Minnesota Timberwolves center Darko Milicic put on a pretty impressive show last night versus the vaunted Los Angeles Lakers and while I’m not sure he will ever post these types of performances on a regular basis it was fantastic to see him display the skills that generated all that hype back in 2003.
Twenty-three points, sixteen boards, five dimes, and six blocks in the Wolves’ 112-95 loss to the Lakers last night for the relentlessly picked-on Milicic and despite these numbers being gathered in a loss you don’t perform this well against L.A. simply on luck – the skill has to be present in some fashion and he showed quite a bit of grit in his matchup with Lakers All-Star center Pau Gasol.
He also joined Kevin Garnett as the only players in Timberwolves history to post a 20 point, 15 rebound, five-assist, and five-block game – Garnett accomplished this six times for Minnesota. Check out the box-score HERE.
A remarkable array of back-to-the-basket moves from Darko in this one ranging from half-hooks to strong, driving lay-ins along with impeccably-timed blocks that included a few on Pau Gasol - judging by the astonishment on Gasol’s face he simply couldn’t believe what had just transpired.
On a night that Kevin Love simply couldn’t put the ball in the hole (0-7 shooting) Milicic put on a performance that must have had Larry Brown cursing somewhere in Charlotte.
Granted, the Lakers won this game rather handily toward the end and actually looked as if they were daring Darko to drive the lane and finish his plays – even accounting for this contest Milicic is shooting an abysmal .374 from the floor – by not rotating to his side of the floor on defense.
Watching Milicic during this game was almost as entertaining as the game itself as he looked particularly gassed after a few hustle buckets and blocked shots and almost appears to be in awe of his own performance with the “Did I just do that?” look written all over his face.
As excellent as his performance and stat-line looked however the Lakers did a pretty terrible job accounting for him most of the game. Gasol didn’t even bother to box out on a few missed shots that Darko gobbled up and while Pau delivered sixteen points and fourteen rebounds himself it had to concern Phil Jackson slightly that his MVP-caliber big man was, for all intents and purposes, dominated for stretches by the lightly regarded Milicic.
If Darko can somehow build upon this performance to even come close to the projected hype he generated back on draft night the Wolves will have a front-line that will be very good in the coming years if everyone stays put and works hard. Beasley scored twenty-two more points and is one of the biggest surprises of this young season while you all know about Kevin Love by now, I’m sure.
Way to be big, Darko. I hope you go on to justify why you were taken between LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. Wipe that smirk off your face, Joe Dumars!
If you’re looking to head in that direction this was a fantastic first step. Well done.
**UPDATE: **If you happened to miss the game and just want to watch highlights of Darko’s performance I found a video compilation HERE. It’s amazing how many fans this guy has despite so few NBA accolades - I guess there’s an underdog-lover hiding within us all!