The Minnesota Timberwolves opened the Adelman-Rubio-Derrick Williams era with a 117-96 exhibition win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Coach opened with a starting lineup of holdovers Michael Beasley, Wesley Johnson, Kevin Love, Darko Milicic and Luke Ridnour. But he had said prior to the game that starting doesn't matter, it's who finishes.
And the minutes went to: Johnson 30 Beasley 27 Love 27 Barea 26 Rubio 24. Meaning Love in the post and Beasley at the big forward spot, with newcomers manning the guard spots. Williams and Anthony Tolliver also played better than 20 minutes. Of course, it could all change before the Wolves' regular-season opener against Oklahoma City on Monday, December 26.
The Wolves led pretty much throughout including 62-52 at the half and 92-78 after 3. Beasley and Love scored 21 points each, Love led in rebounds with 15, while Rubio had 7 assists and Barea 6. Barea shot 5-for-10 for 14 points, Rubio 1-of-4 for 6.
Player of the Day: Anders Broman, Lakeview Christian, scored 48 in a 99-77 win over Heritage Christian. Broman is well on his way to breaking Kevin Noreen's all-time Minnesota boys career scoring record of 4,000 points, and this effort didn't hurt.
Coach of the Day: Who else but Rick Adelman, Minnesota Timberwolves.
Preview
The Timberwolves finally make their 2011-2012 debut vs. the Milwaukee Bucks at the Target Center. Finally, after 2 years, you'll begin to understand whether Ricky Rubio is the savior of this franchise or one of the biggest busts in NBA history--or, simply, somewhere in between. But you'll also get to see the other new point guard J.J. Barea, rookie Derrick Williams and new coach Rick Adelman. For my money, Adelman is the newcomer who really is going to make a difference, starting tonight.
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