Wolves Back to 0.500 With Loss in Utah

Check back tomorrow for Checking In With Coach Ociepka-Utah for his thoughts on this game and the remaining three games on this road trip.

One of the glaring problems in the second half was Mark Blount’s inability to stay with Mehmet Okur. Okur had his way in the third quarter and there were no adjustments to stop him. During a good chunk of his run, his partner in the low post was Jarron Collins. Why not shift Garnett over to Okur and allow Blount to play defense on Collins, who is nowhere near the offensive threat of Okur.

Utah did a great job of not turning the ball over in this game and taking advantage of Minnesota’s miscues. After playing relatively free and loose in the first half, Minnesota tightened up in the second. Minnesota has lost it’s defensive identity the past few games and must find it quickly or this road trip could end very badly.

There has been some debate as to whether or not Garnett will ever be a player who demands the ball in a game such as this, but whether or not he shows up in crunch time Garnett needs to take more shots in a tough divisional road game. It was great to see the Wolves fight back into this game, but Garnett is needed to push them over the top on night’s like this.

A loss is a loss and this one drops the Wolves back to 0.500. With a day off before facing Portland, Minnesota must find a way to play with the same intensity and heart that they showed in the fourth quarter tonight throughout the entire game.

This certainly was a tough loss for the team, but keep it in perspective. Minnesota is full of talent and is a good defensive team on most nights. As they have hammered on over and over this season, the key to whether or not this year will end in a playoff berth will be consistency.