Timberwolves Power Rankings: Wolves start to click for Christmas
It’s a special holidays edition of the Dunking With Wolves Power Rankings, as we analyze the best Minnesota Timberwolves performers over the last week of basketball.
Happy holidays everyone, wishing you as joyful a holiday period as the Minnesota Timberwolves have encountered in the last seven days.
The Wolves whitewashed the week, playing some exciting basketball to finish off with a perfect 3-0 record.
The holiday celebrations started in Denver against the Nuggets as the Jimmy Butler and the Timberwolves used a 32-20 fourth quarter to propel them to an enthralling win, the 49.3 shooting percentage didn’t hurt their cause either.
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Next up was the unexpected bogey team of the season, the Phoenix Suns, who have beaten the Timberwolves twice out of their first three meetings.
This time it was different however, Tom Thibodeau’s team enduring a few scary moments to grind out a wire-to-wire 115-106 win in Arizona. Jamal Crawford and Gorgui Dieng helping prop up a second unit that has been the fourth lowest scoring in the league.
The Christmas week finished off on the best note possible, with the Wolves beating the Los Angeles Lakers in Staples Center to claim their first Christmas day win ever, in just their second attempt. It ended in comfortable 121-104 victory for Minnesota.
Although things weren’t so comfortable for ex-Wolf (and 51-point game legend) Corey Brewer.
If you decide to meet Karl-Anthony Towns at the rim, do not be late.
Let’s jump into a quick breakdown of each Wolves player playing valuable minutes.
*All players must play 10 total minutes. Season and weekly statistics courtesy of NBA.com/stats*
9. Marcus Georges-Hunt (8)
Season stats: 3.8 MPG – 0.8 PPG – 0.2 APG – 0.2 SPG – 50% FG – 25% 3PT – 25% FT
Weekly stats: 4.3 MPG – 0.3 PPG – 0.3 APG – 0.3 SPG – 50% FT
After jumping out to the eighth position in his power rankings debut last week, Marcus-Georges Hunt comes back to earth this week as Coach Thibodeau tightened his leash on the undrafted product.
Despite filling in the gaps for 11 minutes combined over the Denver and Phoenix games, MGH was allowed just 1 minute and 33 seconds of game time in the Christmas day win over the Lakers.
The 6-foot-5 wing has been a valuable defender so far when he is given the minutes, keeping his defensive assignments to a respectable 45.9 percent from the field since the start of December, second only to Tyus Jones on the Wolves roster.
He also posted an unbelievable 86.9 Defensive Rating over the power rankings week, according to NBA stats.
In spite of his admirable defense, MGH has struggled to get his offensive game going, thanks in part to the role Thibs has him playing in the teams offensive scheme.
As Dunking With Wolves expert Brian Sampson pointed out in his intriguing breakdown of Marcus-Georges Hunt’s game since cracking into the rotation ,the reserve has been forced mainly to stand in the corner and wait for a pass that majority of the time, doesn’t come.
This confidence-dropping offense leads to just the single point for Georges-Hunt this week.
His low minute total could also take another hit next week, with Nemanja Bjelica finally making a small cameo in L.A. after 15 games on the sidelines with a mysteriously-bad foot injury.
Tougher times could be ahead for MGH, but he should be commended for his work to break into the Timberwolves rotation.