Posts Tagged ‘J.J. Barea’

< Older Entries
Newer Entries >

Adelman Has Beat-Up Wolves Believing

November 13, 2012  ·  2:40AM

DALLAS -- Rick Adelman is brewing something special with the Minnesota Timberwolves. So much so that one might wonder if a certain Buss family in L.A. might regret not hiring their former Sacramento adversary when they had the chance.

No one in Minneapolis is complaining.

After Monday night’s impressive 90-82 road victory against the Dallas Mavericks, the “Wonder-Wolves” are off to a 5-2 start despite having nearly as many players injured as games played. Everybody knew the team would be without stars Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love to start the season. But, with each passing game another player goes down with an injured body part.

Brandon Roy. J.J. Barea. Chase Budinger. That’s five rotation players, four starters when counting Rubio and Love, that were not available when Minnesota suited up in Dallas. Yet, they led 45-39 at the half and went up by 13 in the third quarter shortly before yet another Wolves player went down. Center Nikola Pekovic, in the process of punishing Dallas in the paint with 20 points, sprained an ankle and limped to the locker room — done for the night.

Still, the Wolves held tight and never allowed the Mavs, smarting from their own injury woes with Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion nursing knee injuries, to get closer than six points down the stretch. A glance at the box score would hardly indicate a depleted roster: Five players scored in double figures — with the Russian duo of Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved each going for 16 — they shot 46.2 percent from the floor, got to the free throw line 32 times and outrebounded Dallas 49-35.

Adelman said he hopes Roy and Barea can return for Wednesday’s home game against Charlotte. Pekovic reported after the game that his ankle is not bad, but he didn’t care to put a timetable on any possible absence. At this rate, even Adelman can only shake his head in disbelief.

“We have three point guards and three centers, and our roster is kind of not great right now,” Adelman said before the game, semi-joking about the first part of the sentence and not at all about the latter. “But you just have to get through it and you have to keep the team believing that they can go out and win, because you can.”

The impressive Wolves proved it again Monday night.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (7) /

Dirk Nowitzki: Recovery Taking Longer Than Expected

November 12, 2012  ·  11:06PM

DALLAS — Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki, who continues to rehab from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, said the recovery process is taking longer than he expected.

Nowitzki spoke for the first time since shortly after the Oct. 19 procedure during the Mavs’ broadcast Monday night of their game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Fox Sports Southwest. Team doctors initially said Nowitzki would be able to resume basketball activities in six weeks.

“At this point, I’ve got stay patient and do what the doctors and trainers tell me; just keep rehabbing and see how long it is,” Nowitzki said. “When I originally heard three-to-six weeks, in my mind I’m thinking ‘in two weeks I’m back.’ But unfortunately, this is not how it happens. My first knee surgery of my career and unfortunately this stuff takes longer than we expected.

“So I’ve got to be patient, do the smart thing and keep working.”

The Mavs need the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, badly. Also without forward Shawn Marion (left MCL sprain) for a third consecutive game, Dallas (4-4) lost its third in a row, 90-82, to a limping, but game T’Wolves squad that played without J.J. Barea, Brandon Roy and Chase Budinger, and then lost center Nikola Pekovic to a sprained ankle in the third quarter. Pekovic led the Wolves with 20 points. Of course, Minnesota was already without stars Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio, yet is off to a 5-2 start.

Nowitzki was in the Mavs’ pre-game locker room briefly Monday between workout sessions. He said on the broadcast that he recently started running in the pool, adding the activity to riding a stationary bike. He said he was hopeful of increasing his exercises next week.

Nowitzki has been incredibly durable throughout his career. He’s dealt mostly with ankle sprains at points during his previous 14 seasons, but he always managed to return to action quicker than expected.

He began to have trouble with his right knee at the start of training camp last season. He believed the quick start to the season after the lockout and a brief training camp irritated his knee, causing swelling and discomfort. He missed four games early on to help strengthen the knee. He suffered similar issues early during this training camp and hoped to avoid surgery.

Nowitzki, who did not indicate that he’s had any setbacks, said it’s been difficult from a mental standpoint to be patient during the rehab process when he’d prefer to be on the floor with a team that is blending nine new players.

“I just want to be out there,” Nowitzki said. “To me, the recovery is not as quick as I was expecting. I had some down days, so I’m working on being in a good mood and still firing the guys up and being there every day, working out and working hard on some other stuff.”

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (23) /

Forget Holding the Fort, Timberwolves Fighting to Contend

November 10, 2012  ·  2:16AM





HANG TIME SOUTHWEST — If the Los Angeles Lakers were the unlikeliest team to start the season 1-4, then the Minnesota Timberwolves had to be voted most unlikely to start 4-1.

Not with double-double machine Kevin Love, and their fancy-pants playmaker Ricky Rubio nursing injuries for who knows still how long. Yet here are those frisky T’Wolves, victorious in four of their first five games, winning dramatically, slapping high-fives and hugs all around beneath by a roaring — yes, roaring — Target Center crowd.

“We’re a really resilient team, we’re a deep team,” Wolves newcomer Chase Budinger said after Friday’s latest triumph, secured when he somehow slipped the Indiana Pacers’ defense and received a brilliant pass from Andrei Kirilenko for the game-winning layup with less than a second to spare. “What you are seeing right now is guys are stepping up as guys are getting hurt and going down. Each and every game it seems like there is a new guy stepping up for this team. That’s why we are getting wins.”

The 96-94 win over the Pacers is a prime example. Backup point guard J.J. Barea was out with a foot sprain, leaving coach Rick Adelman to turn to Malcolm Lee behind Luke Ridnour. Two guard Brandon Roy stayed in the locker room after halftime because of a sore right knee, a risk the Wolves accepted when they signed the 28-year-old out of early retirement, a predicament they will carefully monitor.

Budinger led the Wolves with 18 points, becoming the fifth player in five games to finish with the honor. Entering the game, six players were averaging between Barea’s 9.3 points and center Nikola Pekovic’s 13.8.

Five of the 10 players Adelman used Friday night scored in double figures, the Wolves shot 50 percent from the floor and trekked to the free throw line 28 times, making 24. And somehow Adelman didn’t use anyone as many as 37 minutes.

No, Minnesota’s early schedule hasn’t been a murderer’s row. But, Budinger’s right, they’ve been resilient, coming back from 22 to knock off the Nets in Brooklyn, shaking off injuries and winning three of four by no fewer than 11 points.

“I like to win,” Kirilenko said. “I think everyone here did such a great job in the preseason and did such a great job to get together as a team, and I guess this is the payoff. It’s just the start of the season and our two best players are out. We have to do something and get those wins no matter what.”

Think it can’t continue? Check out the schedule for the rest of November. At worst, it’s manageable. Of the 10 games left this month, four are against playoff teams, starting at the Derrick Rose-less Chicago Bulls on Saturday night. They play at transitioning Dallas without Dirk Nowitzki on Monday, and Denver and the Los Angeles Clippers are sprinkled in among a slew of lottery teams.

If this scrappy group brimming with confidence can keep it up until their two studs return, the T’Wolves won’t yet be hailed as the team to beat in the West, but you’ll certainly want to set your DVRs.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (14) /

Healthy Barea Critical To Wolves

November 5, 2012  ·  12:43PM




HANG TIME SOUTHWEST – About five hours before Sunday’s tip at Toronto, Minnesota Timberwolves point guard J.J. Barea was chirping away about how good his body feels, how his killer quickness is back and the excitement about his club’s chances for a breakthrough season, even with stars Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio sidelined.

After a lockout-shortened and injury-riddled season — one that he called “brutal” and one that limited him to just 41 of 66 games after he signed a four-year, $19 million contract to join the Timberwolves — Barea focused on getting his body right.

“For me, it was more about feeling good, getting quicker again and feeling good and feeling fast again, and that’s pretty much what I did,” Barea told NBA.com in a phone conversation Sunday afternoon. “I feel great right now, so hopefully I can keep it going.”

And then midway through the second quarter of a one-point game with the Raptors, Barea drove the baseline and launched his compact body — listed at 6-foot, but realistically no taller than 5-foot-9 — and scored at the rim. But he crashed to the court and then appeared to get kicked in the head before his head thumped the hardwood. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (13) /

Rubio’s knee, not timetable, matters

September 28, 2012  ·  3:15PM

 

They waited two years for him after spending the No. 5 pick in the 2009 draft on a worth-the-gamble move. What’s the big deal if the Minnesota Timberwolves have to wait another three months? Or even four?

Ricky Rubio wants to be ready when he’s ready.

Only days shy of a training camp he’ll experience mostly as a bystander, Rubio continued his rehabilitation from knee surgery at the team’s practice facility. He is one of several NBA guards (Derrick Rose, Eric Maynor, Iman Schumpert) fighting back from torn ligaments, each on a timetable dictated less by the date of his injury than his body’s reaction to the repair.

Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune caught up with Rubio Thursday:

Back running on his surgically repaired knee for the third week now, … Rubio stopped long enough Thursday at Target Center to show off three scars that stripe his left leg and said he could play his next NBA game by December, nine months after he tore two ligaments there.

“I don’t know, they say December, but it could be January,” he said. “I don’t want to say a time because I don’t want to rush it. I want to be ready when I am ready.” (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (4) /

Report: Kidd Spurns Mavs For Knicks

July 5, 2012  ·  5:31PM




On Wednesday night, most everyone believed that Mavericks free agent Jason Kidd would be coming back to Dallas next season for what league sources believed would be a three-year, $9.5 million deal. But on Thursday, according to a source, Kidd changed his mind and accepted a similar deal to play with the Knicks next season, leaving Dallas in the lurch for a starting point guard for next season.

Kidd, second on the NBA’s all-time list in assists and steals, will bring veteran poise and leadership to the Knicks next season, whether he is starting or coming off the bench. New York struggled to find consistent, quality point guard play for most of the season, other than when Jeremy Lin captivated the nation in February with a sterling stretch of play. The Knicks are likely to match any offer for Lin, a restricted free agent who met with the Rockets Wednesday, and who Knicks coach Mike Woodson called his unequivocal starter for next season.

Kidd only averaged 6.2 points and 5.5 assists for Dallas last season, the lowest averages of his career in those stats, and he is not the defensive force he was when he starred with the New Jersey Nets. But he’s still an outstanding passer, a much improved perimeter shooter compared to earlier in his career and a proven leader.

A full season of a Lin-Kidd tandem at the point, along with a return to health of guard Iman Shumpert–who tore knee ligaments during the Knicks’ first-round loss to Miami–could make New York a formidable challenger in the east next season.

The 39-year-old Kidd may have been influenced by Dallas’ inability to secure the services of free agents despite clearing significant cap room last season by not bringing back key components of the team that won the NBA title in 2011. The Mavericks let starting center Tyson Chandler go to New York, and didn’t make substantial offers for guard J.J. Barea, who signed with Minnesota. Instead, the Mavericks hoped they’d be able to convince free agent Deron Williams to come.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Free Agency 2012 / Comments (105) /

PJax: Give Bynum Some Space

April 10, 2012  ·  10:22AM





HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — The man who coached Dennis Rodman and Metta World Peace (back when he was just Ron Artest) is telling us that Andrew Bynum is no big deal.

Phil Jackson was contacted recently by the Los Angeles Times and basically had this message regarding the increasingly volatile and unpredictable Laker center: chill.

The former Lakers coach told The Times he enjoyed seeing Bynum’s development, even if it had been filled with inexplicable turns the last few weeks.

“Bynum is not quite mature, but everyone should relax and watch him grow up,” Jackson said via email. “This year has been a big step for him offensively…nice to see…and when he takes up the mantle as defensive captain the Lakers can get back in the hunt.”

Jackson was strict with Bynum while coaching him for six seasons, prodding him about his fitness, getting more rebounds and playing better defense.

Bynum’s on-court troubles began last month when he tossed up a three-point shot early in the third quarter of a close game against Golden State. Bynum didn’t exactly apologize afterward after being yanked from the game.

He was fined a total of either $5,000 or $7,500 by the team for his conduct relating to that game, which included shrugging and frowning for a TV camera while sitting at the end of the bench.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (39) /

Air Check: We’re All So Proud

March 6, 2012  ·  12:00PM

HANG TIME NEW JERSEY – For NBA fans like us, there’s nothing better than League Pass. Having the ability to watch every game every night (and then again the next day) is heaven.

Of course, with local broadcasts, you get local broadcasters, which can be good and bad. It can be good, because these guys know their teams better than most national broadcasters. It can be bad, because these guys love their teams more than most national broadcasters. And they’re usually not afraid to show that love.

This season, we’re highlighting the good, the bad and the ugly of League Pass here on the Hang Time Blog. So here are five things from the last few weeks that made us laugh, made us smarter or made us shake our heads.

Air Check archive: Volume 1 | Volume 2

No. 5 – Not quite.
Game: Houston @ Portland, Feb. 8
Broadcast: Portland
It’s refreshing when a local analyst says that his own team should have been called for a foul. But when Mike Rice compares a little contact from LaMarcus Aldridge to Kevin Love‘s face stomp of Luis Scola a few days earlier, he gets an appropriate reaction from Mike Barrett.


You’ve gotta love Barrett rolling straight into the play-by-play after dismissing Rice’s comparison with a subtle “Not quite.”

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Air Check / Comments (6) /

Kahn’s Point Guard Love Paying Off

February 23, 2012  ·  10:56AM





ORLANDO – Few men love point guards the way Minnesota Timberwolves general manager David Kahn does. He is, after all, the man who selected three in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft (Ricky Rubio, Jonny Flynn and Ty Lawson) and has taken the heat from us over the years for his fetish.

Kahn’s acquired (and traded) a few point guards during his tenure as well. And Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman routinely deploys three (Rubio, Luke Ridnour and J.J. Barea) at a time late in games.

Kahn’s crazy, point guard-fueled master plan seems to be working, though. The Timberwolves head into All-Star weekend at .500 or better for the first time since the 2004-05 season, courtesy of Ridnour’s buzzer beater last night over Utah.

We’re not ready to proclaim this a playoff team, but with a bevy of options in the backcourt and All-Star Kevin Love, promising rookie Derrick Williams and surprise talent like Nikola Pekovic to flesh out the frontcourt mix, this team is well on its way to becoming a legitimate factor in the playoff race for seasons to come.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized / Comments (43) /

The Champs Are (Still) Here!

February 14, 2012  ·  10:30AM





HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – “This is how we do it!”

If you walk into the Dallas Mavericks’ locker room anytime soon and hear that old Montell Jordan song playing in the background, it’s with good reason.

Because once again the Mavericks, despite all the critics and naysayers (yours truly included) that assumed they were sacrificing this season by allowing a championship team to break apart, are right in the thick of the race as the Western Conference standings start to take shape.

Things looked shaky early on. Tyson Chandler, J.J. Barea, DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler — all guys that played a role in the Mavericks’ championship season a year ago — all hit the door when free agency cranked up. It takes bold leadership to buck conventional wisdom to go in a different direction so soon after snagging basketball’s Holy Grail.

But the Mavericks under owner Mark Cuban have always been run by anything but conventional wisdom. With Rick Carlisle steering them through their early season struggles, they lost both of their preseason games, their first three regular season games and five of their first eight which cranked up the chatter about a championship hangover.

Dirk Nowitzki wasn’t himself, wasn’t in championship shape and the Mavericks championship luster was lost in the shadow of bigger stories in Los Angeles (Clippers and Lakers) and Denver, to start the season.

I fired off an email to my main man and Mavs.com’s writer Earl K. Sneed asking him if he had any idea what the plan was this season. He responded instantly, making it clear to me that were was indeed a plan and that he was more than willing to place his faith in Cuban and Carlisle in the days and weeks ahead, especially after what we witnessed covering the Mavericks’ title run last season.

He was right. They’ve gotten back to normal here lately, though, winning four straight games and 18 of their last 24. And now that Nowitzki is back to  normal, the champs can entertain thoughts of mounting a serious defense of their title in a season that was supposed to be about rebuilding.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in HT News / Comments (43) /

< Older Entries
Newer Entries >