The New Orleans Hornets have been on a tear lately, stringing together three-consecutive wins over all the teams of Texas (Dallas, San Antonio and Houston). Tonight the Hornets will be looking to extend their season-high three-game winning streak to four games (which will tie their longest streak from the 2011-12 season) and thus handing the Wolves a second-straight loss. The Wolves are coming off a brutal 22-point loss on Wednesday night in Oklahoma City at the hands of the Thunder. With no Kevin Love or J.J. Barea--playing with just ten healthy guys and playing the second game of a back-to-back, I think we all knew (going in) that it was going to get ugly...and ugly it got! While the Minnesota Timberwolves continue to lose key players to injuries, the New Orleans Hornets are now a team at full strength after getting Eric Gordon back since he's been dealing with knee problems that have plagued him the past couple seasons. Tonight's game vs. the Wolves will just be his sixth of the season. Nonetheless, with the return of Gordon and a heavy focus on the defensive end, these Hornets have shown recently that despite what their record says, they aren't the worst team in the Western Conference. The TWolves come into this one 16-16 on the season as well as 6-11 on the road, 9-9 vs. Western Conference foes, 4-6 in their last ten games and currently ranked 10th in the West. The Hornets are 10-25 on the year, 5-13 at home, 5-16 vs. the Western Conference, 5-5 in their last ten games and currently ranked 15th (last) in the West. The Hornets have certainly got a boost from the return of Eric Gordon, however some solid and impressive play from Greivis Vasquez and Ryan Anderson cannot be overlooked this season. Vasquez (in my opinion--and I highly doubt I stand alone) is a legitimate Most Improved Player of the Year candidate and one of the NBA's more unknown/underrated players in the League. If he continues to put up the kind of numbers he's been at as of late, he'll definitely put everyone on notice (if he hasn't already). The Hornet's last game came against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. The result? New Orleans held the NBA's best offensive team (106ppg) to just 79pts (a season-low for Houston) including a 10-point final quarter (in which the Hornets scored 29) to seal an underdog win. The Hornets not only beat the Rockets (currently a playoff team), they did so with a lot of their best players struggling: Eric Gordon played 28 minutes, went, 2-of-12 from the field and had as many turnovers as points (5), Ryan Anderson came off the bench to play 27 minutes, but didn't hit a single shot (0-for-7 from the field, 0-for-4 from deep) to finish with 0pts & 5reb. The Hornets showed their depth as Jason Smith finished with 17pts, 10reb, 3ast, 3blks; Roger Mason added 17pts, 5reb, 1ast, 1stl and 1blk and Greivis Vasquez finished with 17pts, 4reb, 11ast and 3stls. Very impressive win over a decent ball club that've been very good lately, but even more impressive to do so when your key guys struggle! These two teams already met once this season, nearly a full month ago on December 14th in New Orleans. The Wolves handed the Hornets a 113-102 loss thanks to a career night from Nikola Pekovic who dumped in 31 points (career-high). Kevin Love did play in that game and finished with 14pts & 9reb, there's no doubting the Wolves miss him, however big games from Pek & AK should be enough for a W, despite the Hornets' recent hot streak. Rick Adelman has missed the past two games as he tends to his wife who is currently hospitalized in Minneapolis. Rick wasn't with the team on Thursday, however that doesn't rule him out to join the team sometime today and coach tonight. However, if he isn't able to do that, Terry Porter will once again be acting head coach. So, the Wolves may again be without their head coach...but he isn't the only one that won't be there Friday night. Kevin Love (hand), Brandon Roy (knee), Chase Budinger (knee) and Malcolm Lee (knee) are all out for this one, you can check the Injury Report page on this site for the full updates/stories on their injuries (under the Team Report section on this site). J.J. Barea went to Dallas on Wednesday night to receive treatment on his back (currently dealing with back spasms) we don't know yet if he'll be able to play--just remember, both Ricky Rubio & Andrei Kirilenko have had a 'bout' with back spasms this season and both missed four-consecutive games as a result. That's not to say J.J. is definitely out for another three games, no more no less...obviously different bodies and severity of the injury is key (I feel slightly stupid for adding this last part about him being out four games and 'different bodies' etc...my apologies). The Hornets, on the other hand are currently dealing with zero significant injuries. Seems fair...right? By the way, if a Hornets fan is reading this and thinking to themselves, "Hey! Wait a minute, our best player has only played five games this season and our star rookie missed a number of games earlier this season, too! We don't feel bad for you bums!" Let me make this clear to you, don't even get us (Wolves fans) started on player injuries...just don't, unfortunately it's a game we'll always win. Let's take a look at the probable starting lineups...
Anthony Davis, Ryan Anderson, Robin Lopez, Jason Smith. Those are the Hornets' four big men on their roster. Let me ask you honestly...can any of them defend Pek? Yes, I realize that three of them (not Anderson) are talented shot blockers, but that is the only factor in post D and I have a feeling it could be a massacre down low tonight! Pek exploded for 31pts in their last meeting, a repeat performance isn't out of the question, New Orleans simply doesn't have a physical enough player to match up with Pek. They'll put Lopez on him to start the game and he's their best bet, but they'll be crazy if they don't double down when Nikola catches the ball in the paint. If they don't, chalk up another 25-15 game from Mr. Pek.
Pek will get his points, however a little help from his teammates would be greatly appreciated. If guys like Shved, Ridnour, Kirilenko, Cunningham and Williams can hit their mid-range/three-point shots it changes the dynamic of how NOH will have to guard and not allow them to smother Nikola down low. I know I talk about the same idea every preview and I will continue to do so until the Wolves actually knock down some shots to open things up for the big guy--their game on Tuesday vs. Atlanta was pretty good though (over 45% field goal and 55% from deep). I'm most worried about Gordon, the Wolves' backcourt is a consistent concern and anytime a team's best player plays guard, I always get a little concerned. Tipoff for this one is set for 7pmCT from New Orleans Arena. Enjoy the game, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES!
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The Minnesota Timberwolves found out just prior to tipoff that they'd be without J.J. Barea, who is dealing with back spasms. With Barea out, the Wolves had just two healthy guards (Ridnour & Shved) as well as Rubio, who was unfortunately still on a minute 'cap'. The Minnesota Timberwolves had just ten healthy players for this one, while the Oklahoma City Thunder had a full roster without a single injury. I don't mean to sound like a 'big baby' but it's just unfair. Unfair that we (as fans) have had to suffer through all these player injuries to guys like Rubio (out to start the season), Kevin Love (out to start the season and now, likely for the rest of the season) and then guys like Brandon Roy, Malcolm Lee & Chase Budinger all dealing with significant knee injuries. I'm just praying that Nikola Pekovic & Andrei Kirilenko stay healthy, because without them--the Wolves have absolutely no shot to stay competitive this season. There's not to much to tell about this one, though. The Wolves kept it close through the first half as it was just a five-point game (42-47). That was thanks in large part to a big second quarter from Alexey Shved where he scored 14 of his 18 points. Then came the second half. You could see a lot of 'tired legs' out there as the Wolves were playing the second game of a back-to-back set, while OKC had last played on Monday night. The Thunder were able to push the lead to 12 after three quarters. Things didn't get much better in the fourth quarter, after 3-4 minutes into that final quarter the Thunder had pushed the lead to 20 (at one point) and put their deep reserves in: Eric Maynor, Hasheem Thabeet, Reggie Jackson, DeAndre Liggins, etc. Despite keeping it close through the first two quarters, I think we all knew that the Wolves didn't have much of a chance in winning this one--extremely shorthanded, playing one of the NBA's best teams and doing so on a back-to-back set. Let's take a look at tonight's top performers...
The Minnesota Timberwolves had ten healthy players. The Minnesota Timberwolves played all ten guys and not a single one of them finished with a positive +/-. Needless to say tonight's 'top performers' were based solely on points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. Alexey Shved had that big second quarter, but struggled in a number of other areas. Shved has soon during his short time in the NBA that he struggles against stronger more physically imposing guards. So, when guys like Russell Westbrook or Thabo Sefelosha press up on him--like they did tonight, it becomes hard for Shved to maintain control of the ball which was evident with the 7 turnovers in tonight's game. Nikola Pekovic only played 27 minutes (not really sure why), but still finished with a double-double. The biggest surprise of this isn't the 27 minutes he played, but rather that he only took 10 shots. There were numerous times when the Thunder were playing man-to-man defense and had single coverage on Pek down in the paint. I counted a number of times where the Wolves had spaced the floor, leaving Pek open down low with Nick Collison covering him and instead of feeding him the ball the Wolves opted for a contested mid-range or three-point shot...it was absolutely mind-boggling. With Kevin Love out, Nikola Pekovic is the team's best offensive weapons. I understand that the mid-range or three-point shots open up things for him down low, but when Pek has Collison guarding him in the paint...you've got to take advantage! Derrick Williams had another terrific game off the bench. He scored 8 of his 14 in the fourth quarter while also adding 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. I definitely like how he's been playing lately as he hit a number of difficult shots in tonight's game. I really like him in this role (coming off the bench) with Dante Cunningham as the team's starting power forward. With the success both have found in their new roles (with Love out) I don't see any reason to change what's clearly working. I won't go on about Durant or Westbrook, we all know what those guys can do, they're great on both ends and they're the heart and soul of this squad. With all of Minnesota's injuries (particularly), I got to thinking what if the Thunder lost Kevin Durant for the season? I think Westbrook, Martin and Ibaka could still lead them to the playoffs, but they'd likely face a quick first round exit as a 7th or 8th seed. This team is built around four guys (Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and Martin) and they don't have a lot of great depth on this roster with a second unit of Reggie Jackson, Kevin Martin, Perry Jones, Nick Collison and Hasheem Thabeet. If your a Thunder fan, I'd pray for good health for your superstars! MISC. STATS: Nikola Pekovic threw up a three-pointer from nearly the full length of the court as time expired in the second quarter, the shot was well short, but he did get it off before the buzzer, as such that's Nikola's first and only three-point attempt in his NBA career.......Luke Ridnour finished with four steals which ties a season-high (the third time this season he's had 4 steals in one game).......Ricky Rubio played a season-high 22 minutes (despite being on a 20 minute limit)......Alexey Shved had 2 steals in the game which ties a season/career-high (and is the 9th time this season he's had 2 steals in one game)........Derrick Williams' 9 defensive rebounds is a new season-high and his 11 total rebounds is a season-high, but also ties a career-high (tonight was the third time in D-Will's career he's finished with 11 rebounds)......Lazar Hayward was up against his former team and had a season-high 8 points (all during 'garbage time' in the fourth quarter). Hayward tied a career-high with his four made free throws in tonight's game...... Team Stats...
KEY STATS: The Thunder shot the ball very well from deep. They struggled during the first quarter shooting the ball just 28.6% from the field. If you'd like some 'key stats' that you can point to as to why we lost: the Thunder's 23 fast break points, 39 points from their bench and forcing the Wolves into 19 turnovers that they turned into 26 points.
MISC. STATS: Minnesota's 84 points ties their second-lowest scoring output of the season.......The Thunder's 23 free throws made and 106 points both tie the second-highest totals for a Wolves opponent this season, while their 13 steals is the second-highest mark for a Wolves opponent.......The Thunder's 76 field goal attempts is also the second-lowest total for a MIN opponent this season....... That's all for now, the Wolves will be back in action vs. the Hornets in New Orleans on Friday night. We'll have a full gameday preview of that one Friday afternoon, until then, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! No rest for the wicked. The Timberwolves hot off a win over the Atlanta Hawks Tuesday night, flew directly to Oklahoma City early Wednesday morning as they'll face the Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Minnesota is coming off that five-point over Atlanta on Tuesday as Nikola Pekovic went for 25pts & a career-high 18 rebounds and AK added 21pts in a 108-103 win. You can check out the full gameday recap of that one in the previous post on this site. The Oklahoma City Thunder haven't play since Jan. 7th (Monday) when the Washington Wizards shocked OKC in Washington with a 99-101 victory. Rookie Bradley Beal hit a jumper with just 0.3 seconds remaining to lift the Wizards to their 5th win of the season and an improbable underdog win of the Western Conference powerhouse Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder have had a full day off to regroup after that loss and will look to come out strong against a team that handed them a loss earlier in the season that snapped a 12-game OKC win streak. On Dec. 20th the Wolves handed the Thunder a 99-93 loss. Minnesota built of a 30-18 first quarter and a late push via J.J. Barea (14 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter) for a six-point W. Kevin Love had 28pts, 11reb, 7ast, 2blks; Pek added 24pts, 10reb, 1stl, 2blks; Barea had that big fourth quarter and finished with 18pts, 4reb, 2ast, 1stl and rookie Alexey Shved had a great all-around game as he went for 12pts, 7reb, 12ast, 1stl. The Minnesota Timberwolves come into this game one-game over .500 at 16-15, 6-10 on the road, 3-4 vs. the Northwest division, 9-8 vs. the Western Conference and 4-6 in their last ten games. The Oklahoma City Thunder are 26-8 this season, 17-3 at home, 2-1 vs. the Northwest (that one loss coming vs. MIN), 14-3 vs. the Western Conference and 6-4 in their last ten games. Word came today that Kevin Love would miss the next 8-12 weeks with that broken hand, because it requires surgery--had the hand not required surgery he would've been out for that same 4-6 week timeframe he faced earlier this season. Beyond Love; Brandon Roy, Chase Budinger and Malcolm Lee are all still out with knee injuries. You can find out more about all four of the players listed above on our Injury Report under the Team Report header on this site. Ricky Rubio & Nikola Pekovic returned to action last night. Pek missed the final quarter of Minnesota's loss on a Saturday with a hip strain, but he returned and had a HUGE game vs. the Hawks last night. Ricky Rubio had missed four consecutive games with back spasms, but returned last night to have a great game: 4pts, 8ast, 4stls in 19 minutes off the bench! Tonight, Ricky will play in his first back-to-back game of the season, however I'd still expect his minute limit to be around 20. The Wolves will also be without head coach Rick Adelman for the second-straight game. He missed Monday's practice and Tuesday's game for a personal reason. A few rumors make it sound like he's dealing with a family emergency, but it has nothing to do with his personal health, however from what I've heard/read it sounds like he could be gone for 'a while'. Terry Porter will continue to be acting head coach for this one vs. OKC. The Oklahoma City Thunder have no significant injuries at this time and everyone is expected to be available for tonight's game. The last time these two teams met, the Thunder were without their 6th man Kevin Martin. He was out for that 6-point loss on Dec. 20th with a quad injury, he's expected to play tonight, which will be big for the Thunder. Let's take a look at the probable starting lineups in this one...
Tonight's game relies heavily on containing four Thunder players, which is a task that's near impossible. Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka and Kevin Martin are the reason this team is a legitimate championship team.
I'm most worried about Russell Westbrook and who will be guarding him/if we have someone that can guard him. Russ has scored 45 (career-high), 35 & 30 points in his last three games and over that time is averaging 37.0ppg, 7.0apg and 47% FG (stats via @WolvesRadio via Twitter). I highly doubt Luke Ridnour, Alexey Shved or J.J. Barea have a chance against him defensively. I hope coach will put Rubio on the floor when Westbrook is as Ricky is clearly our best perimeter defender...unfortunately he's on a 20 minute cap. Here's hoping Andrei Kirilenko can contain MVP-candidate KD. AK definitely has the defensive capabilities, however it'll depend on the whistle tonight as to who wins this matchup. I have a feeling we'll see a number of head-scratching fouls against Kirilenko tonight. The matchups I'm not worried about are in the post: Cunningham vs. Ibaka & Pekovic vs. Perkins. Cunningham has been showing why he's one of our best defensive players (likely second or third behind Kirilenko and Rubio). The best thing about his defensive game is that although he's a 6'8" power forward, he's a very versatile defender with some perimeter defense skills as well. Lastly, Pek vs. Perk, Nikola has been on fire lately and with Kevin Love out, I don't see him slowing down in the least bit. I am a bit worried about Pek around the rim if Ibaka is hanging around ready to send shots back with ease. Should make for a VERY good battle in the post. Hopefully Dante can space the floor with his mid-range jumper (or D-Will with his three-point shooting/mid-range jumpers) to open space down low for Pek to operate and keep Ibaka hanging around 12-17 feet instead of patrolling the paint to block shots. Even without Kevin Love, we're in for a very good game tonight. Tipoff is set for 7pmCT and full gameday recap can be found here following the final horn! Thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! The Minnesota Timberwolves may be without their star player, but tonight was a prime example of the fighting spirit and talent on this team. Nikola Pekovic went for 25 & 18 and Andrei Kirilenko added 21 & 6 as the Minnesota Timberwolves survived a late scare to escape with their 16th win of the season. These two teams met only one time last season. The game was in Atlanta and the TWolves were up 18 at the half. Unfortunately, Joe Johnson rallied his team and they were able to come back all the way, to hit a pair of clinching free throws with 4.6 seconds to play. Kevin Love missed a buzzer beater three that would've won the game and the Wolves went home losers 91-93. Tonight the Wolves led by 16 at halftime and seemed to be cruising to an easy W and that was exactly what had me worried. I was getting a bit of deja vu and was VERY concerned that the Wolves would blow another big first half lead with their poor play in the second half. It wasn't so much that the Wolves were playing poorly, it was just Atlanta hitting some tough shots and stringing together a couple of runs that ended up being key in the 5-point victory. The Hawks cut the lead to a single point on a Lou Williams layup with just 1:07 to play. The Wolves answered on the ensuing possession with another bucket from the MIGHTY PEK to make it 104-101. The Hawks took a timeout and got a mid-range jumper from Al Horford to cut the lead to one-point, once again. That's when Dante Cunningham decided to flex his 'clutch muscles'. Dante hit a 21-foot jumper on the following possession to push the lead to three, with just 15 seconds to play. The Hawks took a timeout. Out of the timeout, Josh Smith attempted an inbound pass to Al Horford in the post, that Dante swatted away to come up with his third steal on the night and ultimately seal a Wolves victory. Luke was intentionally fouled and hit both free throws to push the lead to five. Smith missed a three on the next possession and the Wolves walked away with the narrow W. Before I get to tonight's 'top performers', I'd like to highlight Dante Cunningham. Dante's game tonight didn't show up as much in his statline. Dante finished the night with 6pts, 5reb, 1ast, 3stls and 3-of-9 FG. Not really a great game (statistically), however without Dante's two VERY clutch plays in the final minutes (that mid-range jumper and the steal) the Wolves are a game below .500 and not a game above! A few misc. notes: Tonight marked the return of Anthony Tolliver to the Target Center. Tolli finished with 1 rebound in 5 minutes off the bench.......Head Coach Rick Adelman wasn't at tonight's game for personal reasons (in what they were calling a family emergency), Terry Porter was the acting head coach tonight and it remains to be seen whether Adelman will join the team in Oklahoma City tomorrow night...... Let's take a look at tonight's top performers....
Coming into tonight's game I was most excited about the matchup between Nikola Pekovic and Al Horford--and they really didn't disappoint. Pek didn't struggle at all against one of the NBA's better centers as he consistently went inside and didn't find much resistance in doing so. When Al Horford couldn't contain him, the Hawks tried a more physical big guy with Zaza Pachulia. Zaza didn't have much more luck. Andrei Kirilenko got hot and along with a number of crafty layups he also hit to big three-pointers in the fourth quarter to halt one of Atlanta's furious runs. Williams had another big game, following up Saturday when he scored all 18 of his points int the fourth quarter. In tonight's game, D-Will got going early scoring 6 in the first quarter and 7 in the second quarter to finish the second half with 13 points. He added the other 4 in the final quarter to finish with 17 on the night. I do hope the Wolves stick with Dante as the starter and continue to bring Williams off the bench, clearly both players are responding well to these new roles. All three of the players listed on Atlanta's side are honestly three guys that I'd love to have on our team. All three of those guys play hard and are three of the better players at their position. Lou Williams was someone I hoped the Wolves would target in free agency this summer. They weren't interested and he ended up signing with his hometown Atlanta Hawks. With the Wolves in search of trading for another big man, I wouldn't be against a trade for Josh Smith--that'd take a lot of the better players on this roster: Pekovic & Williams for sure, among a number of others. MISC. STATS: Dante's three steals ties a season-high........Nikola Pekovic's 12 defensive rebounds is a new season-high and his 18 total rebounds is a new season/career-high.......Luke Ridnour's 2 offensive rebounds ties a season-high........Ricky Rubio's 4 steals is a season-high (his career-high is 6 which he got twice last season).......Alexey Shved's 2 steals ties a season-high (the eighth time he's had two steals in one game).........Derrick Williams had a good night from deep, his 3 made threes and 5 attempted threes, both tie season-highs.......
Anytime you can defeat a team that shoots 49% from the field and 46% from deep, you know you did a lot of little things well to come away with a win. The Wolves were out-rebounded with a +1 (uncommon for the NBA's best rebounding team), the Hawks finished with more fast break points (a +8). However, the Wolves' 53% from deep, their 29 assists (thanks in large part to Rubio who finished with 8 and Shved who added 7), the Wolves also dominated in the paint (thank you Pek), got some great production from the bench (led by D-Will's 17) and MOST IMPORTANTLY limited turnovers. The Atlanta Hawks are a team that's great at capitalizing off turnovers, the Wolves' 10 TO's ties a season-low and had Minnesota had one of their 'bad' nights controlling the basketball, the outcome would've been much, much different.
MISC. STATS: Minnesota's 53.3% from deep is a new season-high, their 29 assists ties the second-best mark of the season........The Wolves' 10 turnovers ties a season-low for the year.......The Hawks' 77 field goal attempts ties a season-low for Minnesota opponent this season...... That's all for now, the Wolves are back in action tomorrow night vs. the Thunder in Oklahoma City. A full gameday preview of that one can be found on this site tomorrow afternoon, until then, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! The Minnesota Timberwolves are back in action Tuesday night vs. the Atlanta Hawks at the Target Center. This is the first meeting of these two teams this season. The TWolves come into this one at 15-15 as they'll be playing their second-straight game without Kevin Love. Love re-fractured his right hand in last week's game vs. the Nuggets. The good news is, Minnesota will have Ricky Rubio & Nikola Pekovic available for tonight's game. Ricky has been dealing with some back spasms that kept him out for four-straight games, he practiced yesterday and is expected to play. Pek suffered a left hip strain in the third quarter of Saturday's loss vs. Portland. He didn't return to the court. He was held out of Monday's practice for 'precautionary reasons', but the word is that he'll play. The Atlanta Hawks pulled off an offseason trade that sent All-Star Joe Johnson to the Brooklyn Nets for an array of subpar players in what was ultimately a salary dump. Despite losing trading away Johnson, the Hawks have played some very good basketball this season, centralized around the play of versatile forward Josh Smith. The Hawks are currently 20-12 on the season and are sitting at #3 in the Eastern Conference standings. Coming into this season, I assumed with Atlanta's loss of JJ that they'd still be a playoff team (assuming a healthy Smith & Horford), but likely a 7th or 8th seed. Despite trading away Johnson, the Hawks grabbed some solid players in Louis Williams (FA), Kyle Korver (trade) & Devin Harris (trade) to remain a competitive squad out East. With their early season success, I think they'll fall a bit in the standings and be the 5th or 6th seed in the East, especially considering Chicago & Indiana sit behind them in the standings. The Minnesota Timberwolves are 15-15 on the year, 9-5 at home, 6-7 vs. the Eastern Conference and 4-6 in their last ten games. The Atlanta Hawks come into this one 20-12 on the year, 9-6 on the road, 7-6 vs. the Western Conference, 5-5 in their last ten games, but losers in their last two. These two teams played only one time in the 2011-12 lockout-shortened NBA season. That meeting came on January 14th in Atlanta. The Wolves led by 18 points heading into the second half, but a late push in the fourth quarter led by Joe Johnson (who finished with 25 points) resulted in a two-point Atlanta win. Ivan Johnson hit the clinching free throws with 4.6 seconds to play and Kevin Love missed a potential game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer for the 91-93 loss. An injury ravaged season could have easily derailed the Wolves' season, but some consistent play from guys like Luke Ridnour, J.J. Barea, Andrei Kirilenko, Nikola Pekovic and Alexey Shved have kept the Wolves 'hanging' around .500 this season. With Kevin Love down this season the play of those guys and contributions from Ricky Rubio, Dante Cunningham & Derrick Williams becomes absolutely vital for the Wolves. As noted before, the Wolves will be getting Rubio back and have Pek playing, however they will continue to be without Kevin Love (finger), Brandon Roy (knee), Malcolm Lee (knee) and Chase Budinger (knee). I updated our injury report on Jan. 7th (yesterday) with updates on Ricky, Pek, Kevin & Malcolm. You can find the Injury Report under the 'Team Report' header on this site! The Atlanta Hawks have a handful of injuries to some of their guys. Devin Harris was inactive for the Hawks' game on Saturday with a foot injury. Anthony Morrow also missed Saturday's game with a hip injury, it was his fifth-straight missed game. Both of those guys (Harris & Morrow) are travelling with the team on their road trip, so they're likely gametime decisions in this one. Let's take a look at the probable starting lineups in this one...
Adelman began 2012-13 starting Derrick Williams at power forward (with Kevin Love out). On Wednesday Kevin Love went down again and will be out for AT LEAST a month. On Saturday in Minnesota's first game without Kevin Love (again) Adelman started Dante Cunningham at power forward. In 42 minutes of action vs. Portland, Dante finished with 10pts, 12reb, 2ast, 2stls & 3blks. Cunningham has certainly earned that spot AND Derrick Williams played 18 minutes off the bench and finished with 18pts, 6reb and 2stls (with all 18 of his points coming in that final quarter). Dante is the better defender and I'd say he's earned that starting spot with his hustle and energy on both ends of the floor. We'll see if that power forward spot becomes a 'revolving door' and matchups will determine who the starter is that night.
The most intriguing matchups will be the big men. Dante Cunningham vs. Josh Smith and Nikola Pekovic vs. Al Horford. Smith is undoubtedly Atlanta's best player and by that statline, you can see that J-Smoove is a terrific all-around player (much like Andrei Kirilenko...but with a slight edge in every area). Dante is one of the team's best defensive frontcourt players (just behind AK) and I'll be very interested to see his approach in defending such a versatile and dangerous player (Adelman could decide to put Kirilenko on Smith as well and likely have Cunningham cover Korver). Pekovic & Horford are two incredibly gifted big men and two very physical specimens. Pekovic has proved time and time again that he's the strongest man in the NBA and as Jim Petersen put it in Minnesota's last game (vs. Portland) he makes grown men look like children in the post! Horford is widely considered a Top 5 center in this League, but I remain doubtful that he'll have an answer for Nikola. Pek's hip injury could however hold him back. Minnesota's success tonight will largely be determined by whether or not the Wolves can contain Josh Smith & Al Horford. The PG, SG and SF positions match up fairly well. One of Minnesota's big concerns with K-Love out becomes offense. Pekovic can give you 15-20 points and 8-15 rebounds, but guys like Kirilenko, Shved, Ridnour, Williams & Barea need to 'pick up the slack' on the offensive end. That's all for now, tipoff for this one is set for 7pmCT and full gameday recap can be found here following the final horn, until then thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! The Minnesota Timberwolves nearly pulled off a HUGE comeback win and for a moment I thought we'd have another game like the one in Brooklyn earlier this season, when the Wolves erased a 23-point lead to comeback and win it in the final quarter. That was nearly the case tonight as the Wolves found themselves down by 22 late in the third quarter. They entered the fourth down by 18 and the fans at Target Center were ready to leave as both of Minnesota's teams were having terrible nights (there were updates on the Vikings game throughout the night, which obviously didn't go so well for Minnesota fans). Early in the third quarter, Nikola Pekovic went to the bench and was soon escorted by head trainer Gregg Farnam to the locker room. Leaving Wolves fans in utter disbelief as we'd found out just a few hours earlier that Kevin Love would likely miss the next 4-6 weeks with a broken hand. Pekovic eventually returned courtside and was riding an exercise bike behind the bench. He was listed as questionable with a left hip strain, though he would not return. The Wolves were without Pek who played just 22 minutes on the night and yet still managed 21pts, 15reb & 2blks. Adelman went with Luke Ridnour, J.J. Barea, Andrei Kirilenko, Derrick Williams and Dante Cunningham in the fourth quarter. I was just hoping the last twelve minutes would go by quickly and we could take yet another humiliating loss. Instead, Derrick Williams led a fourth quarter charge in which he scored all 18 of his points to cut the lead to just 2 at one point. The Wolves made an improbable comeback despite the insanely hot-shooting Portland Trailblazer. I'm about as tired of these 'moral victories' as every other Wolves fan out there, but the fact that the Wolves were able to put together that great fourth quarter AND managed to cut the lead down and give themselves a chance to win all while the Blazers were shooting over 60% from deep! There was a stretch in the fourth quarter that spanned some 6+ minutes where the Blazers didn't make a field goal, but Portland still finished the night shooting 43% from the field and 66.7% (on 24 attempts) from deep! Had those 16 made threes from Portland been all two-pointers, this would've been a completely different game! That's 16 less points! That's a completely different ball game. Part of the blame falls on the Wolves' perimeter defense, but if you watch this one again, the Wolves were consistently with a hand in their faces, challenging shots, but they just made some great shots (especially Wes Matthews). Let's take a look at tonight's top performers...
Nikola Pekovic played limited minutes, however in the words of Jim Peterson, he was making defenders look like children out there. He imposed his will all night long and LaMarcus Aldridge & J.J. Hickson didn't have a chance of even slowing him down. Derrick Williams was the catalyst to a late run, without him we'd be talking about how the Wolves had another night like Wednesday in Utah. Cunningham was still probably the Wolves' best player tonight. He hit a few mid-range shots, grabbed 12 boards and was extremely active on the defensive end, including a big block on J.J. Hickson that gave the Wolves another chance to grab the lead (which they couldn't). Luke Ridnour also added 15pts (8 in the fourth quarter), 2reb, 4ast, 1stl; Kirilenko had 15pts, 7reb, 2ast, 1stl and Barea added 14pts, 3reb, 7ast off the bench. The Blazers' backcourt and swingman absolutely dominated the Wolves tonight. When the Wolves used to face the Blazers, the concern was always with containing LaMarcus Aldridge. Now, the concerns become with dealing with their great backcourt (Lillard & Matthews) as well as someone who nearly became a Wolf--Nicolas Batum. The common theme throughout this Blazer squad was the ease of draining threes--a luxury the Wolves unfortunately don't possess. A fully healthy starting five for the whole season would be nice too! MISC. STATS: Cunningham tied season-highs in offensive rebounds (4), defensive rebounds (8) and blocks (3), he also set new season-highs with 13 field goal attempts, 12 rebounds and 42 minutes......Luke Ridnour tied season-highs with his 7 made free throws and 8 free throw attempts.......Derrick Williams' 2 steals ties a season-high......
KEY STATS: Portland's 16 made threes on 66.7% efficiency is the key to this Blazer victory. Without that dominant three-point shooting that with everyone showing off their range, this is a very different ball game. The Wolves had a +13 advantage on the boards, +22 in points in the paint, +7 in fast break points and a +20 in bench production, but still lost. Tonight's loss is tough to take, here's hoping I never have to talk about a Wolves opponent scorching the net like Portland did tonight.
MISC. STATS: Minnesota's 88.9% from the free throw line ties a season-high, their 19 offensive rebounds also ties the second-best mark of the season......Minnesota's 13 fouls ties the second-lowest numbers of the season.......The Blazers' 16 made threes and 66.7% three-point shooting are both season-highs for a TWolves opponent, their 92.3% from the line is the second-best night at the line for a Wolves opponent this season.......Portland's 3 fast break points and 22 points in the paint are season-lows for a TWolves opponent and their three steals ties the second-lowest mark on the year....... That's all for now, the Wolves are back in action on Tuesday night vs. the Atlanta Hawks, that one will tip from the Target Center at 7pmCT--expect a full gameday preview of that one before then, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! Most of the Minnesota Timberwolves will be back in action on Saturday night vs. the Portland Trailblazers at the Target Center. I say most because Ricky Rubio & Kevin Love will not be playing. It's going to give the Blazers a lot of advantages in this one. The last time these two teams met, Damian Lillard & Wesley Matthews absolutely destroyed the Wolves and simply couldn't miss from the field. Without their two stars (who haven't played well this season), the Blazers have a great chance of continuing their dominance vs. the Wolves. Minnesota has been looking to beat the Blazers for just the third time in five years! The Wolves have dropped 18 of the last 20 meetings vs. Portland, with one win come last season at the Target Center on March 7th (106-94). The TWolves had an awful Wednesday night in Utah in what was without a doubt--the worst outing of the season for the Wolves. They came back on Thursday night with a huge bounce back win over the Nuggets in Denver, basically in a game they were supposed to lose. Here's hoping that some of that fourth quarter energy and fight that the Love/Rubio-less Wolves showed led by Barea & Ridnour, there's no reason to think we can't take down these division rivals. The Blazers are much better than most assumed they would be this season. A lot of that can be attributed to Damian Lillard's almost seamless transition to the NBA. He's averaging 18.2 a game and has teams like Charlotte & Sacramento kicking themselves for passing on him in last summer's draft. Not just that, but Nicolas Batum & J.J. Hickson have shown some improved play (especially J.J.) and become major contributors to a starting unit whose lowest point per game total is 12.5 for Hickson! Looking at the kind of all-around games Batum has every night, it's reminiscent of Andrei Kirilenko during his all-star days. The one major weakness the Wolves will look to take advantage of is the Trailblazer bench. I honestly don't believe there's a worse second unit (on paper) in the NBA! Ronnie Price, Sasha Pavlovic, Victor Claver, Jared Jeffries and Meyers Leonard. I was actually reading an article published by a Blazer blogger who said that Minnesota's bench is equally bad! I'll take J.J. Barea, Lazar Hayward, Derrick Williams, Dante Cunningham, Lou Amundson any day of the week (I refuse to list Greg Stiemsma, because I honestly believe he's the worst player on this team and has no business in the NBA--doesn't rebound or even make an effort to, is known as this great shot blocker but often times plays limited minutes and is constantly in foul trouble, never looks very energized on the court and is constantly trying to play "The Enforcer" on the court--I really hope someone knocks him out one of these times). Anyway, done with the Stiemsma rant, let's take a look at the injury report... MINNESOTA: Ricky Rubio will miss his fourth straight game with back spasms. It doesn't sound as though it's anything more serious, remember Andrei missed a string of four games earlier this season with back spasms, he returned and has now played in twelve straight games. Kevin Love is also out with that sprained finger he suffered in the third quarter of Thursday's game in Denver. Minnesota doesn't play again (after tonight) until Tuesday (1/8) in a game I fully expect both of these guys to be available for. Brandon Roy, Malcolm Lee and Chase Budinger are all still out with knee injuries, surgeries or rehabs. PORTLAND: The Blazers are without Elliot Williams who tore his achilles during training camp and will now miss the entire season. Meyers Leonard is listed as questionable for this one, however from what I've heard, it's sounding very likely that he won't be playing as he continues to nurse an ankle injury. The Blazers currently have no timetable for his return. With Leonard out, expect rookie Joel Freeland to get the backup minutes behind Hickson at center. How many TWolves fans will be watching this game (LIVE) with me? I assume a lot of you have this one set for DVR as the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers will be squaring off in Lambeau Field for the first round of the NFL Playoffs. I'll be watching the Wolves game tonight and check in every once and a while with the Vikings-Packers score. The Minnesota Timberwolves haven't played since Thursday and should be fairly rested for this one--the Blazers however, played last night in Memphis vs. the Grizzlies. Memphis was playing without Zach Randolph and the Blazers were able to keep it close all night long, Rudy Gay missed a jumper at the top of the key as time expired to give Portland the 86-84 win. With the Blazers playing in back-to-back nights, you've got to assume they'll look to that bench a bit more, something that would certainly play into the Timberwolves' favor. You've got to assume that some of the Blazers players will have some tired legs late in this one, opening the door for another second half rally and narrow win for the Wolves. The X-Factors for the Wolves tonight are two players and one simple team goal...
Let's take a look at the probable starting lineups in this one...
With Kevin Love out, I expect Dante to get the nod here, against the team that initially drafted him. The last time out, when the Wolves had a healthy (if you can call him that) Love and Pekovic, Adelman still had Nikola covering LA and Love on Hickson. I think if he starts Dante, he may look to put him on LA though. Aldridge is the Blazers' top scorer and very active around the rim, a wiry defender who's always hustling and active (Dante) might be what it takes to slow him down in this one.
There are plenty of skeptics out there that'll say the Wolves will win this one, because Kevin Love isn't playing and the Wolves play better when he's not on the court. I'm done arguing with people like that. Ultimately the Wolves are back (somewhat) where they started the season (minus Roy, Lee & Budinger). That means that Andrei Kirilenko needs to turn in a big game--the type of games he had prior to Kevin returning. Same goes for Pekovic. Pekovic is a very consistent force in the paint, however his success tonight will be directly correlated to whether or not the Wolves hit their three-point and mid-range tries. Without that threat from outside, the Blazers will pack the paint and force the Wolves' wings to hit shots. That's all for now, as I said before, I'll be watching this one in it's entirety and have a fully gameday recap late tonight. Tipoff is set for 7pmCT, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES (& VIKINGS)! J.J. Barea scored 12 of his 17 points and Luke Ridnour added 9 of his 14 in the fourth quarter as the Minnesota Timberwolves were able to hand the Denver Nuggets their second home loss of the season (now 10-2). They also snapped Denver's 8-game home winning streak with that narrow four-point 101-97 victory. Midway through the third quarter, it looked as though the Wolves' 'wheels' were again falling off as we began to see mirrored images of Wednesday night in Utah. The Wolves bounced back in the second half of that third quarter as they continued to attack Denver's interior D, draw fouls and convert at the free throw line. The Nuggets pushed the lead to 10 at one point in the third quarter, but at the end of the third the Wolves were down just one point (69-70) heading into the fourth. Another big spark was the loss of Kevin Love. Love was hit on the hand during that third quarter and went straight to the locker room with trainer Gregg Farnam holding the hand as they walked down the tunnel. It was his right hand, his shooting hand and the same one he broke earlier this summer. X-rays were taken in the locker room, which came back normal and he's currently diagnosed with a right finger sprain. He returned to the bench in the fourth quarter and was 'questionable' to return for the remainder of the game--which he didn't. Luke Ridnour said after tonight's game, that Kevin Love going down increased the TWolves' sense of urgency in this one. I think that was certainly part of it and something you could definitely see, however the Wolves also, simply hit their shots. Unlike last night in Utah when the Wolves couldn't buy the bucket and finished with a season-low 34.5% field goal percentage, guys like J.J. & Luke hit their shots in the final period to walk away with the win in this one. The Wolves had a few key possessions in a row, that helped them pull away late in this one. The first was a Luke Ridnour three with just over 2:30 to play on a nice find from J.J. Barea. The Wolves got a defensive stop and took a timeout (holding a 94-91 lead). Out of the timeout, J.J. got the ball to Dante in the high post and he tossed it right back to J.J. who hit another three-pointer to put the Wolves up six (97-91). Andre Miller answered with a bucket on the other end to cut the lead to four with 1:47 to play. Pek missed a shot on the next possession, but Dante was able to coral the offensive rebound, J.J. Barea drove the lane and was able to convert the second chance point to put the Wolves back up six. Those three offensive sets late, sealed the Wolves victory in this one. Before I get to the top performers, there is something I feel I need to address. Reading through some comments on Twitter after tonight's game, I found A LOT of negative tweets about Kevin Love. Ultimately what they all were saying was along the lines of: The Wolves are clearly better without Kevin Love as evidenced by tonight's win over the Nuggets--time to trade him while he still has value. If you are a TWolves fan who feels this way, I have serious doubts you know much about the game of basketball and Kevin Love's value to this basketball squad. Clearly he's nowhere near 100% and his shot has been absolutely putrid. However, if you think this TWolves team is going to have any chance of making the playoffs without him, you're delirious. Let's take a look at tonight's top performers...
J.J. & Shved has almost identical stat lines, but it was J.J.'s late game heroics that led the Wolves to the win. Kirilenko had a solid all-around game as well as all 3 of Minnesota's blocks in this one. The Nuggets were led by Kosta Koufos with 16pts. He actually had a pretty good game, but when your best player is Kosta Koufos in a game, I have serious reservations that you'll be the victor. Lawson was a gametime decision and still didn't start, but play the majority of the fourth quarter, where he scored 12 of his 16 points, but it just wasn't enough. In his place started Andre Miller for the second consecutive game. In Miller's second consecutive start he got his second straight double-double (had 12pts, 12ast vs. the Clippers on Tuesday). He found his teammates for easy looks and had a couple nice layups and mid-range shots go down. He did miss a three-pointer late in the game that would've cut the lead to one point. I almost didn't add Luke or Iguodala to the list above, but decided that although they both did struggle in certain areas tonight, they also excelled in others. Ridnour began the game 1-for-7 from the field, but was able to finish 5-7 the rest of the way and had 9 of his 14 points come in the final quarter. He executed when it mattered most and was a BIG part of this W. AI had a bad night shooting the ball from absolutely everywhere. 6-16 from the field, 1-5 from three and 1-7 from the line. In a game where you lose by just four points, those 6 points Iggy left at the line REALLY hurt. That being said, he did grab seven rebounds, dish six assists and come up with two steals. Iguodala was also a big part of Alexey's five turnovers (as was Andre Miller). Both of those players were very physical with Alexey in the backcourt, which is clearly something that he struggles mightily with at this point in his career (it should get better as Alexey, hopefully adds strength and muscle to his game in the years to come). MISC. STATS: Dante Cunningham tied a season-high with his two made free throws, he also set a new season-high with 4 offensive rebounds and also set a new season-high and career-high with his four assists.......Alexey Shved tied a season/career-high with his 2 offensive rebounds......Andre Miller scored the 15,000th point of his career tonight with a mid-range jumper in the first quarter, he's just the eighth player to do so, while also compiling over 7,500 assists....... The team stats...
KEY STATS: Both teams shot the ball well from the field and relatively well from deep. The TWolves, who have certainly been known to struggle from the line this season had an 'okay' night from the line, however those nine missed free throws were counteracted by Denver, who also left nine points at the line (thanks in large part to 6 misses from Iguodala). The TWolves came into tonight's game as the 4th-best rebounding team in the League (45.8), while Denver came into tonight's game as the #1 rebounding team in the League (46.3)--clearly not that big a difference. However, there was quite a difference in tonight's totals as the TWolves out-rebounded the #1 team with a +13, holding the Nuggets to 7 rebounds below their season average. Kevin Love grabbed 17 on the night, despite playing just 24 minutes and the Nuggets' leading rebounder: Faried with 10.2 a game, had 0 at halftime and finished with 6 on the night, mostly in the fourth, while Love watched from the bench. You can see the Nuggets held advantages in fast break points with a +11, points in the paint: +10 and forced 15 TWolves turnovers that they turned into 21 points. Based off all that and the fact the Nuggets shot over 46% from the field on the night, if you were just looking at the Nugget stats, you'd probably assume they won this one. However that advantage on the glass (those 17 offensive rebounds create a lot of second chance point opportunities), coupled with the ten extra points they scored at the free throw line, were ultimately the deciding factors in this one.
MISC. STATS: Minnesota's two steals ties a season-low......The Nuggets' 55% from the line and 8 turnovers are both the second lowest numbers for a TWolves opponent this season...... The Timberwolves will be back in action on Saturday as they return to the Target Center to face the Portland Trailblazers. We'll have a full gameday preview of that one before tipoff, as always thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! ***Also, to any readers out there, I wanted to ask one question--I'm hoping you'll respond in the comment section below. I'm just curious if you have any current TWolves player that you don't like. You don't have to explain if you don't want to, just their name is fine. I'm just curious. I'll let you know, mine is Greg Stiemsma. I don't understand why he's ever on the floor. For a guy who's known for being a solid defender, he routinely commits silly fouls, misses wide open shots, doesn't compete for rebounds and is constantly trying to act like the Enforcer when he's on the floor. I'd have him at the end of my bench as my very last option and start giving those minutes to a guy like Lou who is very active, hustles, always brings energy, has proven he can defend bigger opponents in the post, rebounds the basketball and always gives you 100%. Stiemsma can block shots, but more often than not he's whistled for a foul instead tallying a block. That's just my two cents, my apologies for the rant. The Minnesota Timberwolves are coming off their worst outing of the season on Wednesday night following that 22-point loss to the Utah Jazz. They're in need of a quick bounce back win and luckily they have that opportunity just one night later, vs. the Nuggets in Denver tonight. The TWolves fell back to .500 on the season with last night's loss, they're now 14-14 on the year, 5-10 on the road, 8-7 vs. Western Conference foes, 2-3 vs. Northwest Division rivals, 5-5 in their last 10 games and currently ranked #9 in the Western Conference standings. The Nuggets are 18-15 on the year, 10-1 at home, 13-9 vs. the Western Conference, 2-3 vs. Northwest Division rivals, 7-3 in their last 10 games and currently ranked #7 in the Western Conference standings. These two teams have met twice already this season (Nov. 21st & Dec. 12th), with both teams grabbing a win. These two meet four times total this season (with the last matchup coming on March 9th). If Minnesota turns in another effort (if you can call it that) like they did in Utah, it's not going to be a joyful Thursday night for Wolves fans. I may not watch the whole game if I'm seeing another outing like last night, that game in Utah was just painful to watch. Kevin Love continues to struggle to find his shot, he went 4-for-14 in last night's contest, including 0-for-4 from three. The Wolves have a very good team, with a lot of talented players, however the fact is: Minnesota will lose more games than not when Kevin Love struggles like this. He's their star and if they're giving him 14 shots in a game and he only hits 4 of them, nine times out of ten the Wolves will lose. It's not as simple as not allowing him to take those shots though. Without Love shooting threes, opposing teams will simply pack the paint and Nikola Pekovic will get double and triple teamed in the post. Kevin Love's all-around game opens up a lot of opportunities for other guys on this team--wide open threes for Alexey, an oop to AK or a floater from Cool Hand Luke; until Kevin Love can consistently and efficiently score the basketball, the Wolves will continue to hover around .500. Let's get a look at tonight's injury report... For MINNESOTA: You can find our full injury report under the 'Team Report' section on this site. A short summary: Ricky Rubio out with back spasms, Brandon Roy/Malcolm Lee/Chase Budinger all out with knee injuries. For DENVER: Third string point guard Juylan Stone and sixth man swingman Wilson Chandler are both still recovering from hip surgeries. Stone hasn't played at all this season and is hoping to start practicing sometime this month. Chandler has participated in practices and shootarounds the past week or so, he's currently targeting a return to the lineup on Jan. 13th. Ty Lawson missed the Nuggets' last game vs. the Clippers on Tuesday. He was diagnosed with a strained achilles on Wednesday. He was initially listed as doubtful, but has recently been 'upgraded' to a game-time decision for this one. If he's unable to play, Andre Miller will get his second consecutive start (he did well vs. the Clippers finishing with 12pts, 3reb, 12ast & 1stl). The Nuggets are currently a playoff team out West, but they are one of the eight teams that are currently competing for the last four playoff spots in the West (5, 6, 7, 8 seeds). Currently the Dallas Mavericks (12), Los Angeles Lakers (11), Utah Jazz (10) and Minnesota Timberwolves (9) are sitting outside of the playoff picture looking in, while the Portland Trailblazers (8), Denver Nuggets (7), Houston Rockets (6) and Golden State Warriors (5) are in the playoffs. In comparison, the Mavericks are only 4 games behind the Blazers for that 8th spot. As the next few weeks play out, it likely won't be this close as teams get better (Mavericks with Dirk? Lakers figuring it out? Rubio & Love return to form & dominate?) and some of those top teams are exposed (Houston can't sustain this without playing defense, the Blazers don't have a second unit and should should fall pretty far down in the standings, etc.). These types of games vs. opponents that you'll be competing with come playoff time for the final spots in the West are VERY important. That's why yesterday's loss the Utah Jazz hurts that much more. The Nuggets' last game came on New Years Day when they faced the Los Angeles Clippers in Denver. In that game, the Nuggets snapped the Clippers' big winning streak (stopped at 17 games) with a convincing 92-78 win. Danilo Gallinari finished with 17pts, 6reb, 1ast, 1stl, 1blk; Kenneth Faried added 14pts, 11reb, 2stls, 1blk; Miller started for the injured Lawson and added 12pts, 3reb, 12ast, 1stl and Andre Iguodala ended the night with a great all-around game: 12pts, 7reb, 8ast and 2stls. Let's take a look at tonight's likely starting lineups...
If Ty Lawson (13.6ppg, 6.9apg, 1.2spg) is able to play expect him to start at point guard in this one.
The key matchup of this one will be Danilo vs. Andrei. Kirilenko is a great defensive player and he'll be going up against Denver's best offensive weapon: Gallinari. I think AK will do a pretty decent job holding him in check, he's certainly not the best small forward that AK has faced this season. There are two matchups I'm a little concerned with. The first is Shved vs. Iguodala. These are two completely opposite players, one relying on his ball handling, three-point to mid-range shot and court vision to be an effective player (Shved) and the other a defensive ace, who is extremely strong for his position that can easily muscle his way into the paint for highlight reel dunks (Iguodala). Mainly the concern lies with whether or not Shved has the strength to guard AI in this one. The other matchup that holds some concern is Kevin Love vs. Kenneth Faried. The last time these two teams played Faried scored 26 points (14 of which came in the first quarter). Kenneth isn't known as a great offensive player, but he certainly seemed like it in that Dec. 12th matchup. The Wolves also played the Nuggets on Nov. 21st and Faried finished with just 4 points--we'll see which one shows up tonight vs. the Wolves. That's all I've got for now, tipoff is set for 8pmCT, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! Following tonight's loss the Minnesota Timberwolves have now played 28 games this season and tonight was (in my opinion) the worst game I've seen them play this season. The Minnesota Timberwolves hadn't played since the 29th when they beat the Suns at the Target Center. They had three days rest coming into tonight's game. The Jazz's last game came on the 30th vs. the Clippers, so they also had some time off (2 days). That being said, the Wolves looked like a team that was playing their fifth game of a back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back. There was no energy from the starters and as the missed shot totals continued to accumulate, what little confidence these guys had absolutely plummeted. Kevin Love turned in yet another poor shooting performance. Love finished 4-for-14 from the field and 0-for-4 from deep. Love still finished with a double-double: 13pts & 10reb in 30 minutes. One thing has become very clear: the Minnesota Timberwolves don't have a chance of making the playoffs unless Kevin Love can figure things out and if the Wolves don't make the playoffs, Kevin Love will take the brunt of the blame. The Utah Jazz were able to build an eight point lead at halftime. That was thanks in large part to the Jazz bench. Utah brought in Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward and Enes Kanter and they got things rolling coming out of the first quarter. What was a one-point MIN lead after one quarter quickly became a seven-point Jazz lead, from their the Jazz grabbed control and the lead for the rest of the contest. After just four minutes into the second half the Jazz pushed the lead to 14 points and two minutes later they added to that lead, making it a 20-point deficit (50-70 Utah). The Wolves needed to cut the lead to single digits heading into the fourth quarter or they'd really have no chance of a comeback in this one. Unfortunately the Jazz found themselves up 13 after three quarters. Adelman basically decided to 'throw in the towel' early in this one. Lou Amundson checked into the game late in the third and play the majority of the fourth quarter along with guys like Greg Stiemsma as well as the debut of Lazar Hayward. The Wolves' starting frontcourt (AK, Love, Pek) didn't see the floor in the final quarter--Luke Ridnour, J.J. Barea and Alexey Shved all saw minutes in the fourth, simply because of the lack of depth in the backcourt. This was a decision made by Adelman to hold his stars out of the final quarter of an 'unwinnable' game and instead rest them for tomorrow's game in Denver. Had they lineup of Ridnour, Barea, Cunningham, Williams and Amundson been able to cut into the lead and make this one a competitive game, Adelman may have decided to send his stars back in. With just over four minutes to play the Wolves found themselves down 22, this was a piss poor Timberwolves effort tonight, plain and simple. Let's take a look at tonight's top performers from each squad (did the Wolves have any?!)...
The Minnesota Timberwolves had their worst shooting night of the season and didn't have a player score more than 13 points in this one (both Love & Shved finished with 13). Kirilenko had a pretty good game--just the type of complementary type outing you need, you couple that with double-doubles from Pek & Love and there's no reason the Wolves should lose. Pek didn't have a terrible game either. He actually impressed me with those four blocks as he showed some great timing with some send backs vs. Millsap, Big Al, Favors & Kanter. If David Kahn doesn't botch it this offseason and Big Pek stays with the Wolves long-term, we could see some great Pek/Kanter battles in Northwest division play in the coming years--two very physical basketball players. Lou came off the bench and provided energy and hustle, 10 times out of 10, I'd rather see Lou Amundson on the floor than Greg Stiemsma (Stiemer by far my least favorite Wolf--he finished with 6 fouls in 8 minutes and was ejected late in the fourth quarter). Gordon Hayward and Enes Kanter showed why the future will be bright in Utah in the coming years. They can build around guys like Hayward, Kanter & Favors. Millsap had a solid game in this one. He failed to grab a rebound (and the Jazz still managed to finish with 49 on the night), but did add 14 points and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field, until a late miss in the fourth quarter. This was Kirilenko's first game back in Utah since the 2010-11 season. AK spent a decade with the Jazz before playing in Russia last season and signing that two-year deal with the Wolves this past summer. Kirilenko received a nice standing ovation filled with cheers when he was announced during player introductions. AK played 30 minutes and watched the entire fourth quarter from the bench, but he did grab his 4000 career rebound late in the first half. MISC. STATS: Amundson set new season-highs in points (8), field goals made (4) and attempted (8), offensive rebounds (5) and tied a season-high with 1 steal......Dante threw up a three-pointer with the shot clock expiring during the first half of action, it was his first three attempt all season, it did miss......Kevin Love tied a season-high with 2 blocks.......Nikola Pekovic set a new season-high and tied a career-high with 4 blocks in this one........Derrick Williams tied a season-high with 2 steals.......
KEY STATS: When you shoot under 35% from the field and hit just 2 of 17 from three, you lose the basketball game every time. Especially when your opponent counters with 49% & 33%, while out-rebounding you by a +8, dominates the paint with a +20, gets 25 fast break points and 53 from the bench--you're not going to win too many ball games when you let the opposition walk all over you. Tonight was case and point.
MISC. STATS: Minnesota's 12 blocks ties a season-high......The Wolves' 29 field goals made, 2 three-pointers made and 11.8% from deep all tie season-lows.......The Wolves 34.5% from the field is a new season-low.......Minnesota's 25 defensive rebounds is their second-lowest total of the season and their 17 assists and 84 points tie the second-lowest numbers of the season.......The Jazz set a new season-high for a Wolves opponent in fast break points (25) while also tying the second-most in rebounds (49), blocks (12) and points (106)........The Jazz's 12 three-point attempts also tie a season-low for a Wolves opponent....... That's all for now, the Wolves are back in action tomorrow night vs. the Nuggets in Denver at the Pepsi Center, here's hoping for a full 180. Expect a full gameday preview tomorrow afternoon, until then, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! |
Cody D. AndersonA Wolves fan bringing you Gameday Recaps all season long! 2014-15 Game ArchivesGameday Archives
December 2015
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