From Mad Dog’s blog:
Most of our shoot around practice this morning covered how we were going to contain Shaq, Steve Nash and Amare Stoudamire. The early part of this season was frustrating to say the least because we were ahead in many of our games going into the 4th quarter and then it seemed like somehow we disintegrated in the final minutes of the game. But finally a few days we had a breakout game in Detroit where our defense and our offense came together and we had a nice win.
People ask me about Shaq all the time and I just tell them that off the court, he’s one of the most community oriented and genuine people but on the court he has a “mean streak” (in the positive sense of the word) as some basketball executive types like to say, meaning that he takes the game very seriously and he’s going to do everything within the rules to dominate a game.
Suns blog Bright Side Of The Sun previews tonight’s game.
The Timberwolves, even in the midst of a rebuilding year, took two of four from the Suns in 2007-08. Al Jefferson could not be stopped in those games, though I’m not exactly going to tell you that Amare Stoudemire actually tried. Jefferson averaged over 30 points and 15 rebounds in the four contests.
On top of that, the Suns are coming off a one-point win over the one-win Thunder, one that saw them down double digits in the fourth quarter. And the Timberwolves are playing their first game since dominating the Detroit Pistons in Detroit on Sunday. They’ve won two out of three which, for Minnesota, is a bit of a hot streak. This could be close, and it will be entertaining.
Randy Foye is fresh off a career performance in the win over Detroit. Wednesday night, Foye will face one of the premier point guards in league history against Nash. The former two-time MVP is a crafty guard for the Suns and creates easy, open shots for his team. Late in games, in clutch situations, Nash is always a deadly threat to hit the long ball along with shooting 90 percent from the free throw line. Raja Bell starts at the shooting guard position and can be a deadly 3-point shooter. Bell also possesses the skills to defend some of the top shooting guards in the league but mainly his skill set revolves around spot-up shooting. Mike Miller will have a size advantage and both players like to use screens to get open looks at the basket.
The Phoenix Suns gave center Shaquille O’Neal the night off Tuesday in a 99-98 win at Oklahoma City, and that could mean trouble for the Wolves tonight.
According to the Arizona Republic, O’Neal has averaged 19.3 points and 9.8 rebounds in the four games he has played on at least two days’ rest this season, compared to averages of 6.7 and 5.0 rebounds when he has played on consecutive nights.
Both Rashad McCants (back) and Kevin Ollie (calf) are game-time decisions depending on how they feel after working out at this morning’s shootaround.
UPDATE:
Wolves guard Rashad McCants is active for tonight’s game against the Phoenix Suns after missing the last two because of back spasms.