Just a Typical Night for Wally
In the final five minutes of Game 3, including the last 22.8 seconds of regulation, Wally Szczerbiak gave up a four-point play to Kobe Bryant, committed two turnovers and two personal fouls (one leading to two free throws by Jannero Pargo), had a shot blocked (leading to a 24-second violation) and was called for a technical foul.
Given that the four-point play and first turnover were the main reasons there was an overtime and that the Wolves were forced to play the last 4:48 of the game without Kevin Garnett only because of that overtime, there was the nagging concern that in the event of a Laker victory, Minnesota media members might have been forced to report on the first (justifiable) locker room homicide in NBA history.
Asked about this prospect right after the game, Kendall Gill laughed, though he did not seem to rule out the possibility.
Asked about this prospect the next day, Coach Flip Saunders smiled. “Hey, I’ve said it before. Wally is the kind of player you love and you hate, sometimes on the same play.”
Szczerbiak, forever the Wolves’ whipping boy, has developed such a thick skin that he just might be bulletproof by now.
Besides, the Wolves won anyway.
“Plays happen in games,” Szczerbiak said. “You have to forget about them. You can’t reverse ‘em. You can’t go back in time and change ‘em. You have to live with the call. Guys were picking me up, helping me keep my head in the game. It’s not about me, not about the referees, it’s about this team pulling together and doing what it takes to win.
“You can’t get frustrated. I didn’t touch the guy.”
Szczerbiak insisted that he also hadn’t touched Bryant, was pushed on the play in which he lost the ball out of bounds, and was just trying to get free of Rick Fox when he was called for the technical foul.
Even a devoted Laker fan working the parking ramp at a Marina del Rey hotel told a couple of Minnesota reporters that so many calls went in favor of the Lakers that he, like TNT analyst Charles Barkley, found himself rooting for the Wolves to win.
But why do these kinds of things always happen to Wally? And would someone please remind him that he is not Julius Erving, and that bad things happen almost every time he puts the ball on the floor? Wally had five turnovers in the fourth quarter and overtime of Game 3.
“Sometimes you just have to try to get Wally to slow down a little bit,” Wolves assistant coach Randy Wittman said. “And the other day, he was involved in some calls you had to question. Like the Pargo call.”
“Wally is Wally,” Saunders said. “That means you take the good with the bad. The great thing about Wally is that none of the stuff gets to him. He doesn’t hang his head. He’ll put the ball on the floor, get his feet all tangled up and then you look up and the shot is in.”
*
Dan Barreiro is a columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and can be reached at dbarreiro@startribune.com.
*
THE SCHEDULE
Best-of-seven series (* if necessary)
Game 1;LAKERS 117, at MINNESOTA 98;
Game 2;at MINNESOTA 119, LAKERS 91;
Game 3;MINN. 114, at LAKERS 110 (OT);Timberwolves lead series, 2-1
Game 4;at Lakers;Today;Noon Ch. 7
Game 5;at Minnesota;Tuesday;6:30 Ch. 9, TNT
Game 6;at Lakers;Thursday*;TBA TNT, FSN
Game 7;at Minnesota;Saturday*;TBA TNT or ESPN; Ch. 9