Date: 11/6/2015
Outlet: Timberwolves.com
Author: Kyle Ratke
Scouting Report | Wolves at Bulls
5 p.m., United Center Where to Watch: Fox Sports North Plus Where to Listen: 830 WCCO
After starting off 2-0, the Wolves have dropped their last two at home, and are in a bit of a funk. It doesn’t get any easier against the 4-2 Chicago Bulls – especially on the road.
The Wolves sit at 2-2 overall, good for seventh in the West. The Bulls sit in sixth place in the East.
A few tidbits going into tonight’s game:
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It marks the first game coaching against Minnesota for former Wolves guard Fred Hoiberg. In two seasons with the Wolves, he averaged 6.2 points and shot 46.1 percent from the 3-point line.
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On Thursday night, Minnesota’s second unit struggled to find anything offensively. Things improved very late in the game when Andre Miller subbed in at point guard. Could we see Miller sooner on Saturday night?
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The game marks the first of a two-game road trip for the Wolves. Minnesota will travel to play Atlanta on Monday night.
THEY ARE COMING OFF OF…
The Wolves are coming off of a 96-84 home loss to the Miami Heat on Thursday. Minnesota struggled mightily shooting the ball, shooting just 35.3 percent (30-for-85).
Shabazz Muhammad and Kevin Martin led the Wolves off the bench, finishing with 14 points each. Andrew Wiggins and Gorgui Dieng finished with 12 and 10 points, respectively. We’ll just move along. This was not a game that the Wolves were proud of. At all.
The Bulls are coming off of an impressive 104-98 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder at home on Thursday. Derrick Rose silenced his critics (for now) and finished with 29 points and seven assists. His backcourt partner Jimmy Butler added 26 points, shooting 4-for-5 from the 3-point line. Pau Gasol finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Chicago shot an impressive 7-for-18 (38.9 percent) from the 3-point line.
LAST MATCHUP:
The Wolves were 0-2 against the Bulls last season. The last game came on Feb. 27 in Chicago. Minnesota fell 96-89 despite four of five starters hitting double-digits. Martin led the way with 18 points. Ricky Rubio had a 15-point, 10-assist double-double, while Wiggins scored 14. Big man Nikola Pekovic finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds in 29 minutes.
Minnesota shot just 2-for-14 (14.3 percent) from deep.
Butler was on fire for the Bulls, finishing with 28 points and 12 rebounds while shooting 11-for-19 from the field. Mike Dunleavy added 21 points, 18 coming from the 3-point line. Joakim Noah nearly finished with a triple-double, finishing with 11 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Tony Snell led the second unit with 12 points.
MATCHUP TO WATCH: ANDREW WIGGINS VS. JIMMY BUTLER
It’s no secret that Wiggins has struggled in the first four games this season. He’s averaging just 13.8 points per game while shooting a frustrating 29.3 percent from the field and 11.1 percent from the 3-point line. Some of this can be blamed on his sore back in the first two games, but at some point, the Rookie of the Year will have to snap out of it.
In two games against Chicago last season, he averaged just 11 points and five rebounds per game.
He’ll be tasked with guarding the dangerous Butler for the evening. In six games this season, Butler is averaging a career-high 21.7 points to go with 4.8 rebounds and 2.3 steals. It’s a small sample size, but he’s shooting a staggering 57.1 percent from the 3-point line.
It’s not the best scenario to break out of his funk, but it would certainly be a statement if he did.
INJURIES
Bulls: Guard Kirk Hinrich (toe) is questionable. Dunleavy (back) is out.
Wolves: Pekovic (Achilles) is out.
Bulls: PG- Rose, SG – Butler, SF – McDermott, PF – Mirotic, C - Gasol
Wolves: PG- Rubio, SG- Wiggins, SF- Prince, PF- Garnett, C- Towns
Wolves Press Clippings
Date: 11/8/2015
Outlet: Hoops Habit
Author: Ben Gibson
Daily NBA Fix: Are The Minnesota Timberwolves Finally Turning The Corner?
Is it happening? Is it finally here? Are the Minnesota Timberwolves finally turning the corner?
With a 109-102 overtime win over the Chicago Bulls, I’m starting to believe. Not because they’ve won three games over so-so competition, but because many of their young players are healthy and on the rise and have Kevin Garnett back to keep them in line.
Andrew Wiggins led the charge with 31 points in the victory while rookie Karl-Anthony Towns had 17 points and 13 rebounds as the two battled against a mix of Jimmy Butler and Pau Gasol guarding them.
However, the most impressive thing might have been a shutout of the Bulls in overtime, outscoring them 9-0 in the extra period. Not surprising when you consider they are ranked fourth in the league in defensive rating.
There are other small things here and there that are encouraging too.
Though last night wasn’t his best night (the Bulls are a strong defensive team after all), point guard Ricky Rubio started off the season with the best performance in his entire career with 28 points and 14 assists while shooting 58 percent. Obviously that number is trending down now to 39.2 percent, but it is part of a larger trend of him shooting closer to 50 percent on a given night.
The Timberwolves don’t need him to shoot the lights out by any means, but shooting closer to the league average of 43.8 percent will make it to where teams won’t sag off him so heavily as they have in the past. Rubio has always shown a deft touch assisting, but his weakness had always been his shooting. That might be changing.
Kevin Martin has been a spark off the bench so far, averaging 18.8 points in his 28 minutes a game, and he’s actually the team’s leading scorer. Zach LaVine also is coming off the bench to score a few points, but he’s going to need to step his game up if this team wants to ensure itself a playoff spot. Making the playoffs in the West is an incredibly tough task but Minnesota is doing its best to not be an afterthought.
Ever since 2007 when Kevin Garnett left them for the Boston Celtics, the Timberwolves have struggled to find their footing. Drafting Kevin Love started to point them in the right direction, as well as Rubio, but their parts just weren’t there yet.
It wasn’t until they picked up LaVine and swapped Kevin Love for Andrew Wiggins and other pieces that they really started to head into the right direction. Maybe Love had to go for them to build a stronger future, but no matter what, they seem to be headed toward a brighter one now.
Unfortunately one of the sadder parts to the public side of Flip Saunders’ death is that the team he had put so much time and effort into for so many years was finally turning the corner to relevancy, but he wouldn’t be here to see it.
Rest in peace, Flip.
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