Game Preview: Timberwolves at Rockets

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Timberwolves at Rockets

Wednesday, April 12th, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. at the Toyota Center

MATCHUP

I guess all good (bad) things must come to an end. It’s the final game of the season. Hopefully Minnesota can pull off a win and give the fans something to take into the off-season. Minnesota rolls into Houston with a 31-50 record holding the 13th spot in the Western Conference. Houston looks to defend their home-court with a 54-27 record holding the 3rd spot in the Western Conference.

Projected Starters

Timberwolves:

PG: Ricky Rubio #9

SG: Brandon Rush #4

SF: Andrew Wiggins #22

PF: Gorgui Dieng #5

C: Karl-Anthony Towns #32

Rockets:

PG: James Harden #13

SG: Eric Gordon #10

SF: Trevor Ariza #1

PF: Ryan Anderson #3

C: Chinanu Onuaku #21

Injury Report

Timberwolves: 

Nikola Pekovic – out/season (recurring foot pain)

Zach LaVine – out/season (ACL)

Nemanja Bjelica – out/season (ankle)

Rockets:

Sam Dekker – out (hand)

Last Meeting

The Timberwolves and Rockets will face off for the 4th time this season. The last time they played was February 25th, 2017. The game was played at the Toyota Center. Everyone in the Rockets starting lineup was in double digits for scoring, including Harden who had 24 points and 10 assists. Brandon Rush played 32 minutes and had another stellar 0 point game. KAT had 37 points and 22 rebounds. Wiggy added 30 points also. It wasn’t enough as Minnesota forgot to play defense and lost 142-130.

Noteworthy

Match-up to watch tonight: James Harden & Ricky Rubio. I’m not sure how many minutes Harden will get tonight. Either way, he’ll still be the best player on the court when he’s in. Minnesota needs to learn how to play defense. I get the whole “Thibs project” and the typical “they’re young” lines, but it gets to a point where the game starts to be unwatchable. Defend Harden (and the 3 point line), and you have a chance to win this game. It’s simple.

Player to watch: Ryan Anderson. Anderson can get buckets. It seems like every time we play the Rockets, he’s the secondary guy besides Harden who kills us from the 3 point line. He possess a match-up problem because he stretches out quite frequently. Keep an eye on him.

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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