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Opponents offer own pairs of point guards
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OAKLAND, CALIF. - On Monday, the Timberwolves met a Golden State team that plays point guard-sized Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry together plenty.
On Sunday in Portland, the Trail Blazers did the same, starting a pair of point guards -- Andre Miller and Steve Blake -- together.
Which brings us to the Wolves, who drafted Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn consecutively and then signed Ramon Sessions to a $16 million deal when Rubio stayed in Spain.
Coach Kurt Rambis played those two point guards together for about four minutes in the fourth quarter of Sunday's blowout loss, but he mostly has been reluctant to play the two players in which the team has so much invested together.
He has said he prefers other options at shooting guard, namely Corey Brewer and rookie Wayne Ellington. But here might be the real reason: He's trying to groom Flynn at point guard and apparently doesn't want him picking up bad habits.
"I want Jonny to try and be a point guard," Rambis said of Flynn, who has been more efficient scoring (14.3 points per game entering Monday's 146-105 loss) than distributing the ball (3.1 assists per game). "He's a more natural scorer than Ramon is, so now I'm telling him to go from the point guard position to a position where his mindset is to score. I'm not sure how that would affect things.
"There might be instances where we try it. I'm not ruling it out, but we just haven't got there yet."
Under fireThe Wolves fell to 1-7 after losing by 41 points Monday, their seventh loss in a row. Things could be worse for Rambis. He could be as embattled as Warriors coach Don Nelson.
After Sunday's loss at Sacramento dropped the Warriors to 1-4, guard Stephen Jackson's agent ripped into Nelson, telling ESPN that "no one trusts Don Nelson" anywhere he has been in an NBA career that has included more games played and coached than anybody. Jackson's agent has been trying to get his client traded since last summer.
"It's time to be as patient with this lineup as I can -- I don't have a lot of choice anymore -- and let us play our way out of it, if we can," Nelson said. "I hope we can play consistently better than we have."
Etc.• Scott Roth, an original Wolves player, is a Warriors assistant coach after being head coach of the Bakersfield, Calif., team in the NBA Developmental League last season.
• This was the Wolves' only visit to Golden State this season.
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