The Minnesota Timberwolves continue their lengthy homestand on Monday night as they face off against the Portland Trailblazers. The Wolves have played three-straight games at home (as part of this six-game homestand) and have gone 1-2 in that time. The Wolves are facing the Blazers, a team that hasn't already handed them two defeats this season. The first coming in Portland on Nov. 23rd (103-95) and the second in Minnesota, a 102-97 loss. The Blazers have also won 19 of 21 in this series dating back to the 2007-08 season. A big key to the Blazers success vs. the Wolves this season has been their hot shooting. Portland has absolutely torched Minnesota from deep, hitting a combined 27-for-49 (55.1%) from deep in their two meetings this season. The Blazers have been led in those games by their shooting guard Wesley Matthews. Matthews has been the "TWolves Killer" these past few seasons and this year has been no different. In these last two meetings he's scored a combined 56 points on 20-of-32 shooting, including 10-for-13 from deep! Matthews did sit out in Portland's last game (vs. the Jazz on Saturday) with an ankle injury, but remains optimistic he'll be ready to go tonight. The Wolves snapped a six-game losing streak on Saturday when they absolutely crushed the New Orleans Hornets. The Wolves scored a season-high 115 points in the game on a season-high 58.4% shooting from the field. They'll look to build off that big win and hope that some of that hot shooting carries over to tonight. The Wolves have won just 2 games in their last 13 tries. The Trailblazers have been struggling on the road lately and are currently riding a four-game road losing streak. In their last two road games the Blazers have really struggled scoring just 80.0ppg on 40% FG and 10-of-35 from deep (28.6%). They had lost six overall games in a row, but have turned things around lately, winning 4 of their last 6. Portland will be in search of their 10th win in 11 visits to the Target Center. So, what do the Wolves need to do to secure a victory in this one?
The Wolves continue to play without Kevin Love (hand), Chase Budinger (knee), Brandon Roy (knees) and Malcolm Lee (knee/hip). The Blazers are without Elliot Williams (achilles tear--out for the season), Sasha Pavlovic (slight tear in his foot, out for 2-10 days) and Ronnie Price (ankle--missed Sat. vs. UTH). As I said before, Wes Matthews missed the Blazers' last game with an ankle injury. He remains optimistic he'll play tonight, but will be a gametime decision. Let's take a look at the probable starting lineups....
As always the concern is who Luke Ridnour is matching up with defensively. If Matthews is unable to play (man, I hope so) Victor Claver will start in his place (he did so on Sat. vs. UTH). The other big concern will be LaMarcus Aldridge. Derrick Williams doesn't have the low-post capabilities to handle him so don't be surprised if Adelman goes to Dante early and gives him plenty of burn tonight.
This one will tipoff at 7pmCT from the Target Center, enjoy the game, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! P.S. How do you like the new header/banner?
0 Comments
The Minnesota Timberwolves looked like a well-oiled machine tonight as they defeated the Western Conference's worst team 115-86. The TWolves got hot early and never cooled off. It seemed as though they took a page from the Lakers' book (from last night) and got off to a hot start, however unlike the Lakers, the Wolves never let the Hornets back into the game. The Wolves built a 30-point lead by the second half and although a letdown was in the back of all our minds, the Wolves never let up and won by 29 points! The game was so lopsided that the Wolves held a 20+ lead for the second half of the second quarter all the way to the final buzzer! The Timberwolves jumped out to a 19-point lead in the first quarter: 33-14. Minnesota got 7 points apiece from Rubio, Kirilenko & Pekovic as they all established themselves early and often in this one. Rubio was the most surprising. He drove the lane three separate times and finished his attempts at the rim--something he's definitely struggled with this season. Minnesota shot 75% in the first quarter (12-for-16) and held an 18-2 advantage in points in the paint. The second quarter was much the same as the Wolves continue to dominate. Dante Cunningham scored 10 of his 18 points in the second quarter and both Shved & Gelabale added 5 each for a 25-point Wolves quarter. The Hornets got 6 points each from both Robin Lopez & Jason Smith. The Wolves took a 58-313 lead at the half thanks in large part to their solid play on both ends. At the half, the Wolves were shooting 60.5% from the field, out-rebounding the Hornets by a +7, had the same number of assists the Hornets would finish the night with (15) and had forced the NO into 13 turnovers, while dominating them down low, holding a 26-8 advantage in points in the paint. Coming into the third quarter, the worry was concerning an infamous 3rdQ letdown that the Wolves have become rather infamous for this season. Instead, they played near even with the Hornets, being outscored by just one point: 23-24. The Wolves got 5 points apiece from both Kirilenko & Ridnour, while the Hornets put their big men to work, Anthony Davis scored 7 of his 18 and Lopez added 8 of his 16 in the third. None of the Wolves' starters played in the fourth quarter. J.J. Barea & Alexey Shved ran the backcourt while Gelabale, Amundson and Johnson rounded out the frontcourt. Every single bench player scored in that final quarter for the Wolves. The Wolves had 68 bench points on the night and 34 of them came in the fourth. The Wolves are now 18-26 and hopefully this game can act as a turning point at this point in the season. The Wolves have only won 2 of their last 13 games, but they've clearly shown that they can win games and compete with anyone. Dante Cunningham was the star in this one. He finished with a season-high 18 points on a perfect 9-of-9 shooting, also adding 4 rebounds and 2 steals in 26 minutes off the bench. His perfect night from the field sets a franchise record for most made field goals without a miss! Pekovic added 14pts, 7reb, 1stl, 1blk in 24 minutes; Kirilenko had 12pts, 6reb, 3ast, 2stls and Shved finished with 12pts, 4reb, 8ast and 1blk. It was a very balanced scoring effort as everyone on the roster scored. MISC. PLAYER STATS: Lou Amundson tied season-highs with his 8 points, 4 made field goals and 1 assist.......Dante Cunningham set new season-highs with his 18 points and 9 made field goals......Mickael Gelabale tied season-highs with his 1 made three, 2 attempted threes and 4 defensive rebounds.......Chris Johnson also tied a season-high with 1 steal...... The Hornets were led by their starting frontcourt. Anthony Davis had 18pts, 4reb, 1ast, 2stls and 1blk while Robin Lopez added 16pts, 2reb and 1stl. As you can see by those above numbers, the Hornets struggled to battle the Wolves on the boards. The Wolves out-rebounded the Hornets 44-28 in this one. When you're starting PF & C can only grab 6 rebounds in a game, it's going to be hard to win, especially when you're facing a good rebounding team like Minnesota. The Wolves finished the night 45-for-77 from the field (58.4%), they held a 58-32 advantage in points in the paint (+26) and got 68 points off their bench. The biggest key in this one though was forcing the Hornets into 23 turnovers which they turned into 29 points! The Hornets did force the Wolves into 18 of their own, but the TWolves were MUCH better defensively and only allowed 7 points off them. Everyone showed a continued willingness to fight and tonight everything played into the Wolves' favor for a much needed win. MISC. TEAM STATS: The Wolves set new season-highs in field goal percentage (58.4%), personal fouls (27) and points (115). They also tied a season-high with their 30 assists and tied the second-best mark of the season with their 45 made field goals......The Hornets set new season-highs for a Wolves opponent with their 27 made free throws and 23 turnovers. They also set the second-best mark for a Wolves opponent with their 33 free throw attempts.......The Hornets set new season-lows (for a Wolves opponent) with their 70 field goal attempts, they set the second-worst marks with their 19 offensive rebounds and 28 total rebounds and also tied the second-worst marks of the season with their 28 made field goals, 3 made threes and 15 assists....... That's all for now, the Wolves are back in action on Monday vs. the Portland Trailblazers. Until then, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! The Wolves come into tonight's game, losers of six-straight. They're hoping a matchup with the Western Conference's worst team can get them back on track and give them just their second win in the last thirteen games! The Wolves are 1-11 in their last 12 games, while the Hornets are 1-5 in their last 6 games. The Hornets had won 6 of 7 games during a stretch last month, however their defense as of late has been B-A-D. They've been allowing 104.8 points a game in their last eight games while losing six of those. Historically the Hornets are 9-2 in their last 11 visits to the Target Center and are 4-2 overall in the last six total meetings. These two teams have met twice already this season, both in New Orleans. The first meeting (Dec. 14) the Wolves took 113-102 in a game where Nikola Pekovic scored a career-high 31pts on 14-of-18 shooting, and AK47 added 21. The second meeting came on Jan. 11th. Behind 18pts & 13ast from Greivis Vasquez, the Hornets won 92-104. The Wolves come into tonight's contest 17-26, 11-9 at home, 10-15 vs. the West, 1-9 in their last 10 games and are currently ranked 12th in the West, 5.5 games out of the eighth and final seed. Minnesota's 6-game losing streak is a season-worst, the Wolves have also matched a season-worst with 3-straight home defeats. The Hornets are 15-32 on the year, 8-17 on the road, 8-22 vs. the West, losers of their last three games, 4-6 in their last 10 games and are currently 15th in the West, 9.5 games out of the eighth seed. The Wolves continue to play without Kevin Love (hand) & Chase Budinger (knee). Both could/should be back within the next month or so. Brandon Roy (knees) recently suffered another setback. He says he'd be happy to come back and play in the last 15 games, but with each setback that becomes less and less likely. Malcolm Lee (knee/hip) underwent season-ending surgery mid-January. The Hornets, on the other hand...are a team at full health. With no significant injuries, they'll have a full roster against the Wolves tonight. Both of these teams played last night and both teams lost. The Hornets are coming off a 98-113 loss in Denver. They were outscored 62-50 in the second half that lead to the 15-point win. Ryan Anderson finished with 21pts, 2reb, 1stl, 1blk and Anthony Davis, Greivis Vasquez & Robin Lopez all had 13pts each. The Wolves are coming off a loss to the Lakers. They dug themselves a HUGE hole in the first quarter when the Lakers shot near 70% from the field (in the 1st Q). They found themselves down at 29 points at one point, but were able to cut that to just 4 in the fourth quarter, but couldn't get any closer losing 100-111. Let's take a look at the probable starting lineups...
The Minnesota Timberwolves have a BIG advantage in the paint and I wouldn't be surprised to see a 25 & 15 kind of night from Nikola Pekovic. The Hornets don't have anyone on their roster that can contain Pek, with just four frontcourt players: Davis, Lopez, Ryan Anderson and Jason Smith. The Hornets have a decent backcourt with Vasquez & Gordon. Greivis burned the Wolves multiple times with his slashing and dishing in their last matchup, hopefully Ricky can show why he's a great perimeter defender in this one.
If the Wolves want to win this one, they need to step up defensively. They've been solid offensively these last two games, but their defense has been absolutely putrid. If they can't get stops, you can expect this losing streak to continue being extended, night after night. That's all for now, tipoff is set for 7pmCT, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! The Minnesota Timberwolves' struggles continue as they've now dropped their sixth straight game, 11 of their last 12 games and this is now the 20th straight loss to the Los Angeles Lakers (dating back to March '07). The Wolves fell behind by 29 points at one point during the game as it seemed we were on our way to a humiliating blowout loss. The TWolves continue to show fight, though and were actually able to cut the lead down to just two possessions (four points) in the fourth quarter, but couldn't come all the way back for an incredible comeback. The Lakers set the net on fire in the first quarter as they hit 68.2% of their shots (15-for-22_ and nailed 5 three pointers (of 7--71.4%). They also beat the Wolves by a +9 on the glass (4-13). It wasn't as though the Wolves were terrible on O, though. Minnesota shot 50% from the field (11-for-22) and 2-of-2 from deep (both by Shved). Pau Gasol scored 13 of his 22 points, Kobe added 7 of his 17 and Nash & MWP added 5 apiece as part of a 37-point Lakers first quarter. The Wolves got 6 points from both Pekovic & Shved, while AK & D-Will both added 4 as part of a 24-point Wolves first. The Wolves played the second quarter a bit closer in the second quarter, as the Lakers outscored them by just 2 points (31-29) and took a 15-point lead into halftime. The Lakers got off to a hot start in that second quarter as they tallied that 29-point lead, but the TWolves came roaring back to cut it to 15 just before the break. The Lakers made another 5 threes in the second quarter as they went 5-for-12, not surprisingly they're near 70% shooting didn't keep up as they ended the half shooting 56.2% (27-48) from the field. Ricky Rubio scored 7 of his 9 points, both Pek & Barea added 6 apiece. The Lakers got 9 points (of 13) from Earl Clark, 7 (of 10) from Steve Blake and 6 (of 8) from Jodie Meeks. The Timberwolves continued to fight their way back in the third quarter. It was thanks to a 2-3 zone defense that Adelman employed for the majority of the second half. The Wolves outscored L.A. 23-17 in the third to cut the lead to 9 points after three quarters. Kirilenko led the Wolves with 8 of his 12 in the third and D-Will added 6 of his 15, while Jamison had 6 of his 18 and Nash added 5 of his 17. The Lakers shot just 3-of-19 from the field (16%), 1-for-5 (20%) from deep and 10-of-12 (83%) from the line. The Wolves hot second half continued early in the fourth quarter when they were able to cut the lead to just four points, midway through the final quarter. Unfortunately they couldn't pull ahead and just didn't have enough in the final minutes. The Wolves had a number of 'empty possessions' late in the fourth as Minnesota lost, yet again, 100-111. Chris Johnson played the majority of the fourth quarter and finished with 8 of his 8 points and Shved added another 6pts to finish with 18. Pau Gasol & Antawn Jamison both added 9 points apiece for the Lakers as they closed out the Wolves for their 20th-straight W (vs. MIN) dating back to March 2007. Alexey Shved finished with 18pts, 4reb, 6ast and went 5-for-11 from deep in 27 minutes off the bench. Shved hit a number of big shots and played some decent defense on Kobe Bryant as he's looked better offensively since his 5 games off with that ankle sprain. Derrick Williams added 15pts, 9reb, 1stl and 1blk; Nikola Pekovic ended with 14pts, 9reb, 1stl and 1blk. Pek had a good start to this one using his physicality matched up against Gasol. Pau did send a number of his shots back during the game as his length did bother Pek. J.J. Barea added 14pts, 1reb and 3ast though he did have a number of bad possessions as he turned the ball over with some very ugly passes (he ended with 4tos & 4fls on the night). Lastly, Chris Johnson finally got some PT under head coach Rick Adelman. Johnson played 11 minutes (all mostly in the fourth quarter). Chris finished with 8pts on 3-of-4 shooting as well as 5reb, 2ast and 1stl. The best part about CJ's play? Greg Stiemsma didn't play at all tonight and if Johnson continues to play like this, he'll easily take that backup center job from him. The Lakers were without their star center (Howard), so Pau Gasol (who had been relegated to the bench) started in his place. Pau made the most of it, he finished with 22pts, 12reb, 2ast and 3blks in 37 minutes. He's certainly no Dwight Howard defensively, but he did a good job in the paint sending a number of shots back and altering plenty others. Antawn Jamison added 18pts, 7reb, 1ast and 2stls. Jamison saw a slight uptick in minutes (28 off the bench) with Howard out, making him the first big man off the bench. Kobe Bryant finished just 2 assists shy of a triple-double: 17pts, 12reb and 8ast. I was surprised that he continued in his facilitator role late in the fourth when the Wolves were threatening to come all the way back in this one. Clearly it worked, though. Steve Nash added 17pts, 7reb, 7ast and 2blks as well as 3-of-3 from deep. He's become a bit more of a shooting guard with Bryant's playmaking emergence and tonight he certainly excelled in that role. Earl Clark continues to start at power forward and tonight he showed he's worthy of being a starter as he added 13pts, 10reb, 1ast, 1stl and 1blk. He did struggle shooting from the field (6-of-15), but made some solid plays on both ends that led to the win. MISC. STATS: Luke Ridnour's 1 block ties a season-high (the 9th time this season)......Ricky Rubio tied season-highs with 4 field goals made and 9 field goals attempted, he also set a new season-high with 4 defensive rebounds......Alexey Shved set new season/career-highs with 5 three pointers made and 11 three-pointers attempted........Chris Johnson tied a season-high with his 1 steal and tied a career-high with his 2 assists...... Despite a near 70% start from the floor, the Lakers finished 42.4% (39-for-92) from the field, 37.5% from deep (12-for-32) and 84% from the line (84%). The Wolves left 10 points at the line (8-for-18) and were out-rebounded by a +17 (40-57). When you look at the team stats, shooting 44.4% from the line and that big rebounding disparity are big keys to this Wolves loss. MISC. STATS: The Wolves tied their second-best mark of the season with their 10 made threes.......Minnesota tied a their second-worst mark of the season with their 8 made free throws and also set a new season-low by shooting 44.4% from the line.......The Lakers' 32 three-point attempts and 57 rebounds are new season-highs for a Wolves opponent, their 40 defensive rebounds ties the best mark of the season and L.A.'s 17 offensive rebounds tie the second-best mark for a Minny opponent this season......The Lakers' 14 personal fouls are a season-low for a Wolves opponent........ The Wolves are now 17-26 on the season, they'll be right back in action tomorrow night vs. the New Orleans Hornets at the Target Center. That one is set to tip at 7pmCT, we'll have a preview up on this site 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
|