Game Preview: Timberwolves at Cavaliers

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Timberwolves at Cavaliers

Wednesday, February 1st, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. at the Quicken Loans Arena

MATCHUP

I can’t help but write this with butterflies in my stomach. Today the Timberwolves are the 10th seed in the Western Conference for the first time this year. Minnesota is only 2.5 games out of the 8th seed to secure a spot in the playoffs. The Cavaliers look to derail our hope with a 32-15 record holding the 1st spot in the Eastern Conference.

Projected Starters

Timberwolves:

PG: Ricky Rubio #9

SG: Zach LaVine #8

SF: Andrew Wiggins #22

PF: Gorgui Dieng #5

C: Karl-Anthony Towns #32

Cavaliers:

PG: Kyrie Irving #2

SG: Iman Shumpert #4

SF: LeBron James #23

PF: Richard Jefferson #24

C: Tristan Thompson #13

Injury Report

Timberwolves: 

Nikola Pekovic – out/season (recurring foot pain)

Cavaliers:

Chris Anderson – out (knee)

Kevin Love – out (back spasms)

J.R. Smith – out (thumb fracture)

Last Meeting

The Timberwolves and Cavs will face off for the first time this season. The last time they played was January 25th, 2016. The game was played in Cleveland at the Quicken Loans Arena. Karl-Anthony Towns lead the way with 26 points, but it wasn’t enough. LeBron James’ 25 points helped the Cavs walk away with a 114-107 win.

Noteworthy

Match-up to watch tonight: LeBron James & Andrew Wiggins. As of late, Wiggins has been red hot. On the other hand, LeBron is LeBron. He is an absolute manimal and has been known to bully Wiggins. It should be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Player to watch: Iman Shumpert. With J.R. Smith and Kevin Love out, Cleveland will need a 3rd option behind LBJ and Kyrie. Based on statistics of them using this lineup, Shump has been their guy.

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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