going to stop anytime soon.

Biggest Winner: The Los Angeles Lakers – Pau Gasol is going to take a little pressure off of Kobe Bryant, help their team defense, and be the spark to drive the Lakers to the top spot in the Pacific Division. They didn’t give up hardly anything, and they became instant contenders with his addition.

The final two months of the NBA season are going to be filled with lots of action so make sure to contact Ace Ticket if you want to be there and a part of it all!