After a hard-fought, 105-101 loss on the road to the Memphis Grizzlies, the Timberwolves head north to Target Center to open up their home schedule against the Detroit Pistons.
While Wednesday night’s loss was disappointing, the fact that the Wolves were in the game until the final seconds and held a lead with under three minutes to play on the road against a top-ten team in the NBA was absolutely encouraging. Factor in that Kevin Martin didn’t play, Ricky Rubio turned the ball over an uncharacteristic seven times, Nikola Pekovic was atrocious, and Andrew Wiggins added next to nothing, and a four-point loss isn’t bad at all.
And tonight, the Wolves should win. As far as second nights of back-to-backs go, this is about as welcoming as one can get.
The home opener, against a team that played at altitude last night in Denver and lost by ten without breaking the 80-point threshold. Sure, the Pistons will be better this year, and Stan Van Gundy is a heck of a coach. But the combination of a road back-to-back, playing a mile above sea level the night before, and the energetic atmosphere that the Wolves’ home opener should be, and Minnesota shouldn’t have all too much trouble winning this contest.
The Wolves actually don’t match up very well with a full-strength Pistons squad, as Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe would give Pekovic and Thaddeus Young fits in the paint. But Monroe is serving the second of a two-game suspension handed down by the league after being charged with driving under the influence at the beginning of September.
Young should have no problem guarding the…shot-happy Josh Smith. They’re similar players, only Young stays within himself for the most part and plays hard all the time, not just when he sniffs out a jump shot opportunity. Young should be able to chase Smith around the perimeter and contest him on the boards. Smith shot just 9 of 22, including 0 of 3 from long-range in last night’s opener.
On the perimeter, the Wolves will hope that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (who, it has been well-documented, was Flip Saunders choice at #9 in the 2013 draft before Detroit took him at #8, triggering the trade-back that landed Minnesota Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng) doesn’t suddenly find his range after a horrific shooting performance last night (3 of 19 from the floor and 1 for 8 on three-pointers). Please law of averages, hold off for one more day.
Brandon Jennings is banged up and only played 20 minutes in Denver, and the Wolves can plan seeing plenty of D.J. Augustin in his stead. The Pistons’ bench is solid, as Augustin is joined by Caron Butler, Jonas Jerekbo, Joel Anthony, and exciting rookie Spencer Dinwiddie.
That said, if Smith and Caldwell-Pope don’t suddenly get hot, the Wolves should be able to withstand the barrage of jumpers and the pummeling of Drummond, especially without his running mate in Monroe. Pekovic will need to bounce-back in a big way from last night, as Gorgui Dieng could struggle with guarding the ultra-athletic but extremely powerful Drummond.
This game will likely be close, as the two teams will finish the season with similar records and it’s the second night of a back-to-back for both teams. But the Wolves should pull it out, and it will be a disappointing loss if they stumble.
We’ll have a game recap immediately after the final horn, and be sure to keep an eye out for our final NBA Team Preview at some point in the next 24 hours.