Game Preview: Timberwolves host Rockets

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Timberwolves host Rockets

Wednesday, January 11th, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. at the Target Center

MATCHUP

Finally, the first Timberwolves win in 2017. It seemed like right out of the gate, Minnesota was in control of the ball game on Monday. Don’t get me wrong, Dallas had their moments where it felt a little eerie like they were going to make a comeback. Thankfully, they didn’t. Minnesota looks to make it two in a row with a 12-26 record holding the 13th spot in the Western Conference. Houston comes into town with an impressive 31-9 record holding the 3rd spot in the Western Conference. The Rockets are on a 9 game winning streak. So yeah, that should be fun.

Projected Starters

Timberwolves:

PG: Ricky Rubio #9

SG: Zach LaVine #8

SF: Andrew Wiggins #22

PF: Gorgui Dieng #5

C: Karl-Anthony Towns #32

Rockets:

PG: James Harden #13

SG: Patrick Beverley #2

SF: Trevor Ariza #1

PF: Ryan Anderson #3

C: Montrezl Harrell #5

Injury Report

Timberwolves: 

Nikola Pekovic – out/season (recurring foot pain)

Rockets:

Eric Gordon – out (rest/toe)

Last Meeting

The Timberwolves and Rockets faced off once already this year. This game turned into an absolute train wreck. It was so frustrating live-tweeting this over on the Howlin’ T-Wolf Twitter account. We once held a 17 point lead, to have the Rockets come back in the 4th quarter and force an overtime. By the way this is going, you can tell where it’s going. We ended up losing in OT 111-109. Karl-Anthony Towns lead Minnesota with 41 points and 16 rebounds. James Harden sealed the deal with 28 points and 13 assists.

Noteworthy

Match-up to watch tonight: Karl-Anthony Towns & Montrezl Harrell. I’ve always been a huge fan of Harrell ever since college. He reminded me of a store brand version of Kenneth Faried. He’s found a home in Houston. Recently, he’s wiggled his way into the starting lineup. His 6’8 physique could be a weakness when matching up against Towns and Dieng.

Player to watch: Ryan Anderson. It seems like whenever he plays Minnesota, he sure guns for the new White Chocolate label. Anderson is one of the best pure big-men shooters in the NBA. His sweet stroke sends a tickle down your spine. He put up 28 points once already on Minnesota this season, I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t do it again.

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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