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Game previews:
But whether it is fatigue, or injury (he was recently sidelined with a bad hip that McHale says is still bothering him), or the psychological sapping of losing, Randy Foye has regressed, significantly enough to compel questions about whether that January dazzle was a flash in the pan, the outlier in an otherwise desultory season.
Another player who appears to have hit the wall is forward Ryan Gomes, who scored eight points against the Thunder and hit just 4 of 12 shots.
He and Foye sat out the entire fourth quarter, along with starters Mike Miller and Sebastian Telfair, and McHale said he might have to look at substituting players earlier.
“To be truthful and in defense of Randy, he hurt his hip and he sprained his ankle,” McHale said. “He doesn’t say anything; you never know when Randy’s hurt. He doesn’t tell you much, (but) I assume he’s a little bit dinged-up, too. I was trying to do a little individual stuff with him yesterday and you could just tell he was laboring.”
Now, the Thunder, after a 3-29 start, has pulled dead even with the Wolves in the standings, each with a 20-50 record. If the regular season ended today, they’d be tied in line for the fifth pick in the June draft.
Those of you fretting about the Wolves’ lottery odds, don’t worry. The Thunder will leave the Wolves in the dust before this is all over and only Washington, Sacramento, Memphis and the Clippers will stand between them for the best odds at the No. 1 pick.
The Thunder’s two games at the Target Center were extreme opposites. On a frigid Jan. 7 night, temperatures hovering near zero, Minnesota romped to a 42-point win. Ten weeks later, on a warm 62-degree day, Oklahoma City led by 32 points at one point en route to a 97-90 win.
“It was good to get some revenge on them,” the Thunder’s Jeff Green said.
Certainly not for their performance: The Minnesota Timberwolves are putting the finishing touches on yet another wretched record and a return trip to the NBA Draft lottery.
Obviously not for their luck: Just when they seemed to be getting something together in January, Al Jefferson got hurt and the Wolves’ season went down the toilet.
But definitely for being imaginative: The Timberwolves’ economy-based season-ticket pitch for next season is a stroke of genius.