The Minnesota Timberwolves have won their first back-to-back games since March of last season, when the Timberwolves beat the Pacers March 9th & the Jazz on the 11th. This was just before that 18-game losing streak began--that ended yesterday with that win over Dallas! The TWolves move to 2-3 on the season with this big win over an annual champion contender! I was not able to watch tonight's game as it wasn't broadcast locally or on League Pass! I did follow the game on ESPN's Gametrack and on Twitter. It was another TWolves win, so I can't complain too much! I did watch a bit of that Raptors--Knicks game that the Raps won 90-85! The Knicks were without Amar'e though...Anway back to the Wolves... The Timberwolves were up by 14 points after three quarters on a 10-0 run in with 5:48 left that saw them ahead 85-68! With around six minutes left in the game the Timberwolves held a 104-90. The Spurs not only took a big hit with the loss, but they've lost their leading scorer...indefinitely! Manu Ginobli was injured when he fouled Anthony Tolliver as he rose to shoot the ball late in the second quarter. He immediately grabbed his shooting hand and crouched in pain near the scorers table as the team trainer came to his side. Manu was taken for X-rays, which revealed a broken fifth metacarpal, just below his pinkie finger. A huge blow to a team very thin on the depth chart--they'll certainly have to acquire someone. My guess? Free Agent & former Spur: Keith Bogans. With this win, the Timberwolves will have a chance to move to a .500 win percentage in Wednesday's game vs. the Grizzlies! It'll also be the first time since January 29-February 6, 2010 for a three-game win streak, when the TWolves won four-in-a-row vs. the Clippers, Knicks, Mavericks & Grizzlies! The Wolves were without J.J. Barea who is still recovering from a strained hamstring after playing just 17 minutes vs. the Mavericks on Sunday. Anthony Randolph & Nikola Pekovic were available for tonight's game, but didn't play in the game as a "coach's decision". Let's take a look at some statistics for each team in tonight's game...
Clearly the Timberwolves were on fire shooting the basketball tonight! 58% from the field AND at halftime they were shooting 68% as a team! The TWolves were lucky they had that "hot" shooting to counteract those 19 team turnovers that saw the Spurs score 19 points! Anytime you shoot almost 60% from the field AND from the arc, you're going to have a VERY good chance to snag the win, no matter how many times you turn the ball over! The Spurs were beaten on the glass with a +8 and although they shot a decent percentage for the game, they were in trouble when there leading scorer went down in the second quarter after giving them just 8 points. Let's take a look at some individual stats from some of tonight's key players for each team...
The Minnesota Timberwolves were AGAIN led by their all-star Kevin Love. His 24-15 line is nothing new and he's making it nothing but routine! One of the most consistent players in the NBA today. His turnovers were up again after committing just one in the win over Dallas yesterday, but he was more active on the defensive end blocking 2 shots and snatching 3 steals! Luke Ridnour showed he wasn't the only Timberwolves point guard who could pass the rock! He had a season-high 9 assists to go with a season-high 19 points! Big game for Luke going against Parker. He also, as usual, shot a very high percentage (70%) and knocked down two of Minnesota's 12 threes! Michael Beasley should play with stitched up fingers more often! He shot 53% from the field, perfect from deep, grabbed 5 boards and actually had a season-high 3 assists!
Tim Duncan & Richard Jefferson led the scoring for the Spurs with Manu Ginobli out (averaging just over 18ppg this season). The biggest surprise I had looking over the individual stats? The Spurs' starters didn't have more than 3 rebounds apiece! Blair had 3 boards and the other four had just 2! Their leading rebounder was their center off the bench: Matt Bonner, with 6! That's all I've got for now, stay tuned for a gameday preview of Wednesday's game vs. the Grizzlies that we'll put out sometime tomorrow! Also stay tuned tonight for some pictures and a video recap of tonight's game under the media section! You'll also see we redesigned both those pages to look better and make them easier to navigate! Thanks for reading and GO WOLVES!
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Cody D. AndersonA Wolves fan bringing you Gameday Recaps all season long! 2014-15 Game ArchivesGameday Archives
December 2015
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