Minnesota Sports: News and Notes 11/15/2007
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Wild Notes: Marian Gaborik returns tonight for only his 11th game of the year. The Wild are 8-2 with him in the line-up, bust have lost 7 of their last 9 games. Have you ever heard the saying…”he makes everyone around him better?” That is true about Marian Gaborik, just not in the same way that you would think. He doesn’t always pass the puck better or put teammates in better position (literally) on the ice, but he does open things up for other players.
Most teams skate 4-lines. Two are “scoring lines”, one is the “checking line” and the other is normally called the “skating line,” even though I’m not quite sure what the “skating line” does. When Marian plays most teams put their top checking line out on the ice. Not only is Marian quick enough to get away from most players, but now teams can’t put that line against the Wild’s other lines. This opens up plays for Bouchard/Rolston/Belanger and the other lines.
These past games without Marian have been dismal. Our lines that normally score have been shutdown by teams top checking lines. Hopefully having Marian in the line-up will open things up.
Vikings Notes: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/reuben_frank/11/14/dolphins/index.html?eref=T1
Read That Article: There is a name midway down the page that should ring some Viking bells. I hope that this is not what we are destined to see in Minnesota.
Twins Notes: The Craig Monroe trade looks a little better today than it did on Tuesday. He is owed $4.5 Million, but because he is arbitration eligible, if he doesn’t agree to a cheaper deal by December 1st, the Twins plan on releasing him. He’s not as expensive as we thought. Also, we don’t give up a PTBNL unless he stays with us.
Wolves Notes: The Wolves finally won. One thing that confuses me is why they have played so few games compared to other teams. They are now 1-5, which isn’t as bad as Seattle who is 1-8. I understand that National TV games sometimes force the non-glitzy teams to get days off, but the Wolves haven’t played as many games, so at least to this point, aren’t as bad as some of those teams. After nine games the wolves could be 4-5, which would be much better than a 1-8 Seattle team.
McCants is shooting very well (11-23, 4-7 3’s) and scored 33 points, while also last night Ricky Davis scored 19 on 5-18 shooting, and 0-4 on 3’s. For the year, Ricky is averaging 15.3 points per game, shooting 40% (34% 3’s), while Rashad is averaging 18.6 points per game and shooting 53% (53% from 3’s also). Ricky is also averaging 15 more minutes per game than Rashad (which is skewed because Rashad scored 8 points in 8 minutes against the Magic).
Comparison Time: KG: Points: 21.0/Game, Rebounds: 14.0/Game, Assists: 4.9/Game, Blocks 1.43/Game Big Al: Points: 20.2/Game, Rebounds: 11.5/Game, Assists: 1.3/Game, Blocks .83/Game. They’re close, but the records are (Celtics 7-0, Wolves 1-5). Note: Theo Ratliff is averaging 3.2 Blocks Per Game.
