Before posting the article; does anyone else find it strange that a team called the Lakers is playing against a team from the state of 10,000 lakes?
Mike Monroe: Lakers too tough for Wolves
San Antonio Express-News
South Texas is rampant with Lakers haters. It seems a natural thing, given the Lakers have eliminated the Spurs from the playoffs three of the past five seasons.
If you are among them, you might want to stop reading.
Anyone, Lakers haters included, counting on the Minnesota Timberwolves to derail the Lakers' run to a fourth NBA title in the past five years is living in a fantasy world.
The Timberwolves don't have the muscle to keep the Lakers from winning the Western Conference finals in six games.
In fact, a Lakers sweep is far more likely than a protracted series.
It is instructive to remember what Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders said back in mid-March, when the Wolves came to San Antonio and got drilled by the Spurs. Saunders was trying his best to ease Michael Olowokandi, Wally Sczerbiak and Troy Hudson back into the player rotation without too abruptly disrupting the chemistry journeymen like Ervin Johnson and Trenton Hassell had engendered with the "Big Three" of Kevin Garnett, Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell.
"In order for us to get where we want to get and be what we want to be, all three of those guys (Olowokandi, Hudson and Sczerbiak) have to be integral parts of what we're doing," Saunders said. "So, sometimes we have to bite our lip a little bit and just play them and endure a little pain."
At the time, the pain derived from the fact none of the three had enough time with their teammates to mesh seamlessly with what the Wolves wanted to do at both ends of the court. Now the pain is from the realization Olowokandi was, and is, a complete bust of a free-agent acquisition. The Wolves' threshold for pain got a lot lower when the playoffs arrived. Olowokandi is nailed to the bench. Hudson, Minnesota's best clutch shooter against the Lakers in last year's playoff matchup, is out for the playoffs with an injury. Sczerbiak's court time is limited by his defensive ineptitude and relative lack of production.
Kevin McHale maneuvered last summer to give Garnett the help he needed to finally get out of the first round of the playoffs. That's why he brought Sprewell and Cassell to the Land of 10,000 Lakes, and the wheeling and dealing worked. The Wolves are in the Western finals.
But Olowokandi was supposed to be the big man capable of dealing with Shaquille O'Neal. Turns out he couldn't even deal with Vlade Divac and Brad Miller. O'Neal, by the way, had his career-high game against Olowokandi when the latter played for the Clippers.
Garnett's performance in Wednesday's Game 7 forever buried whatever unwarranted reputation remained that he was incapable of putting the Wolves on his back to carry them to playoff victories. Garnett took most of the crunch-time shots for the Wolves, including an amazing, at-the-shot-clock-buzzer 3-pointer that turned out to be the real game-winner.
Against the Lakers, Garnett will have to deal with the same muscling and chopping tactics from Karl Malone that frustrated the Spurs' Tim Duncan for six games of the conference semifinals. Malone has had nearly a week to rest the sprained right ankle he finally revealed after Game 6 had been slowing him down most of the series. He will look to be more offensive-minded in this next series, which means the Wolves will have some defensive choices to make.
Johnson can't match O'Neal's muscle. The fact the Lakers rediscovered that their triangle offense looks considerably more geometric when O'Neal is the hypotenuse is bad news for the Wolves' center. It also means Garnett is going to have to help Johnson. That means a rejuvenated Malone figures to score plenty when left unguarded.
Hassell, Minnesota's version of Bruce Bowen, did great work on Denver's Carmelo Anthony in the first round and Stojakovic in the last round. As Bowen discovered, Kobe Bryant is capable of scoring against anyone, no matter how tight the defense. Saunders will give Sprewell, who has the length and quickness to bother Bryant, a turn or two on Bryant, but it's not apt to matter.
Cassell deserved his All-Star spot instead of Gary Payton this season, but his back injury swings the edge in that matchup back to Payton, whose confidence wavered only momentarily after he was scorched by Tony Parker in the first two games against the Spurs.
Off the bench the Wolves have defensively deficient Fred Hoiberg and Sczerbiak, along with Mark Madsen, whom the Lakers allowed to leave.
The Lakers, of course, have Derek Fisher.
You Lakers haters really don't want to read any more about him, do you?
Here is the good news for those who can't stand purple and gold: The Spurs-Lakers conference semis was not the NBA Finals, as so many had insisted. However, it was the true Western Conference finals.
Both Indiana and Detroit are capable of beating the Lakers, especially the Pacers, who will have homecourt advantage.
Relax for the next couple of weeks and save that venom for NBA Finals 2004.
