Minnesota Sports Forum

[center]Four Factors[/center]


[table]
[tr]
[th]Team[/th]
[th]Effective Field Goal Percentage[/th]
[th]Opponent's Effective Field Goal Percentage[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Oklahoma City Thunder[/td]
[td]47.9 (29th)[/td]
[td]52.0 (14th)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Minnesota Timberwolves[/td]
[td]50.9 (25th)[/td]
[td]52.4 (16th)[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]


[table]
[tr]
[th]Team[/th]
[th]Turnover Percentage[/th]
[th]Opponent's Turnover Percentage[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Oklahoma City Thunder[/td]
[td]13.5 (9th)[/td]
[td]13.2 (24th)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Minnesota Timberwolves[/td]
[td]15.3 (26th)[/td]
[td]16.9 (1st)[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]


[table]
[tr]
[th]Team[/th]
[th]Offensive Rebounding Percentage[/th]
[th]Defensive Rebounding Percentage[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Oklahoma City Thunder[/td]
[td]24.9 (26th)[/td]
[td]74.2 (5th)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Minnesota Timberwolves[/td]
[td]30.0 (4th)[/td]
[td]70.2 (27th)[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]


[table]
[tr]
[th]Team[/th]
[th]Free Throw Attempt Rate[/th]
[th]Opponent's Free Throw Attempt Rate[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Oklahoma City Thunder[/td]
[td]0.220 (24th)[/td]
[td]0.205 (2nd)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Minnesota Timberwolves[/td]
[td]0.219 (26th)[/td]
[td]0.286 (30th)[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]


[table]
[tr]
[th]Team[/th]
[th]Injury Report[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Oklahoma City Thunder[/td]
[td]- Lu Dort (Out) -- Knee
- Vit Krejci (Out) -- G-League assignment
- Isaiah Roby (Out) -- COVID protocols
- Derrick Favors (Questionable) -- Back[/td]
[tr]
[td]Minnesota Timberwolves[/td]
[td]- Greg Monroe (Out) -- Not With Team
- McKinley Wright (Out) -- G-League assignment
[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]


Bottom Line

For the first time in several weeks, the Wolves are practically at full strength entering tonight's game against the Thunder. Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell are back in the starting lineup. They'll make up one of the league's best five-man lineups alongside Patrick Beverley, Anthony Edwards, and Jarred Vanderbilt. It will be interesting to see just how much rust these two have as they're playing their first game in about two weeks.

I'm also curious to see how Chris Finch adjusts his rotations with his stars healthy and some bench options having proved their worth in their absence. Do not abandon Jaylen Nowell and his development. As for the Thunder, this team is awful outside of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. They lack sufficient talent around him, which is why they stand at a lowly 13-23. Losing is not an option tonight and I feel confident that Minnesota will win their next four games. To do so, the Wolves will need to maintain their defensive intensity and earn extra offensive possessions via forced turnovers and offensive rebounds. I'm looking for a win by double-digits with some significant contributions from the bench.

I would be remiss to not mention Josh Giddey for the Thunder as a player to watch. He's very reminiscent of Ricky Rubio and Joe Ingles in terms of his play style and basketball intelligence. He's not a consistent shooter, but he's very much a facilitator.

Statistically the best starting lineup in the NBA is on fire

Well, this looks familiar! The Wolves came out of the gate firing on all cylinders and hold a 16-4 lead early.

kekgeek1 wrote:Statistically the best starting lineup in the NBA is on fire

You can tell they're amped up and glad to be all playing together again. I'm hoping the recent play of McDaniels, Naz, and Nowell carries over into momentum and confidence off the bench. Don't let up!!!

Obviously, the Thunder suck, but the Wolves look spectacular.

Take care of business.

Wolves finish the first quarter with a 30-10 lead. It looks like a varsity high school team beating down the local middle school's team. This one should be all but decided before the fourth quarter. I'm pleased with how Minnesota jumped all over them from the start.

Camden wrote:Wolves finish the first quarter with a 30-10 lead. It looks like a varsity high school team beating down the local middle school's team. This one should be all but decided before the fourth quarter. I'm pleased with how Minnesota jumped all over them from the start.

...and it wasn't because we were red hot from outside. It was mostly because of the defensive intensity and then that carried over to confident offense (sometimes too confident, as KAT got a little too cute out there).

It looks like Chris Finch is rounding out the rotation with Jaylen Nowell and Taurean Prince.