Fresh off of a tough win against a talented Houston Rockets squad, the Minnesota Timberwolves take on Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night.
Let’s get into it.
Game Info
- Who: Minnesota Timberwolves (6-3) vs New Orleans Pelicans (4-4)
- When: Friday, November 6th at 7:00 PM CT
- Where: Smoothie King Center — New Orleans, LA
- Local TV: DAZN-MIN
- Radio: 830 WCCO
After starting the year 0-4, the Pelicans have ripped off four straight wins to claw back to .500. Sprinkled into that winning streak are some impressive victories over the surging Memphis Grizzlies (handing them their only loss on the season thus far) and the Atlanta Hawks. New Orleans is not a squad that is projected
to climb the Western Conference standings or necessarily strike fear in the hearts of opponents, though they are still a team with enough competitive and ascending players to keep opponents honest.
Considering the still shorthanded state of the Wolves, they may have their hands full with a healthy-for-now Pelicans team. The win over the Rockets was thoroughly impressive, though Chris Finch and company will need to remain focused if they are to come out of this game with a victory.
Here are a few things I am looking out for against New Orleans:
Beware of the Wolves Killers
You know the guys – the dudes who love to turn up and have career games against the Wolves no matter what state their team is in. Most teams in the NBA have at least one Wolf Killer. The Pelicans have a few.
Perhaps most obvious of these players is Zion Williamson, who averages a whopping 28.5 points per game against Minnesota, nearly five points higher than his career average of 23.8. When healthy, Williamson is one of the premier tickets in the league and can score at will against nearly anyone. Jonathan Kuminga and Rudy Gobert will have their hands full with Zion, who will seek to outmuscle and overpower anyone that Finch decides to throw at him.
Saddiq Bey is another player that ramps up his production against the Timberwolves. A career 14.8 ppg scorer, his number increases to 19.5 for his career against Minnesota. As a member of the Pelicans, Bey’s average jumps up to 24 ppg versus the Wolves. The guy just flat out doesn’t like us.
As the Pelicans have other surging young players contributing to their recent run of success, this matchup may be more difficult than initially expected. Derik Queen has looked to be a solid NBA big man and Jeremiah Fears has been becoming a more well-rounded player. If Minnesota’s defenders can keep the Wolf Killers from transforming into much better versions of themselves, the game is there for the taking.
Dominate the Bone Zone
Bones Hyland is a fun player. He’s energetic, has a great smile, and keeps the fanbase engaged with his aesthetically pleasing style of play and affable three-point shot celebration. He’s an ideal bench player that could fit in on many teams. We are fortunate to have him as a Timberwolf.
However, with a slew of injuries that continue to hamper Minnesota’s preferred personnel, Bones continues to be thrust into heavier minutes than he would normally get. In the four games before Anthony Edwards got injured, Hyland played an average of eight minutes per night. Since then, his minutes have doubled, playing 16 minutes per game in the five matchups since Edwards (and now Terrence Shannon Jr.) went down.
Bones’s 19 point, eight assist night against the Los Angeles Clippers last week was a true representation of what he can bring as a player when he’s on. It’s unrealistic to expect that kind of production and efficiency from him most nights, though he does help the Timberwolves find tempo and form whenever things are going south.
If the Timberwolves are going to have any sustained success while Edwards and TSJ are out, Hyland will need to continue to exert efficiency and production in his limited time on the court. He was electric against the Rockets, scoring 19 points in just 16 minutes of play. For a team that continues to lose players at a high clip, Bones will remain an integral part of the offensive flow moving forward.
Figure Out your Free Throws
There’s not much more that can be said about just how putrid Minnesota’s free throw shooting has been. Currently the team sits at 63.4%, good for dead last and a massive 7% behind the next closest team, which is the 1-7 Milwaukee Bucks. Minnesota shot a cool 53% (10-19) at the line just last night versus Houston in a 10-point victory to bring that percentage down even lower. So it goes.
It’s not like this team has a problem shooting the ball, either. That’s what makes this ineptitude so baffling. The Timberwolves shot 53% from the floor and 43% from distance against the Rockets. And yet, while standing at the free throw line, uncontested and still, they can’t put the ball in the hoop.
Two players on the Wolves are shooting greater than 80% from the line this season. Everyone else is below them. That is unacceptable.
It would appear that Gobert’s inability to consistently make shots from the charity stripe (42.6% on nearly six attempts per game) is becoming contagious to the rest of the team. While it hasn’t been the biggest issue the Timberwolves have faced this season, it will become one as the team enters more late-game clutch time situations. We’re not far off from a few tight losses spurring a dialogue that laments the team’s lack of efficiency from the line. The recent defeat at the hands of the Golden State Warriors comes to mind, poor officiating be damned.
Chris Finch will need to address this problem somehow. Unfortunately, getting reps from the free throw line will not show itself as immediately game-changing. It will take time. Finishing this season anywhere but dead last should be seen as a success at this point. Until then, Minnesota needs to figure out how to capitalize on the opportunities they are given.
