The Minnesota Timberwolves were expected to be a part of the Trade Deadline Frenzy, but for the first time since the beginning of the 'Kahn Era' the Wolves didn't make a trade at the deadline.
His previous two years were: 1st Year a trade for Darko Milicic & 2nd Year a trade for Anthony Randolph. There was obviously a lot of discussion about Minnesota acquiring Jamal Crawford from Portland, but the Blazers reportedly wanted Minnesota to include Luke Ridnour and Kahn/Adelman wasn't willing to part with him (thank goodness). That also means Michael Beasley will remain in Minnesota (also okay with that, I still hope Adelman can get him to his potential). Michael Beasley is listed as questionable for tonight's game with a sore toe he suffered in the win over the Phoenix Suns. Likely a gametime decision. On to the Jazz vs. TWolves. I'm going to keep this a bit shorter that usual as I'm still actively following Twitter for the trade updates. The Jazz are currently 20-22 on the season while the TWolves have stayed ahead of them since their last meeting (just before all-star break) at 22-21. That last meeting was the last game before All-Star Weekend and if you recall that one was won on a floater from Luke Ridnour at the buzzer. The Jazz didn't make a deadline deal either as there was some speculation that they could move Josh Howard. While other teams such as and most importantly the Portland Trailblazers completely 'blew it up'. They traded away Gerald Wallace & Marcus Camby and got in return Jonny Flynn, Hasheem Thabeet, a 2nd round pick from Houston (via Minnesota), Mehmet Okur, Shawne Williams & New Jersey's top-3 protected 1st round pick. Shortly thereafter they fired head coach Nate McMillan. I think it's safe to say Portland is out of the playoff picture. Utah will likely match up Harris-Ridnour, Bell-Webster, Howard-Johnson, Millsap-Love, Jefferson-Pekovic. The only change being Bell in place of Gordon Hayward who has since been coming off the bench in a sixth man role. Utah's last game was yesterday vs. the Phoenix Suns--which resulted in a 120-111 loss for the Jazz. Millsap & Jefferson both had 18 in the loss, Favors added 14 & Hayward with 13. Minnesota is 6-4 in it's last 10 games while the Jazz are 5-5. The Wolves are also 10-9 on the road, while Utah is 15-6 at home. The Jazz have won four straight at home vs. the Timberwolves as Minnesota will look to snap that with a win tonight as they continue their quest for a playoff berth. AccuScore has Utah as the 59-41 favorites in this matchup, Utah by 2.5, O/U: 203.0. I'm definitely glad Minnesota didn't make a deal at the deadline. There's no question, they were active in talks, but it's reassuring that Kahn didn't make a move for the sake of making a move and that he didn't allow teams to try and take too much. What do you think Wolves fans? Did Minnesota do the right thing by standing pat at the deadline or do you feel they should've made a deal? Let's discuss in the comments section! That's all for now, tipoff is set for 8pmCT and a full gameday recap can be found here following the final horn. I apologize for the rushed preview, but I'm still following the deals that went through at the deadline. Thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES!
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The TWolves needed to score a season-high 127 points, but they were able to snap a nine-game skid vs. the Phoenix Suns. There wasn't much defense played by either team as it went back-and-forth-back-and-forth-back-and-forth...you get the idea! But Minnesota prevailed and stopped a red-hot TWolves team that was going for their 6th straight win at home and their 10th consecutive win over Minnesota. Kevin Love was absurd, Nikola was Pektacular, Derrick Williams was...good and Minnesota moved back over .500, now at 22-21 on the year. In their second game without Ricky Rubio and following a humiliating loss to New Orleans over the weekend, Minnesota's role players stepped up in a big way! We'll get to those stats in a moment though. It was close down to the final seconds, though some big threes from Kevin Love, some impressive passing from Luke Ridnour as well as some big shots from Luke...as well as Wayne Ellington, the TWolves escaped with a three-point W. Let's take a look at some statistics from tonight's key players on each team...
Clearly the Timberwolves got contributions from a number of different players. Kevin Love hit an absurd amount of threes (5 total) finishing with 30pts, all the while playing with a good deal of pain in his back. Pek mutilated Marcin Gortat down low and anyone else the Suns thought of throwing at him in hopes of stopping his onslaught. Then Luke finished with a near double-double as his play for the injured Rubio has been impressive! Then came the Wolves' bench, Wayne Ellington has seen a bump in minutes since Ricky went down and tonight played 34 off the bench and came up big with 15pts on over 50% shooting. Lastly, Beasley's 15pts all came in the first half as he didn't play at all in the final two quarters! It was hot shooting, all around for both teams! The duo of Dudley & Nash have been GREAT since the all-star break and tonight was no different as they combined for 53pts, 12reb, 11ast on 20-31 FG, 4-8 3PT & 9-9 from the line! Gortat was a big part of the Suns' win in the last meeting, but tonight he was limited to just 8pts, 4reb, 1stl, 4fls in 20 minutes on 3-of-6 shooting. Let's take a look at some team stats from tonight's game...
Minnesota had an incredible shooting night. 64% from deep is a season-high, 127 team points is a season-high and 30ast is a season-high. Incredible that 30ast was accomplished as a season-high without Ricky Rubio thanks in large part to 9 from Luke Ridnour, 8 from J.J. & 6 from Martell. The 52 bench points was also a big key, but perhaps most importantly: just 11 turnovers leading to 13 Suns' points.
The back-and-forth of this game was a lot of fun to watch and was VERY nerve-wracking. Minnesota prevailed and that means we all go home happy! What's that, you're a Suns fan?...1/2 of us go home happy. After tonight, do you think the TWolves need to make any moves before Thursday's Trade Deadline? Is Jamal Crawford or Ramon Sessions or Pau Gasol...or whoever, needed for the Wolves to make a legitimate push for a playoff spot, feel free to be heard in the comments section. Enjoy the win, the Wolves are back in action Thursday vs. the Utah Jazz. Thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! The Minnesota Timberwolves begin their 7-game road trip tonight vs. the Phoenix Suns. In fact, the next time the TWolves will play back at the Target Center is March 25th vs. the Denver Nuggets. Until then, they'll face: Utah, L.A. Lakers, Sacramento, Golden State, San Antonio and Oklahoma City.
Anyway, let's get to Minnesota vs. Phoenix, tonight. The Phoenix Suns have won the last 9 meetings over the Timberwolves. The Phoenix Suns are also currently on a 5-game home winning streak as they look to push that to 6 with a win over the Wolves tonight. The TWolves are currently 21-21 on the year as well as 9-9 on the road, Minnesota has struggled lately though, going 5-5 in their last 10 games as they're currently on a 2-game losing streak. The Phoenix Suns are 19-21 on the year and 12-9 at home this season. They're also 7-3 in their last 10 games and are currently on a 2-game winning streak. The Minnesota Timberwolves' last game was a humbling and almost humiliating loss to the New Orleans Hornets, who up to that point had only won 9 games. This of course was the first game the TWolves were playing without their rookie point guard Ricky Rubio. I can assume you've heard Ricky tore his ACL, but if not, here's the full report: Ricky Rubio Tears ACL, Out for Season. Without Rubio at the helm, the Wolves committed 17 turnovers (which was their most in 8 games), they shot 22% from deep and lost to the Western Conference's worst team! "It's like we reverted back to a long time ago, we're not going to get it done that way," said Rick Adelman, following the loss. It's clear the TWolves are going to miss Ricky Rubio, but the possibility of making the playoffs for the first time since 2004 is still a possibility and with point guards Luke Ridnour & J.J. Barea on the roster as well as rookie Malcolm Lee, the TWolves are deep at the position and any would be good enough to lead the Wolves at point guard. However, it's clear that guys like Kevin Love & Nikola Pekovic need to continue their stellar play but some of their main guys like Derrick Williams, Martell Webster & Michael Beasley (if he's not traded) need to step up and contribute! It's unclear, at this point as to whether J.J. will be able to play, likely a gametime decision for this one. The Phoenix Suns' last game was Saturday vs. the Memphis Grizzlies. The result was a 98-91 win for the Suns as they extended that home winning streak to five games. The Suns were able to rally from 11 points down at halftime to win the game thanks to six Phoenix Suns players in double figures, lead by Dudley w/19pts, Gortat added 15, Hill-14, Nash & Lopez each had 11 (Nash also added 15ast) and Frye rounded that out with 10. Despite preseason projections that the Suns would be a lottery-team at best, they're making a serious push for the playoffs since the All-Star break and if Nash isn't traded and guys like Hill, Dudley & Gortat continue playing the way they have, they may just surprise some folks. A big question for me heading into this one is what the Timberwolves' starting lineup will look like? Versus the Hornets on Saturday the TWolves started Luke at point guard, Martell at shooting guard and then the usual Johnson, Love & Pekovic. My biggest question is whether Martell will get the start at shooting guard again. In his first start this season for the Wolves he played 24 minutes, had 2 points on 1-of-5 shooting, 0-for-2 from deep, 7rebs, 2ast, 1to & 1fl. There are other options, but I don't know that Adelman will make any changes to his lineup...wait and see, I suppose. A big key to tonight's game will be limiting turnovers and hitting shots. The TWolves don't have the greatest defense in the League (we, know that), but when they don't shoot a high percentage and turn the ball over in the 'teens', the Wolves struggle mightily! It'll be no easy task against a red-hot Suns team led by Nash & Co. Tip is set for 9pmCT (later start then usual, because it's a West coast game), a full gameday recap can be found on this site following the final horn. Thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! When it rains it pours. The Minnesota Timberwolves lost to the Lakers last night, lost Ricky Rubio for the rest of the season with a torn ACL and tonight lost to the Hornets as they grabbed just their 10th win of the season! The Timberwolves were strong early with great play from Nikola Pekovic & Kevin Love. Pek scored 12 and Love added 10 in the first quarter that saw the teams tied at 24. Love & Luke gave them 5 points each and Wayne Ellington added 9 in the second quarter, but the Hornets got 7 from Thomas, and five each from Vasquez & Belinelli in the second quarter as the Hornets took a five-point lead heading into halftime; 44-49. A key to that second quarter was four scoreless minutes for the Wolves as the Hornets went on an 11-0 run. The deficit remained at 5 as both teams scored 21 in the third quarter. Pek & Love combined for 10 in that quarter as did the Hornets' froncourt of Kaman & Ayon, while Jack also added 5. It was still anyone's ball game heading into the final quarter. The Hornets outscored Minnesota by just one point in the final quarter (24-25) as the Hornets snuck out of Minneapolis with their 10th win of the season. Love had 10 in that final quarter and Pek added 5, but a balanced Hornets effort led by 6 from Aminu got them the W. The Minnesota Timberwolves fell back to .500 on the season, 21-21 and fell further out of the playoff picture, just as soon as they became part of that discussion. Let's take a look at some of tonight's key players from each team...
Kevin Love posted another great stat line that continues to seem routine (still astounding a 30-15 is the 'norm' now). Pek is establishing himself as one of the best centers in the NBA as his stellar play continues, another double-double for Pek--shooting efficiently and bruising big men down low. Ridnour manned the point with Rubio down and turned in a double-double, but struggled a bit as he adjusting to defending legitimate point guard. He doesn't have the playmaking ability of Rubio, but he's still a solid point guard and although the loss of Ricky hurts--Luke isn't 'chopped liver'. Ellington saw significant minutes for the first time in a long time and scored 12pts, but also turned the ball over 4 times as he looked a little rusty out there. Adelman opened his rotation back up and played 10 guys in tonight's loss (beyond starting five--Lee, Ellington, Williams, Beasley & Miller). For the Hornets, they were without three of their key players: Emeka Okafor, Carl Landry & Jason Smith, they're also, of course, still without Eric Gordon. They got solid play from a number of different players. Kaman (whose name is circulating the trade deadline rumors) had a great game with 20pts. I've watched Jarrett Jack since he came into the League and I'm glad he's in a situation where he's getting the start and making the most of it after toiling as a backup in Portland, Toronto and last year in New Orleans. Let's take a look at some of tonight's team stats...
The key stat from tonight? 17 TWolves turnovers leading to 25 Hornets points. The loss of Rubio attributes directly to the loss of the TWolves' ball control. Hopefully the TWolves can learn quickly to handle the ball and the return of J.J. Barea may help that cause (he's expected back sometime next week, if not Monday vs. Phoenix then later in the week). The Wolves also got beat on the break while NOH shot better from the field, three-point line & the line.
The Wolves will be looking for a bounce-back win Monday vs. the Phoenix Suns as they begin a 7-game road trip (won't play at the Target Center for the next 15 days!). Thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! UPDATE (3/10 @1:19pmCT): According to multiple sources, Ricky Rubio has torn his ACL in his left knee. He'll be out for the remainder of the season. Typical recovery time is 6-9 months. That means the Wolves will rely heavily on Ridnour, J.J. & Lee these next 20 games. Expect Ridnour to start tonight, with Lee coming off the bench (likely to make his NBA debut with both Ricky & J.J. out). Here's the full update: Rubio has Torn ACL.
The Minnesota Timberwolves fell last night to the Los Angeles Lakers and moved to 21-20 on the year, but fell out of the playoffs as quick as they had gotten into them, now a half game behind the Rockets for the 8th seed in the West. A matchup against the New Orleans Hornets will hopefully be enough to get them back on track. The Hornets are just 9-31 on the year and 5-15 on the road. The Timberwolves are 21-20 and 12-11 on the road. A dark cloud hangs over the Wolves right now, though. I was waiting to write this post until we found out about Ricky's knee, but we needed to get this written. Check out our post on his injury here: Ricky Rubio Hurt, Team Fears Torn ACL. There's plenty of speculation on Rubio's condition circling the Internet, but when we get the news from a reliable source, we'll have a full update under that story and in this preview. I'd expect Rubio not to play no matter the result of the MRI, as he could barely make it off the floor last night. The TWolves will also be without J.J. Barea who is recovering from a sprained ankle he suffered vs. the Blazers on Wednesday. Kevin Love, who didn't play vs. the Lakes last night due to back spasms is questionable, but most assume he'll play, likely a gametime decision. That certainly leaves plenty of holes in the TWolves' starting lineup. If Rubio can't go, expect Ridnour to man the point, Wes or Webster will play shooting guard, Wes or Beasley would start at small forward, it'll be either Love or Williams at power forward and Pekovic will start at center. I basically just named over half the team that could start vs. the Hornets tonight! Malcolm Lee who was recalled from the D-League will be available and with point guards Rubio & Barea out, Lee will likely make his NBA debut! The Hornets have plenty of injury problems themselves, though. In the Hornets' last game vs. Denver (last night) Emeka Okafor, Jason Smith & Carl Landry were all injured and didn't play. Okafor was out with a sore left knee, Smith with a concussion and Landry with an MCL sprain. Of course, the Hornets' best player Eric Gordon is still out as well. In their last game vs. Denver they started Jarrett Jack, Marco Belinelli, Trevor Ariza, Gustavo Ayon & Chris Kaman. In that game they lost 110-97. Lance Thomas came off the bench and had 18, Jack scored 17 & Xavier Henry & Belinelli both added 12. The Hornets are on a 4-game losing streak and have gone 2-8 in their last 10 games, while the Timberwolves have gone 6-4 over their last 10. Minnesota has also won the last 4 meetings over the Hornets as they look to extend that streak to 5 with a win tonight. The Hornets aren't a great team, but they're a team that you can never overlook and chalk up a W, sure, they've lost 31 games this season, but they have a lot of talented players on the team and with the potential of the TWolves being without three of their best players tonight, if you think people needed to step up last night without Love (they did), then tonight's game is certainly more the same....if not more so! With so many questions about who'll be available and who will start and Rubio & Love's condition, you can expect an update to this post later today, before the 7pmCT tipoff tonight. Until then, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! Sure, the Minnesota Timberwolves didn't have Kevin Love, but the play of Rubio, D-Will & Pek MORE than made up for it, but in the end it wasn't enough for the Wolves who fell to the Lakers for an 18th consecutive time. Minnesota held the advantage through halftime. After one quarter it was Minnesota 33-21 and by halftime they were still up 58-49. In that first half they got 17pts from D-Will (12 in the first quarter), 15 from Pek (10 in the first quarter), 11 from Beasley & 9 from Rubio as this all-around effort definitely boded well for Minny. The second half was more Laker than Wolf. The Lakers backcourt took control in the third quarter as L.A. outscored Minnesota 20-29 behind 14 (of his 34) from Kobe & 9 (all of his points) from Fisher, tying the game at 78. The final quarter was more the same. Despite 8pts apiece from both Pekovic & Ridnour the Lakers outscored the TWolves 24-27 behind 8 from Kobe & 10 (of his 26) from Bynum. It was an incredible game, especially because the Wolves were without their franchise player: Kevin Love! The only 'bad' thing you could/should take away from this one? Ricky Rubio's injury. With just seconds to play, Kobe Bryant plowed over Rubio (Ricky got called for the block and Bryant hit some key FT's late to seal the win), but it appeared (from the replays) that Bryant's knee bashed into Rubio's shin. Ricky had to be helped off the court and after the final horn--had to be helped to the locker room. As of 10pmCT, 3/9, all the training staff was saying was that Ricky had a left knee injury and would be re-evaluated tomorrow--no X-rays were taken tonight (stay tuned to HOWL for an update, tomorrow). The TWolves were without Love due to back spasms as well as J.J. Barea who is nursing a sprained ankle. There's no word on whether Rubio will be able to play tomorrow vs. the Hornets, nor Kevin Love, though J.J. stated before tonight's game that he would be out for the weekend, but would hopefully/likely return to action next week. If Rubio is unable to play tomorrow, that will likely open up time for rookie Malcolm Lee (recently recalled from the D-League and has yet to make his NBA debut) could play and we could see a starting lineup of: Ridnour, Johnson, Webster or Beasley, Love or Williams & Pekovic. Let's take a look at some stats from some of tonight's key players from each team...
There was no shortage of Minnesota Timberwolves players that stepped up. D-Will had his first career double-double, as he started in place of Kevin Love at power forward. Nikola's return was fun to watch as he notched another double-double and tied a career/season-high of 13rebs, the battle between Pek & Bynum was certainly fun to watch! The Lakers' "Big Three" was key in this win. Kobe was Kobe and Andrew Bynum had a GREAT night, shooting a high percentage, grabbing rebounds and scoring aplenty! Gasol had a solid game with a double-double, though 12pts is somewhat low. That may have been due to the trade rumors that circulated Twitter all afternoon that he had been traded. Clearly would've been great for the Wolves if he had been! Let's take a look at some team stats from tonight's game...
Kevin Love was sorely missed on the boards as the Wolves were out-rebounded by a +11. The Wolves were also outdone in the paint by a +14 thanks to the efforts of L.A.'s Bynum & Gasol. The Lakers were turnover-happy as they racked up 17 (7 in the first quarter alone).
Minnesota will play host to the New Orleans Hornets tomorrow night. A full gameday preview of that one can be found on this site tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! "We're talking about the fact that we're relevant right now. We've made a run here that got us to that position. We can win games and we can stay right there," says Timberwolves head coach Rick Adelman, and rightfully so! The Timberwolves have been playing great basketball these past few games, that's gotten them into the playoff picture in the Western Conference, as the Wolves are currently tied for the 8th seed in the West with the Houston Rockets, however since the Timberwolves won the season series over Houston, if the playoffs started today, Minnesota would be in the playoffs for the first time since their last appearance in 2003-04! Rick Adelman has certainly turned the Timberwolves from laughingstock to one of the most competitive clubs in the Association! "I don't think anybody can really say that we're the laughingstock of the NBA anymore, if you come in here thinking that, you're going to catch an 'L' real quick," says second-year swingman Wesley Johnson, following his best performance of the season vs. the Blazers on Wednesday. I doubt, however, that the Los Angeles Lakers are going to be overlooking anyone, following their last game in which they were defeated & humiliated by the Washington Wizards. The Lakers were up by 21 points as they led 76-55 in the third quarter. Kobe was on fire the entire first half and Andrew Bynum said after the game: "I was out there kind of loafing around and having a good time." However, that quickly changed as the Washington Wizards' second-unit went on a big run late in the game as they ended up edging the Lakers 106-101! Kobe was held to 1-of-10 shooting in the second half as the Wizards celebrated their 9th win of the season. Kobe finished that one with 30pts on 9-31 shooting, Pau & Bynum both added 19 in the loss. As successful as the TWolves have been this year, they definitely had their struggles against the Lakers this season, losing both contests between the teams, the first one: 106-101 and the second 104-85. Here are the gameday recaps of both of those games from our archives... The Lakers currently hold a 17-game winning streak over the Minnesota Timberwolves that they'll look to push to 18 in tonight's game. The 17-game winning streak for LAL is currently the longest active streak of wins that one team holds over another! However, the TWolves have been 'rolling' lately and they hope that'll continue tonight. A win tonight not only snaps that nasty skid to the Lakers that has spanned over five years, but it'll also be Minnesota's first 6-game home winning streak in almost 8 years! The last time they were able to string six home wins togther? March 21-April 12, 2004! With the Wolves' win over Portland on Wednesday, that was their first five-game, home winning streak since the 2006-07 season! The Wolves are currently 21-19 on the season and 12-10 at the Target Center this season, they've also won their past three games. The Lakers are currently 23-16 on the year, but have had their struggles on the road, holding just a 6-14 record away from the Staples Center. Since these two teams' last meeting (2/29) both have played four games. In that time the Lakers have gone 2-2, while the TWolves have gone 3-1. The Lakers had wins over the Kings & Heat, but recently dropped two games to some of the NBA's cellar-dwelling teams: Detroit and of course, Washington. The Pistons were able to take down the Lakers in overtime 88-85. The TWolves had a loss to the Suns, the very next day (after playing LAL), but since have bounced back with a win over the Clippers and two wins over the Trailblazers (recaps of those games can be found in previous posts under our "Gameday" section on this site. The Timberwolves are hoping that Nikola Pekovic is able to return from his foot injury. If he's unable to go, Darko will again get the start. Either way, I'd expect Darko to see a solid 'chunk' of minutes tonight as the Wolves will struggle defensively against the Lakers' big men: Pau Gasol & Andrew Bynum. J.J. Barea is doubtful for the game after suffering that left-ankle sprain, Wednesday vs. the Blazers. The Wolves have recalled Malcolm Lee from the D-League and it's possible he could make his NBA debut in the coming days. Adelman says Lee is for 'insurance-sake' in case other players get in foul trouble or if they lose another guard to injury. Though, he clarified by saying, he'll hold no reservations about putting the young guard in, if the situation calls for it. The key tonight as it has been in the previous two meetings: Contain the Lakers' "Big Three" (Kobe, Gasol & Bynum). If just one of those players has an off-night it bodes well for Minnesota. Along with that, limiting turnovers and the Lakers' fast break points, while forcing their big guys out of the paint and making LAL beat them from the perimeter will be key in a TWolves W tonight at the Target Center. The Minnesota Timberwolves will be having a whiteout tonight vs. the Lakers, as they set out over 19,000 white t-shirts for the expected sellout crowd at the Target Center. To the right is a picture of the thousands of shirts set out around the Target Center for a TC crowd that will hopefully be bellowing in the final minutes of tonight's game: "BEAT LA!" That's all for now, as always, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! The Minnesota Timberwolves got some great all-around play from a number of different players and they took down Portland for the second time in under a week, while snapping an 11-game losing streak to the Blazers in Minneapolis that dated back to March of 2007. This is also the Timberwolves' first 5-straight wins homestand in over five years! The Houston Rockets fell to the Toronto Raptors (116-98) and with that Rockets loss, the Timberwolves are now tied for 8th place in the Western Conference, which means if the playoffs started today, they'd be playing! The Wolves had the hot-hand from deep and a season-high 13 three-pointers was a big part of the Wolves' win! Love, Wes & Ridnour all hit three, threes apiece! The Wolves were without Nikola Pekovic, again who sat out with a sore foot. Pek said it's nothing serious (the X-rays came back negative) and said he just needs a few days. They may have lost J.J. Barea for a number of games as well. He sprained his ankle in the third quarter and did not return. Adelman said a week ago when we were curious as to whether J.J. would be able to play with the calf strain, that he might consider bringing Lee back from the D-League...definitely keep an eye on J.J. & Lee! The Timberwolves got double-digit scoring efforts from a number of different players: Love, Ridnour, Johnson & Webster. The big key to the game as we mentioned in the preview was Kevin Love getting some offensive help, no doubt he did tonight! Let's take a look at some of tonight's key players' stats...
Wesley Johnson FINALLY stepped up! It's been a long time coming this season. He played just 28 minutes and not at all in the fourth quarter, but 10 of his 19 came in the first quarter, 4 in the second quarter & 5 in the third. Of those three missed shots, they all came in that third quarter. Love just missed another 30-point game and with that would've tied the franchise record for 30-point games in one season (held by Tony Campbell with 14). And Luke who is tied up in trade rumors about the TWolves trading him to...Portland for Jamal Crawford. Luke had 22pts on 50% along with the rebounds & assists. Jamal on the other hand? 6pts, 2rebs, 3ast and shot 3-of-13 from the field, 0-6 from deep. Raymond Felton (who didn't start in the last meeting between these two) had a great game leading Portland with those 23pts. LA broke out of his funk, as he's been struggling the past few games out and of course, Gerald Wallace almost had that triple-double, just one-assist & one-rebound away. Last game out it was all Wallace, Batum & Crawford, tonight it was Felton, LA & Wallace/Matthews. Let's take a look at the comparison of team stats in tonight's game...
The Wolves' three-point shooting was definitely a key in tonight's win, without those, they may not have been as victorious. The Blazers shot just 13% from deep and the free-throw differential between these two teams is crazy! The Wolves shot 26 free throws while the Blazers shot just 4, the TWolves committed only 12 personal fouls--while the Blazers nearly doubled that with 23!
Definitely a big win for the Timberwolves! As I said before, the Wolves are tied for the 8th seed in the Western Conference. However, because the Wolves won the season series over Houston this season, they would hold the advantage in the tiebreaker, so, if the playoffs did start today, Minnesota would be the 8th seed! That's all for now, thanks for reading, the Wolves' next matchup comes Friday vs. the Lakers. Stay tuned for some pictures, video & stats from tonight's game. As well as a gameday preview of that Lakers matchup tomorrow afternoon! Thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! The Minnesota Timberwolves snapped a 16-game losing streak to the Portland Trailblazers in their last meeting, just five days ago (Saturday) in Portland. It also ended an 11-game losing streak to the Blazers in Portland. Tonight, at the Target Center, Kevin Love will look to fuel his team to avoid another Blazers W in Minneapolis. The last time the TWolves took down Portland at the Target Center was March 25, 2007, since then, the Blazers have won eight-straight. Tonight, will also be the Timberwolves' first chance in five years to win 5-straight games at home! The last time that happened? December 26, 2006-January 7, 2007.
There's no questioning Kevin Love has been on a roll his last two games (@Portland on Saturday & vs. the Clippers on Monday) and tonight vs. the Blazers he'll look to continue his stellar play. In the last two games, Love has gone for a combined for 81pts, 27rebs, 6ast, 28-52 FG (54%), 10-18 3PT (56%), 15-19 FT (79%) in a total 86 minutes! Since these two faced just a few days ago in Portland, the TWolves played one game (Mon. vs. LAC) and took down the Clips 95-94, here's a full gameday recap of that one: Timberwolves-Clippers Game Recap. The Blazers also played just one game since facing Minnesota on Saturday. They played the Hornets on Monday and won 86-74. It was an easy win over the cellar-dwelling New Orleans Hornets. Nicolas Batum led the charge with 19pts, 3rebs, 1 ast, 1blk & 7-16 FG. Camby added 6pts, 16rebs, 2ast, 2stls, 2blks. The Hornets were able to limit Aldridge, however. LA finished with just 10pts, 11rebs, 1stl on 5-11 FG. After the game LA said he lost his rhythm because the Hornets' bigs were doubling down on him in the post. The Timberwolves are 20-19 this season and are 11-10 at home. The Blazers are 19-19 as well as 5-12 on the road. Their struggles on the road have been well-documented, which could certainly tip the odds in favor of Minnesota. According to AccuScore, Minnesota is the 55%-45% favorites, Minnesota by 1.0 and an over/under of 195.0. Minnesota has also gone 7-3 in their last 10 games, while the Blazers have gone 4-6 over that same stretch. Since the Wolves' last meeting with Portland Jamal Crawford has been moved back to the bench and Raymond Felton has been moved back into the starting lineup as the team's point guard. The reason being? McMillan simply stated, we've lost three games! It may also have a bit to do with Jamal Crawford being heavily involved in trade talks as we move very close to the March 15th Trade Deadline. One of those teams? The Minnesota Timberwolves. According to multiple sources the Timberwolves are VERY interested in Crawford. Here's a story we wrote on that earlier this week: TWolves Interested...Once Again...in Jamal Crawford. An update to that story, according to CSNNW.com, Luke Ridnour would be the most likely TWolf to go to Portland. The only thing holding up a deal, is the Blazers hoping to acquire a better point guard, like: Steve Nash, Rajon Rondo or Jose Calderon. I really like Luke Ridnour and his game, so it would be unfortunate if he was traded away, but I can't deny Jamal Crawford is the kind of scoring shooting guard the Timberwolves desperately need! Nikola Pekovic participated in yesterday's practice, though he only did for about 45 minutes and wasn't involved in any contact-drills or scrimmages, he'll be re-evaluated before tonight's game, making him a gametime decision. If he's unable to play, Darko Milicic will almost definitely get the start again. He had 13pts, 4rebs, 1ast, 1blk on 6-of-7 shooting. There's no doubt the Trailblazers will be gunning for Kevin Love, whether or not that'll be effective remains to be seen. However, there's no question that other players need to step up and contribute on the offensive end, because, as good as he is, you can't count on Kevin Love scoring 40pts a game! That's all for now, tipoff is set for 7pmCT and a full gameday recap can be found on this site following the final horn. If you haven't already, check out our new season/career-highs for every TWolves player on the roster! Thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES! Chris Paul will be beating himself up for the next few days as tonight's loss to Minnesota lingers, as he had a chance to send the game to overtime in the final seconds, but missed the third of three free throws as Kevin Love & Co. took the W and the season series. The Timberwolves are now 3-0 vs. the Clippers this season and with the win tonight, took the season series. They'll have a chance for the sweep on April 12th at the Target Center. Kevin Love has been in my MVP consideration as well as anyone else who has seen his entire body of work this season, but with these last two games, how can anyone have doubts?! Following up is 42pts & 10 rebs vs. the Blazers on Saturday, Love dumped in 39pts and grabbed 17rebs against a power forward the rest of the NBA seems to think is the #1 PF in the League: Blake Griffin. With just under five seconds to play, the Clippers had the ball and were down 3; 95-92. They took a timeout and had the ball out-of-bounds at half-court, the inbounder found a wide-open Chris Paul who threw up a three and was fouled by rookie Derrick Williams. Paul just barely missed the three for what could have been a four-point play, the shot missed off the front of the rim and Paul went to the line for three free throws and a chance to tie the game to send it into overtime with 2.7 seconds to play. Paul made the first two, but missed the final FT as Ricky Rubio corralled the rebound and was fouled to seal the TWolves win. Darko Milicic was starting in place of Nikola Pekovic (who was out with a sore foot) and had 13pts, 4rebs & 1blk in 28 minutes. Let's take a look at some individual statistics for each team's key players in tonight's game...
Kevin Love's dominance is becoming second nature, now when he has a 15 point game we call it an off night and these near 40-point performances are becoming his BIG games! His 10 three-point attempts are a new career-high and his 5 three-point makes ties a career-high. He began the game with 16pts in the first quarter, had just 2 in the second, dumped in 12 in the third and his finale was another 9 in the final quarter. Derrick had 15pts all of which came in the first half and 14 of which came in the second quarter! The Clippers got big games from those three players above. There's no doubt Griffin is a great athlete, but his free throw shooting and defense are the BIG problems in his game. He hit less than 50% of his freebies. Apparently the pressure got to Paul in the final seconds as he had made all his free throws up to that point (8-straight). Let's take a look at some team stats from tonight's game...
The Timberwolves were out-rebounded, they shot a lower percentage from the field, had more turnovers leading to more Clippers' points, the Clippers' bench outscored Minnesota's and L.A. won the battle in the paint. The TWolves shot a higher percentage from deep, from the line had more assists and VERY surprisingly beat the Clips on the break!
That's all for now. 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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