| Sunday, February 6
By Mike Monroe
Special to ESPN.com |
|
Two significant things happened in the Western Conference Monday night, at
approximately the same time:
The Minnesota Timberwolves served notice, once and for all, that they
no longer are worried merely about staying ahead of Denver in the race for
the eighth, and final, playoff berth in the Western Conference, and have
their sights set on a much loftier playoff launching pad.
|  | | Kevin Garnett and the Wolves are looking at the West's No. 3 record. |
The Nuggets served notice that they are not content to watch the eight
teams ahead of them in the Western standings run away and have their own
little race for postseason positioning.
While the Timberwolves were toying with the Sacramento Kings at Target Center,
the Nuggets were recording a big victory and, at the same time, making a
trade they believe will optimize their chances of staying in the hunt for
the West's final playoff spot.
Minnesota, in case you hadn't noticed, is the second-hottest team in the
West right now, their 18-4 record over the last five weeks better than any
team in the conference but the Trail Blazers. They have survived their 0-8
early-season bobble that can be blamed mostly on a difficult schedule and
some early-season lineup juggling while Flip Saunders figured out how to
deal with the fact he did not have a center with either the physical health
or the confidence to bang with the big boys of the Western pivot.
At the moment, Kevin Garnett is the best big man in the conference, the
most versatile 7-footer in the entire NBA and gaining in court presence and
leadership quality with each passing week.
Garnett is putting up monster numbers nearly every night. Monday against
the Kings: 31 points and 12 rebounds in a matchup with Chris Webber, who
already has been mentioned as deserving of some MVP consideration this
season.
When his team went through a stretch of 5:16 in the third quarter without
scoring a point (a very difficult thing to do on a night that ends with a
15-point win), Garnett gathered his teammates around him and bellowed: "Come on! this is bull____!"
It was, and his teammates did come on board, though their leader literally
led the way by hitting a 17-foot jumper just moments after zinging their
ears.
Then there is Minnesota's depth. Lose Terrell Brandon to a sprained ankle?
No problem. Bobby Jackson comes off the bench and puts up a triple-double
against the Kings with 17 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds.
And if Garnett gets in foul trouble, the Wolves bring Joe Smith into the
game, a backup who merely was the first player taken in the same awesome
1995 draft that also produced high schooler Garnett.
And lately, Garnett has been able to play out on the floor with assurance
the Wolves weren't going to get brutalized on the boards, and that is
because Radoslav Nesterovic continues to get better and better as the team's
starting center. Nesterovic is still raw and still gets in foul trouble,
but he also is capable of outplaying a Vlade Divac, as he did thoroughly on
Monday night.
To be fair, the Kings were playing back-to-back, having fallen to the
Knicks in the fourth game of what is perhaps the toughest road trip any team will
make all season, a two-week, eight game marathon that won't end until
Sunday in Philadelphia. But the Kings clearly are one of several teams the
Wolves have in their sights at the moment, now just 1½ games behind them and the Sonics in the Western standings.
The T-Wolves want nothing short of a home court advantage in the first
round of the playoffs, which means they must leap-frog Sacramento, Seattle
and one other team -- either Utah or San Antonio. The Lakers and Portland are
the class of the West, so third place is best-case scenario for the Wolves. Of course, if they finished third, that would mean they would have the No.
2 seed, because it would mean the Midwest Division title.
For this season, that is too much to ask of a team that dug itself a big
hole with that eight-game losing streak.
And that brings us to Denver. The Nuggets actually spent most of the first
two months of the season ahead of the Timberwolves in the Western
standings, a solid December leaving them in eighth place when Y2K arrived.
But Denver has hit the skids, losing six in a row and dropping behind the
surging Wolves. The Nuggets remain ninth in the conference, but now trail
eighth-place Phoenix by 4½ games.
Rather than let another season turn hopeless before the All-Star break,
coach and general manager Dan Issel pulled the trigger Monday on a major
trade, sending his No. 2 scorer, Ron Mercer, along with Chauncey Billups
and Johnny Taylor, to Orlando for Tariq Abdul-Wahad and Chris Gatling.
The key to the deal for the Magic clearly was the fact all three of the
players they got are free agents at season's end. While they will want to
retain their rights to Mercer, who made little secret of his desire to play
in a warm climate, they will renounce both Billups and Taylor, leaving even
more salary cap room to go after ... oh, you know who ... that big guy in
San Antonio.
The key for the Nuggets, though, was just as much competitiveness now as
preparing for the future. For sure, the fact they questioned their ability to
keep Mercer from bolting in the offseason without compensation figured
heavily in Denver's thinking.
But in trading two players (Billups and Taylor) who were on the injured
list (Billups for the remainder of the season) and not helping them at the
moment, and getting back a defensive-minded big guard and a 6-10 banger
just three years removed from an All-Star game, the Nuggets made it clear
they still want to be in the playoff hunt in the final month of the season.
But this is certain: They won't be chasing the Timberwolves for that last
spot.
Mike Monroe, who covers the NBA for the Denver Post, writes a Western Conference column for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him at monroe128@go.com |  |
NBA West: Western analysis at midpoint
