Minnesota Timberwolves big man Kevin Love has bounced back after struggling through the first two months of his debut season. In December, he felt as though he had already hit the rookie wall.
In the first 13 games in January, Love averaged 12.5 points, 10.1 rebounds and 24 minutes and shot 53.7 percent from the field. The month before, he averaged 6.6 points and shot 38.1 percent over 16 games.
“My teammates are happy with my play, my coaches are happy with my play, and I feel a lot more confident,” Love said. “Just got to keep heading down the right road. There’s going to be some more bumps this rookie season, even probably into next season a little bit, but I’m just looking forward to keep getting better and keep being productive.”
Love’s top priority is to improve his jump shot. He said he’d like to get back to shooting 3-pointers as he did in college and in preseason games this fall.
Rebounding, though, is one skill that usually doesn’t go into a slump. Coach Kevin McHale raves about Love’s instincts and will to find the ball after a miss.
ust eats glass, man,” McHale said. “He goes after it and gets ’em in just a bunch of different ways.”
As of Wednesday, Love was fourth in the league in rebounds per 48 minutes, with 17.5.
“He just always finds a way to get his hands on the ball,” teammate Al Jefferson said.
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STAYING POSITIVE: The New Orleans Hornets surprised the league by earning the second seed in the Western Conference playoffs and falling one victory shy of reaching the conference finals last spring. They hoped they’d only get better.
When they hit the halfway mark of their season with a 101-86 victory over Philadelphia earlier this week, they were 27-14, two games worse than at the same point last year.
Coach Byron Scott said injuries – and the fact that New Orleans isn’t sneaking up on anyone – have a lot to do with his club’s slight drop-off.
“I’m very pleased with where we are now,” Scott said. “Last season everything – the planets, the stars, everything – aligned in a good way. With the injuries we’ve had and the heightened expectations, to be just a couple of games behind is pretty good.”
Starters Tyson Chandler, Peja Stojakovic and David West combined to miss 19 of the Hornets’ first 41 games.
Stojakovic was playing this week, but Chandler (left ankle sprain) and West (back spasms) both went down last week and had yet to return heading into this weekend’s action.
e Hornets have continued to play solid defense through all the lineup shuffling, but sometimes have looked out of synch on offense.
“Our focus will be on the offensive end, but we’ve got to continue to get better on both ends,” Scott said. “We’ve got to get healthy and try and make a big run after the All-Star Break.”
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BRYANT BACK ON TOP: Kobe Bryant once again owns the most popular jersey in the NBA.
The Los Angeles Lakers star regained the top spot from the Boston Celtics’ Kevin Garnett, though Garnett’s team prevailed in last year’s NBA finals.
The rankings are based on sales at the NBA Store in New York and NBAStore.com since the start of the current season.
Lakers merchandise is also the most popular in the league among teams, and Bryant’s teammate Pau Gasol, traded to L.A. last season, moved up to No. 6 from No. 15 on the jersey list.
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James, the New Orleans Hornets’ Chris Paul and the Detroit Pistons’ Allen Iverson rounded out the top five.
The Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose is the only rookie in the top 15 at No. 9. The New York Knicks’ David Lee (No. 14) moved into the top 15 for the first time.
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ans at the Verizon Center oohing-and-ahhing was O’Neal’s thunderous dunk on a hapless McGee in the final two minutes as the Suns pulled away.
Still, O’Neal offered some relative praise for the 7-foot rookie from Nevada.
“They’ve got pretty young guys, but I really like McGee,” O’Neal said. “He reminds me of my youngest son. No, seriously, he’s going to be a special player one day. I like his game.”
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DUNLEAVY EASES BACK: Mike Dunleavy’s legs aren’t back yet and his shooting is a bit off, but his mere presence already has turned into success for the Indiana Pacers.
Dunleavy, the team’s No. 2 scorer last season, missed the first 34 games with soreness in his right knee. The Pacers (18-28) are 5-3 since his return to the starting lineup.
Dunleavy’s scoring is down from the 19.1 points he averaged last season. He’s averaging 14.6 points in 12 games since his return and shooting just 39 percent from the field. But the 6-foot-9 shooting guard is changing the way the offense flows – and the way opponents defend the Pacers.
“It stretches the defense for everybody,” said point guard T.J. Ford. “He’s another ball-handler who can definitely help in pick-and-roll and drive-and-kick.”
Dunleavy is getting closer to full health.
n able to do the lifting with his legs because he’s been rehabbing the knee.”
O’Brien said Dunleavy is fine mentally.
“This offense was designed for Michael,” he said. “That’s not a problem. He’s very cerebral, and he knows exactly what we want to do defensively.”
Ford said time will help Dunleavy’s numbers.
“We’re not all the way there yet, but once we continue to get our timing and play together more minutes and get more practice time, I think we’re going to flow more than we already are,” he said.
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AP Sports Writers Cliff Brunt in Indianapolis, Dave Campbell in Minneapolis, Brett Martel in New Orleans and Joseph White in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
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