Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Preseason: Wolves 98, Bucks 93

Click here for an AP recap of the game.
Steve Aschburner/Star Tribune also has a list of highlights from tonight.

Ricky Davis was stellar. Alas, Randy Foye was not. Second rounder Craig Smith, however, was very impressive. It's no wonder Coach Casey indicated they don't have plans to send him to the D-League.

Along with realizing that Mark Blount is one of the starters, hearing exponentially more applause for Paul Shirley than for Marko Jaric was both the saddest and most humorous part of the evening. Dr. Boss pointing out that billionaire owner Glen Taylor, who almost got nailed by the ball, was wearing the same sweater he wore the last couple times we saw him at the Target Center was a close second.

Mark Blount's biggest contribution was demonstrating that the refs are serious about giving out technicals for "showboating or excessive reactions after officials make calls." Blount received his second technical for "muttering" about a call and was promptly ejected.

Garnett's response to the crackdown:
"The people that get the techs are emotional people. Do we cross the line sometimes? We walk it. ... If you want to fine the individual person, that's what it is,'' Garnett said. "To the fact that you can't really speak to the refs, the refs don't want to hear it. That's almost like Communism. That's like Castro."

Garnett also had something to say about the more stringent dress code being enforced this season:
"That's not basketball,'' Garnett said. "This league is about basketball, guys who can play it at the highest level. We shouldn't be worried about this nit-picky (stuff)."