Game Preview: Timberwolves at Nets

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Timberwolves at Nets

Tuesday, November 8th, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. at the Barclays Center

MATCHUP

These two teams are facing off against each other for the first time this year. The Wolves are 1-5, whereas the Nets are 2-4. We could give these teams the benefit of the doubt and say they are just getting used to the new coaching staffs, but I’m not sure if that is the case. Both teams are off to a slow start this year. Minnesota is looking to bounce back after an abysmal loss to the Thunder and finally start living up to the hype they had going into the year. Brooklyn is looking to redeem themselves after losing a close game to the Hornets on Friday. Everyone knew the Nets weren’t going to be good, so they can only go up from here, right? Both teams are trying to turn their season around early before it’s too late.

Projected Starters

Timberwolves:

PG: Kris Dunn #3

SG: Zach LaVine #8

SF: Andrew Wiggins #22

PF: Gorgui Dieng #5

C: Karl-Anthony Towns #32

Nets:

PG: Isaiah Whitehead #15

SG: Bojan Bogdanovic #44

SF: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson #24

PF: Trevor Booker #35

C: Brook Lopez #11

Injury Report

Timberwolves: 

Nikola Pekovic – out/season (recurring foot pain)

Ricky Rubio – out (elbow)

Nets:

Jeremy Lin – out (hamstring)

Greivis Vasquez – questionable (ankle)

Randy Foye – will play (hamstring)

Last Meeting

The Wolves played the Nets twice last year. Both times they walked away with a win. They first played on December 20th at the Barclays Center. Towns lead the team with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Brook Lopez dropped 20 points as well. Minnesota walked away with a comfortable 100-85 win.

The second time they played was on March 5th at the Target Center. The Wolves shot a franchise record 68.4 shooting percentage. Wiggins had 26 points, Towns had 28 points, LaVine had 21 points, and Rubio had 16 points. Wouldn’t it be nice to get that type of production every game? The surprise leading scorer for the Nets that game was Markel Brown. He walked away with 23 points and a sticker that said “A for effort”. Timberwolves win in a high scoring game 132-118.

Noteworthy

This game should be a breeze for the Wolves. Notice how I used the word “should”. Lately the Timberwolves haven’t been losing to any other team but themselves. Lack of defensive effort and terrible 3rd quarter play have made them 1-5.

On a more positive note, this is a somewhat of a homecoming for Karl-Anthony Towns. He grew up not that far from the Brooklyn area and is considered the hometown kid. Hopefully he plays as well as he did his first game at Brooklyn last year, and puts on a show for the fans.

Broadcast Information

TV: Fox Sports North – Dave Benz (play-by- play), Jim Peterson (analyst)

Radio: 830 WCCO-AM – Alan Horton (play-by- play)

(All stats found on NBA.com and basketball-reference.com)

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