[外電] Wolves: Emotions take over
http://www.startribune.com/511/story/948126.html
First Ricky Davis walked out on his team in the third quarter. Then Kevin
Garnett was ejected in the fourth.
And still the remaining Timberwolves kept going, through the end of
regulation, through their fifth overtime period in a span of 17 days and
halfway through a second five-minute session before falling behind for good
and losing to the Detroit Pistons 104-98 at Target Center Friday night.
With their best player (Garnett) ejected for his role in a skirmish with
barely five minutes left in the last quarter of a tie game, with their most
enigmatic player (Davis) clocking out in a fuss on the Minnesota bench, the
Wolves (20-18) hung in against the more seasoned Detroit team they had beaten
in overtime Monday.
Sparked by rookie guard Randy Foye, they rallied from a 76-73 deficit in
regulation and closed an 86-81 gap deep into the first OT. But when Tayshaun
Prince and Rasheed Wallace made baskets sandwiched around Prince's missed
free throw, which bounced out of bounds off Foye, the Pistons (22-16) went up
99-93 with 2:32 left.
That lead was too much for the Wolves to overcome this time.
Especially without Garnett and Davis. Garnett was ejected along with
Detroit's Antonio McDyess with 5:18 left in the fourth after an exchange of
shoves that escalated into at least one swing from the Wolves star after he
threw the basketball off McDyess' chest from point-blank range. The Pistons'
reserve big man had shoved Minnesota's Mark Madsen, so Garnett pushed
McDyess, who pushed back, triggering Garnett's ball assault.
"I pushed Mark Madsen. He flopped," McDyess said afterward. "That was pretty
much the sum of it. But I looked around and felt someone pushing me in the
back, and it was KG. He said, 'That's bull' and I said, 'All right,' and he
threw the ball at my face.
"It looked like he took a little swing when I took a look at the film. I
wasn't going to take a swing because it was a waste of time. What for?"
McDyess reportedly showed restraint even as the combatants were separated. He
told reporters that a fan on the sideline opposite the Wolves bench
challenged him to fight and directed a racial slur at him. "I thought [Ron]
Artest," McDyess said, referring to the former Indiana player who was part of
the infamous Pistons-Pacers melee two seasons ago.
Garnett left Target Center before reporters could question him. His
availability for the team's five-games-in-seven-nights West Coast trip that
begins Sunday at Phoenix won't be known until the NBA reviews video of the
skirmish. A fine is almost certain, a suspension probable, although coach
Dwane Casey did some postgame damage control.
"I don't think it was a fight. It was more of a commotion afterwards than a
skirmish," Casey said. "It's tough to lose your leader like that, but you win
together, you lose together."
Davis showed zero togetherness when he left the court and headed through the
tunnel after being subbed out with 8:33 left in the third quarter. Forward
Justin Reed brought Davis back to the bench.
"I told him, 'A lot of guys get unhappy,'" Reed said. "But it's between him
and the coach."
Witnesses close to the bench said Davis refused to go back into the game.
Casey said that didn't matter anyway - Davis, who finished with five points
in 23 minutes, no longer had the option because the coach decided to stick
with others.
"I just decided not to play him. I have that right," Casey said. "I didn't
like his focus coming out in the third quarter. ... I decided to go with guys
who were competing."
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 218.170.233.42
Timberwolves 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章
