Game Preview: Timberwolves vs. Nets

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Game Preview: Timberwolves vs. Nets

Thursday, Jan. 28, 2017 at 8 p.m. at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota

MATCHUP:

After a hard fought loss to the Indiana Pacers on Thursday, the Wolves face off against the basement dwellers of the NBA. The Brooklyn Nets are 1-14 through the month of January. Their sole win came about in a surprisingly dominant game against the New Orleans Pelicans, where the Nets were able to score an ungodly 143 points. 8 players managed to score in double figures. Given the Wolves’ penchant to equally rise or stoop to the competition, tonight’s match up has all the makings of a disaster. Brooklyn is unquestionably the worst team in the NBA this season, and tonight will act as a good benchmark for what sort of team Minnesota wants to be going forward into the final stretch. Good teams win the games they’re supposed to win. Let’s hope Minnesota’s recent taste of successes helps them realize this.

PROJECTED STARTERS:

Timberwolves:

PG: Ricky Rubio #9
SG: Zach LaVine #8
SF: Andrew Wiggins #22
PF: Gorgui Dieng #5
C: Karl-Anthony Towns #32

Nets:

PG: Spencer Dinwiddie #8
SG: Randy Foye #2
SF: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson #24
PF: Bojan Bogdanovic #44
C: Brook Lopez #11

INJURY REPORT:

Timberwolves: Nikola Pekovic – out/season (recurring ankle pain)

Nets: Joe Harris – out (ankle), Trevor Booker – questionable (illness)

LAST MEETING:

Minnesota and Brooklyn last faced off in November, with the Nets pulling away in a tight one during the final minutes. During the initial burst of the season, Brooklyn looked to be persnickety at best, winning a few tight ones against the middling teams of the NBA last season. They then proceeded to fall off a cliff to close out November, and are 5-28 since starting the season 4-9.

Andrew Wiggins was a monster in the last meeting, scoring 36 points to go along with 8 boards. This Wiggins’ peak in terms of the 3 points success he enjoyed during the early part of the season. He shot 6-7 from beyond the arc and led the league in 3P%. Towns and Lavine were middling at best, managing to crack double figures while shooting a combined 2-9 from 3, while Gorgui and Dunn all but disappeared for long stretches of the game. Kriss Dunn got the start with Rubio out, but Tyus Jones did the bulk of the PG work, playing 32 minutes and managing a monster line of 12-5-7 with 5 steals.

Minnesota’s bench was just too thin, however. Brooklyn employed a ten man rotation against the Wolves, and no one on the Nets played more than 28 minutes. Four players on the Timberwolves played over 32, with Wiggins managing to crack over 40. The Nets stayed fresh and it showed in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter, when they were able to pull ahead after Minnesota was able to tie the game up at 100 with five minutes to go. Brooklyn would win the game 119-110.

NOTEWORTHY:

The Nets lead the league in pace but not much else. They have the 28th ranked defense and 27th ranked offense in the league, even despite the fact that they manage to chuck up the 2nd most 3-pointers in the NBA, exceeding even the Golden State Warriors in attempts. With Little to play for this season (Boston owns their first round pick), everyone on the Brooklyn Nets squad has the greenlight to shoot. 8 players on Brooklyn’s rotating band of castoffs and throwaways has averaged 3 or more 3PA per game this season, and the Wolves have to be careful to not to get buried from beyond the arc tonight. The Nets are abysmal at getting second-chance points, and the high rate of pace makes them extremely turnover prone. As long as the Wolves played controlled basketball, and let the Nets miss stupid shots and make costly mistakes, they should have no trouble pulling out a win tonight before the schedule gets tougher.

BROADCAST INFORMATION:

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

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

(Stats found on nba.com, and basketball-reference.com)