The Timberwolves will look to stop a season-worst three-game losing streak as they host the Golden State at Target Center on Sunday afternoon.
For the first time in many years (NBA on NBC days, perhaps?), the Timberwolves will be featured on a national, over-the-air broadcast.
Sunday’s matinee on ABC is the only time this season that the Warriors will travel east to Minneapolis; the first two meetings between the two clubs this year took place at Oracle Arena in Oakland. The Warriors won with relative ease during each of the first two matchups.
The Warriors are actually second in the Western Conference and sit a half-game behind the Houston Rockets, who just saw their 17-game winning streak come to an end in Toronto. Golden State has played well overall of late, although they lost their eight-game win-streak on Friday night to Portland, who have built a nine-game winning streak of their own.
Steph Curry will miss his second consecutive game due to a sprained ankle. Bench pieces David West, Patrick McCaw, and Jordan Bell will all be out as well, and Andre Iguodala is questionable due to a wrist sprain.
The Wolves will of course be without Jimmy Butler, but the team should otherwise be at full-strength.
Will KAT come to play?
Karl-Anthony Towns‘ level of activity in the Timberwolves offense has been all over the board this season. When he’s highly involved in the offense and chooses to be assertive, he’s essentially unstoppable. But that isn’t always the case.
And let’s be clear: the lack of involvement on Towns’ part isn’t solely the fault of Tom Thibodeau and the offense; there are plenty of instances in which Towns is content to linger on the perimeter and even passes up mostly-open 3-point attempts — something that a 41.4 percent long-range shooter should never do, regardless of his height or position.
But too often, the offense slows down to a crawl as Jeff Teague struggles to make what should be a simple post-entry pass or Andrew Wiggins plods his way into a difficult jumper. Towns has been getting fronted and doubled on catches in the post more and more as his career has gone on, and the Wolves don’t make a concerted effort to still get the ball in to him.
In the first meeting between the Warriors and Wolves this season, Towns only shot the ball 11 times and put up 6 points and 12 rebounds. The second time around, Jimmy Butler was out and Towns kept the Wolves in the game as long as he could, scoring 31 points (13-24 FG, 1-5 3P, 4-6 FT) with 11 rebounds and five assists.
Warriors’ Curry-less offense
The Warriors offense was still effective in Friday night’s loss in Portland, even without Curry. Of course, the ability to turn to Kevin Durant is an absolute luxury; the nine-time All-Star dropped 40 points on 21 shots while chipping in six rebounds and six assists against the Blazers.
Klay Thompson scored 25 against Portland and JaVale McGee had 10 points, but nobody else on the team cracked double-figures. The Warriors rotation sans Curry, Iguodala, West, McCaw, and Bell is certainly less formidable, and the Wolves need to take advantage.
Next: The Towns vs. Davis debate rages on...
We’ll be back after the game with a wrap and some thoughts on the contest. Keep it tuned to Dunking With Wolves.