Timberwolves vs. Warriors: A difficult test for the defense
By Alex Monseth
Three Things To Watch
1. Timberwolves’ defense. Forgetting the one awful night against the Houston Rockets (142 points allowed), Minnesota has not allowed an opponent to score more than 100 points since the 15th of February. Quite impressive, indeed.
Many teams, however, have had their great defenses shredded by the hot-shooting Warriors, who have averaged nearly 120 points a game this season. And Minnesota isn’t going to simply outscore Golden State, especially without Zach LaVine. But on the defensive end, there’s an opportunity to make some noise and give this team a chance to win. The Timberwolves have done it against the Clippers, Jazz, and Spurs recently…why not the Warriors as well?
2. Andrew Wiggins and Stephen Curry. Both Andrew Wiggins and Steph Curry have been a little off as of late, and both are huge scorers for their teams. Wiggins has shot below 30 percent over his past two games, after going on a blistering streak of 19 consecutive games with 20 or more points throughout February.
Curry, on the hand, has made just 17-of-57 three-pointers in the five games since Durant got hurt. That’s right… he’s missed forty threes in just five games.
When they’re shooting the ball well, Wiggins and Curry have the ability to simply take over games, albeit in different ways. So, who shows up on Friday night?
3. Timberwolves’ bench unit. The Warriors are not a team with much depth, which is something they sacrificed in part to get star Kevin Durant this past summer. And while the Wolves don’t necessarily punish teams with their bench, the reserves have been playing well as of late.
Assuming Shabazz Muhammad starts again for Brandon Rush, Kris Dunn, Tyus Jones, Nemanja Bjelica, and Lance Stephenson will be asked to maintain any lead the starters are able to generate, or pull the Wolves back into it when Curry, Thompson, and Green leave the floor. Minnesota has had just 16 and 14 points, respectively, from their bench in their first two meetings against Golden State this season.