http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2010/02/timberwolves_7.php
Debi Milicica za Minesotu. Mrzi me da prevodim, ali tip je nahvalio Milicica do jaja. Publika mu skandirala, jedino što ne može da izdrzi vise od 10-ak minuta punim tempom! Srećno Darko!
Serbian Stallion
As those crazy plus/minus numbers indicate, despite being so out of game shape that he contracted death rattles and turned a sickly shade of pale gray after ten minutes of action, Darko Milicic played like bananas on fire. On one typical fourth-quarter sequence, as the Wolves put together a 13-0 run, he showed nearly every reason why he was a) the second pick of the draft and b) irresistable to the Timberwolves.
First, with the Wolves on defense down by two, he trapped two straight pick-and-rolls with more energy and skill than we Wolves fans are used to seeing out of our big men (Ryan Hollins, please pay attention). Largely because of these efforts, the Thunder were forced to take a rushed, contested jumper; Darko successfully boxed out his man, the tall, powerful Serge Ibaka (seriously Ryan Hollins, you're watching right?) and gathered in the rebound. Then, on the ensuing offensive possession, he caught the ball in the high post and flicked a no-look bounce pass to a cutting Damien Wilkins for an easy dunk. A relatively athletic seven-footer who can rebound, play defense and pass? This is like crack for these Wolves. The crowd chanted his name; it was like his birthday party.
Most amazing was the way that the offense flowed during Darko's, as opposed to Jefferson's, minutes. The Thunder made a point of denying Big Al the ball by fronting him, most successfully with Nick Collison. But the other Wolves, in Rambis's words „have such tremendous confidence in Al,” have such reverence for his sublime one-on-one skills, that they often become preoccupied with forcing the ball into his hands, forgetting the offense's natural rhythm and movement (this was especially problematic with Jonny Flynn, who continues to have problems giving the O coherence). When the Wolves' guards did manage to enter the ball into the post, the Thunder would immediately trap Al on the baseline forcing him to either make a pass to the weakside (not his strength) or take a difficult jumper. The result was stilted ball-movement and forced, last-second shots.
Darko, by contrast, was neither the focal point of the Wolves' offense, nor of the Thunder's defense. Partly for these reasons and partly because he is a much more instinctive, skilled passer than Al, the ball moved much more naturally when he was in the game. This game, particularly the fourth quarter, provided an interesting window onto the challenge of integrating Jefferson's special set of skills into the Wolves' team concept. The Wolves need to be able to exploit, without becoming enthralled by Big Al's low post scoring ability. And Al himself needs to learn how to make prudent, timely use of those abilities without slowing the offense to a crawl by holding the ball. Can a player whose game is predicated on a slowly unfolding series of post moves fit into a dynamic, fast moving offensive system? Is Darko the real thing, or a stern-faced mirage? We're still figuring this out.
