Last night Jonny Flynn and the Minnesota Timberwolves took on the Los Angeles Clippers at home in the Target Center. The first quarter of the game went really well, the Wolves matched the Clippers point for point and were even up by two points at the buzzer. But things went downhill in a hurry over the final three frames. The Clippers stepped their game up and the Wolves never seemed to match their intensity.
Flynn was held to just 9 points on 3 for 12 shooting, one of his worst nights since his NBA rookie seasons started. With 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 turnovers Flynn really did nothing noteworthy for the night.
Wolves veteran and Flynn’s mentor Kevin Love couldn’t even redeem the team with his double-double. Timberwolves Head Coach Kurt Rambis told a reporter after the game, “This was a big step backwards in my mind. Both effort-wise and defensive-wise, we took a step backwards.”
After Flynn’s career- high 28 points against the Utah Jazz earlier in the week, fans and critics are saying the step backwards was really on Flynn. While no one player can carry a team, it’s clear that this struggling ball club has put a lot of weight on the shoulders on Flynn and on Love and only time will tell if they can handle the added pressure. Last night was not positive indication.
Having said that let’s not forget that highly touted or not, the Niagara Falls native is still a rookie. His 14.0 points per game is third among all NBA first year players and 4.3 assists per night is fourth best. Unfortunately Flynn really needs to work on taking better care of the ball as his 81 turnovers this year lead all rookies by a wide margin.
It was not only a tough night for Flynn but for his high school alum, Niagara Falls. They lost in a classic last night to Nichols.
Flynn and the Timber wolves (4-22) take on the Kings and Celtics this weekend.
(Beth Hanigan is a communications and marketing student at the University of Saint Thomas and a sports writing intern for Ticket King. She is covering Jonny Flynn for Buffalo Sports Daily and also has an outstanding Timerwolves blog you can read right here.)
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