Shabazz Muhammad badly misses open dunk, but creates wide-open corner 3
“The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself.” Gen. Douglas MacArthur once said that, and any knowledge dropped by a man with a corn-cob pipe that serious merits equally serious consideration. Let’s keep the military legend’s wisdom in mind as we watch Minnesota Timberwolves sophomore forward Shabazz Muhammad press the action and take what the Phoenix Suns defense has given him, only to find so much more than he’d dared hope for:
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OK, obviously Muhammad would have preferred to finish this particular second-quarter drive with the sort of rollicking lefty flush that he’s favored on multiple occasions this season. But if you’re going to blow a wide-open dunk, having the sheer force of your tomahawk send the ball all the way out to the corner where one of your teammates is standing all alone to step into a wide-open 3-pointer seems like about as good a result as you could ask for. I’m willing to bet Shabazz has never happier to see Mo Williams than he was in the split-second after the ball sailed over the rim; he owes Mo a little token of his appreciation for splashing down the triple to end the play, I think.
No such gift basket, however, need be sent to the official scorer at Target Center, who rudely declined to give Muhammad an assist on Williams’ 3-pointer.
On one hand, you can understand the decision — that pretty obviously wasn’t an intended pass — but on the other … I mean, c’mon, man! The ball left his hand and went straight to Williams, who went straight up and made the shot. You can at least make the argument, right? And for a player like Shabazz — who averaged one assist every 36.5 minutes during his lone year at UCLA and logged just six dimes during his rookie season, but has shown some signs of increased willingness to facilitate for a Wolves team that needs every ounce of playmaking it can get without injured guards Ricky Rubio and Kevin Martin — you kind of hate to see a missed opportunity to reinforce the value of dropping off helpers. Had the scorer just been cool for like a second, Muhammad would have finished Wednesday’s 113-111 loss with a new-career-high six assists. Instead, he tied the previous high-water mark (set just last month) with five, which is nice, but not as nice. Alas.
Still, perhaps it’s best to focus less on what didn’t come to pass (phrasing; professional writer) than what did. Muhammad’s continued determination to attack the basket turned into a needed bucket, even if it wasn’t the one he’d intended to produce. Passing mistakes can turn out a lot worse than that. Just ask Brendan Haywood:
Yeah, we’ll take Shabazz’s whoopsie 10 times out of 10.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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