[river09Participant]

Is the Wolves frontcourt combination of Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic really this deadly? Combined for 63 points and 29 rebounds 2 assists 3 steals and 5 blocks tonight versus the Rockets.. Love shot 11-16 from the floor (2-4 from 3), Pek shot 13-20 from the floor. Pekovic is a downright bull down low, no one can push him out from under the basket. He has been feasting on opposing centers lately, the houston forwards were no match just getting tossed around all night. Love complements him perfectly with his all around skills outside and in… 
 

Is there a center in the league that’s physically stronger than Pekovic? His strength is turning into a real weapon. And not one that is just potential that doesn’t translate to results, the results are already pretty clear.. 

 

Incidentally Wolves are 2 wins away from their total of 17 they had last year.. And they’re doing that with Luke Ridnour playing SG……. and JR Smith went to the knicks…. 

[DipoTimeParticipant]

 I agree for the most part about what you say about Pekovic. He is really big, strong, and physical.. but come on Dwight Howard would dominate him on both ends. 

[all-star snubParticipant]

 pekovic cold ass hell

[scbe2223Participant]

 Pekovic looks like he could bench press a large bus. Dude is pretty strong

[drk3351Participant]

 It would be big if Pecovic can be their starting center. with him, rubio, love, plus guys like derrick williams wes johnson an beasley. all they really need is a really good 2 guard. maybe they can get Beal in the draft or someone good in free agency

[HaleParticipant]

 It’s amazing how much better he is then last year. Props to him for turning himself into a good player, who is definitely on the rise. It was kind of surprising to see he is already 26 though, this is only his 2nd year I think.

[bobbygiller]

 With all the hype surrounding Love and Rubio this season (and rightfully so), Pekovic has definitely flown under the rader. Darko started out the year as the wolves starting C but that didn’t last long, well, cuz he’s Darko. In 10 games as a starting center (not counting tonight’s monster performance), Pekovic has averaged 30 minutes per game, 14.9 ppg, 9.8 rbg, 0.8 steals, 1.0 blocks while shooting 60.2% from the floor and 70.4% at the free throw stripe. Ten games, (11 after tonight) is a small sample size but those are very impressive numbers in a league that is finding true centers harder and harder to come by.

[YurpleHazEParticipant]

Pekovic the bull is killin it…….

[river09Participant]

 Pekovic matched up against Dwight Howard 2 games ago and outplayed him. Dwight went 11pts 7rbs fighting foul trouble, pek went 16pts 13rbs…. Not saying he’s better or more talented.. But he wasn’t overwhelmed and his strength gave Dwight a lot of trouble… 

[kngojcParticipant]

 Pekovic is unknown but he is very good right now. He has the opportunity to make one of the deadliest frontcourts in the league with Love. He most definitely doesn’t have any plays being called for him but anytime you dump it down low to him, he can muscle his way down to about 5-7 feet out where he is incredibly good. 

[Mr. 19134Participant]

Yes Pekovic A.K.A. Thor is the strongest Center in the league right now and is a legit starting center in this league who should only get better and better.  I said before I can see him see similar success to what Marc Gortat is doing tho Gortat is a lot more athletic and longer, Pek (Thor) is stronger and has a better feel in the post.

[PurpleMonkeyDishwasherParticipant]

Right now Pekovic is 6′ 11″ 290lbs with 10% body fat. In other words he is about 10 lbs heavier than DeMarcu Cousins with about half the body fat. And when set picks no one wants any part of it. He’s been a godsend for the Wolves.

[DipoTimeParticipant]

 Good point river09 but I feel like Howard was probably unprepared and just underestimated Pek and his strength. My money is on Howard next meeting though. It’s not every day when Howard matches up against somebody that he can’t just back down and dunk on lol

[The8thDeadlySinParticipant]

Shoutouts in this thread:

"Is the Wolves frontcourt combination of Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic really this deadly?"

"He has the opportunity to make one of the deadliest frontcourts in the league with Love."

Thanks!!

[PurpleMonkeyDishwasherParticipant]

Dwight Howard didn’t become the best center in the league by not preparing himself for his opponents. 

Every team in he league send out updated scouting reports on their oponents prior to every game. 

Pekovic didn’t sneak up on Howard..  the bottom line is Orlando handled the Wolves rather easily so it doesn’t much matter what happened in the Center matchup.

 

[DipoTimeParticipant]

So you really think that Howard expected Pekovic to be that strong and that physical with him? You really think that just because a scout told him about Pekovic that Howard couldn’t have been caught off guard? I’m sure the Lakers scouted Lin but that didn’t stop Lin from scoring 38 against them.. Even great players get caught off guard. Even when players get scouted that doesn’t mean they can’t play well

[PurpleMonkeyDishwasherParticipant]

What I’m saying is that Dwight Howard is a professional and sometime in the past year in half he would’ve been let in on the well kept secret that their are other strong players in the NBA.  It’s not like it was Pekovic’s first good game.

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 It’s just funny cuz the same way Love and Pek are dominating frontcourts with brute force is the same reason people said Love and Kanter would of been a bad frontcourt.  What they are doing now is sort of what I envisioned Kanter and Love doing together just not this year.

[PurpleMonkeyDishwasherParticipant]

At that time all people had ever heard was that Love and Al Jefferson couldn’t play well together.  What everyone should’ve known that the Wolves had a lousy coach at the time as opposed to Adelman who is smrt enough to teach the team how to play defense.

[DipoTimeParticipant]

 I see what you’re saying man and you make good points.. I think I just took what you said the wrong way. 

[PurpleMonkeyDishwasherParticipant]

It’s no big deal to me… I can relate.  The Craps in writing.  It’s sometimes hard to guage what was meant in just 2 or 3 sentences

[DipoTimeParticipant]

 Ya no kidding lol just like when texting when you say Idc to your gf and they freak out and say what’s that supposed to mean?? What u mean you don’t care??… Or maybe that’s just me lol

[PurpleMonkeyDishwasherParticipant]

It doesn’t matter… the moral of the story is that chicks can get pissy.

[DipoTimeParticipant]

 Truth

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

I will reiterate what I said a couple of weeks ago about Love and Pek. They may be the least athletic 4-5 combo in the league, but they are definitly the strongest and most active, and in today’s lazy, perimeter oriented NBA that creates alot of problems for most teams.

The Wolves just beat the Rockets to a pulp tonight and have been doing that to alot of teams lately. Their physical style just wears on people and not to many teams can match them pound for pound, possession after possession. Its hard enough to keep KLove off the O-Boards, now he has a 290 pound brick wall that pushes back next to him. Thats alot of beef.

Pek is definitly a top 5 C in terms of pure strength. The only guys who I can think of that can really contend with him strength wise are Bynum,  and perhaps Gasol. Howard is not stronger though, hes way more athletic, but if he is going to try to and just bull his way in, it didnt work on Pek.

I have 2 questions: Lets say Pek keeps up his pace of 16 and 10, or even anywhere between 12-16 ppg and 7-11 rpg for the rest of the season, where does he rank in the League as a starting Center? My second question is for those who have watched consistently, what do you think his wingspan is? To me his arms look really short, which makes him that much more charming as a player, he looks like a big baby T-Rex.

[GronounoursParticipant]

Before the beginning of the season, I read somewhere (Hollinger?) that Pekovic could dominate in Europe just with brute strength, but that he had to develop more of a "finesse" game in the NBA in order to become a decent center. Is he really more polished in the post now, or is he so strong that even in the NBA there’s no stopping him? (I’ve never seen him play, that’s why I’m asking).

Everybody’s gone nuts on Lin, but Pekovic’s surge is amazing in its own right.

[river09Participant]

 He isn’t polished but he’s so strong that he gets great position right under the basket and no one can move him. Also Pek is starting to show more ability to take the ball and back it into the post though, as soon as he gets close to the rim, he scores. Pretty decent touch around the rim… 

[M-DYMESParticipant]

Imagine if he develops as Marc Gasol has.  He already has the bruiser game and has Love to help polish his game.  He could potentially develop into a top 8 center, maybe top 5.  His shot isn’t that bad at this point, and his awareness is growing.  He never will have the athleticism to become the ultimate threat defensively, but his size is certainly a factor on both ends of the floor.

[Raef LaFrentzParticipant]

Recap from last seaso’s second matchup with the Magic tells the story. Dwight had a lot of trouble with Pek and Darko’s strength in that game. I remember watching him whine about the physicality of it and afterwards said that the Wolves "have a couple of MMA fighters." They whomped us though, so good for them. But anyway, Dwight knew all about Pek. A 6’11 300-pounder can’t really sneak up on you, can he?

Link to recap: http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?id=310115016

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

 Hmm, Pekovic was drafted in 2008. Seems like he decided to develop in Europe for a few years and that really paid off. He can probably keep up the scoring if the Rubio keeps up the passing. His strength and weight should allow him to get good position, then it is just a matter of his guard getting him the ball quick enough so he doesn’t get a three second call. The Wolves guards can do that. 

I doubt he averages more than 7 rebounds a game even if he got 30 minutes a game. That is partly due to playing next to Love, but the main issue is not having the lateral speed to grab rebounds out of his zone. Probably this rebounding is just in a little bit of a hot streak right now. 

[aamir543Participant]

This guy is for real, and honestly, I think he has the potential to be even better than Marc Gasol. Double Doubles in his past 4 games, including 20 and 10 in three of those, he is really overpowering and comfortable in the post and poses big matchup problems. Now you have to make a decision about who to put your best defender on, cause Pekovic is playing well enough to demand the double, which should open up shots for Love and Derrick Williams.

If Pekovic can even keep up at a 16 and 9 pace, than these T-Wolves scare me more than any team other than OKC. They have a point guard that is running the show and can find the open man, and two bigs down low, one that can spread the floor and another that will terrorize you inside. They also have Beasley on the wing, and Randolph and Williams off the bench. Beasley is good enough to create his own shot, Wiliams can shoot, and Randolph can provide instant offense, and Ridnour has been a pleasant surprise, as he’s been able to hold his own and knock down the open shot. I really like where this team is headed, and if they can sure things up on defense, than they might be able to sneak up the standings.

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