Wolves Look To End Losing Streak And Take The Season Series Over Nuggets
Tonight, the Timberwolves head into the Mile High City with one thing or better, letter in mind. W. The Wolves are currently a team that has just fallen apart and went back to last season’s play because of the season ending injury to rookie sensation point guard, Ricky Rubio, last month. The Wolves’ chance of making the playoffs is almost impossible due to the simple fact that the Wolves are currently on a team season-high six game losing streak. Moreover, the teams ahead of them in the race are a couple of games ahead and are winning games.
The Wolves tonight take on the Denver Nuggets, a team that is currently clinging to the 8th seed in the Western Conference with Phoenix and Utah just a game or two away from overtaking them. The Nuggets have just recently came off a blowout revenge win over the Golden State Warriors, a team that has also recently defeated the Timberwolves. The Nuggets are just 17-12 at home this season while the Wolves are just about the opposite of that record when on the road. One good thing for the Wolves is that the Nuggets are not that good going against Western Conference teams. The Nuggets are 16-24 against Western Conference teams with the Wolves having a 19-23 record.
The Nuggets are known to be one of the deepest and one of the most well balanced offensive team in the NBA. The Nuggets have just recently added athletic big man JaVale McGee during the trade deadline and McGee has shown his true worth by helping the Nuggets in the paint both offensively and defensively. McGee had previously tallied a double double himself against Love with 13 points and 11 rebounds. But Love had a classic 30-20 night which overshadowed McGee’s work. However, with McGee starting to get into the mix with the Nuggets, McGee could certainly be a game changer. Love, against the Nuggets, has been averaging 17 rebounds against the Nuggets.
In their first meeting of the season, which was at the Pepsi Center, the game was tight from start to finish as the game reached overtime. Led by Kenneth Faried’s double double and Al Harrington’s 31 points, the Nuggets were able to pull away in overtime and were able to have momentum throughout the game despite the Wolves fighting back. A month later, both teams would meet up in Minneapolis and this time the Wolves would win the game convincingly without Ricky Rubio who had already fallen to injury. However, Denver as well didn’t have their better players on their lineup that night. Danilo Gallinari had a fractured left thumb while Aaron Afflalo was serving a suspension. This could also be a good reason as to why Love was able to take over the game by recording a 30-20 and leading the Wolves to a blowout 117-100 victory.
Later tonight, Kevin Love, again, will have a tougher job inside dealing with rebounding players in JaVale McGee, who is certainly going to challenge Kevin Love on the boards and rookie Kenneth Faried, who just came off an NBA-career night with 27 points and 17 rebounds against the lowly Warriors. Love will have a lot on his hands tonight and would certainly need help from his teammates, especially down low. Pekovisanity?
Prediction: Wolves lose seventh straight game
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