Minnesota Sports Forum

Good morning, Wolves fans. Can you smell that? Winning has an unfamiliar scent to us Minnesota sports fans, but when you catch a whiff it certainly is tantalizing. Food tastes better today. Colors seem more vibrant. Last night certainly was fun and that's putting it lightly.

Anyways, Minnesota has the second half of a back-to-back tonight in Los Angeles against the Clippers. These Clippers are currently on a six-game winning streak that includes two wins against the Wolves just a week ago. They're still without Kawhi Leonard and Marcus Morris, and Serge Ibaka was assigned to the G-League, but Paul George has expectedly been an MVP-level player this season. If you slow him down, you at least have a chance.

I need to see Karl-Anthony Towns follow up last night's game against the Lakers with another beauty. He was fantastic and clearly more engaged than he was against the Warriors. Towns will also have a more favorable matchup, in my opinion, that he can exploit going against Nic Batum and Ivica Zubac.

Additionally, I think we need to see a shift in how Towns is used for the rest of the season, especially given his off-season weight loss. Take advantage of his elite shooting prowess and play him like a wing on offense. Run him off screens and pindown action. Get him on the move. Opposing bigs with their slow feet and stiff hips aren't accustomed to defending on the move like that. Towns can make them pay. It would effectively take him out of the post more where he's constantly getting doubled and/or turning the ball over. I think his movement would also create additional wrinkles where Jaden McDaniels and Jarred Vanderbilt could get more involved by cutting to the hoop. That's something I'd like to see more of as well.

Will the real Malik Beasley stand up? He's 5-24 from the field and 1-15 from three-point range in his last three games. That's atrocious. He just has to be better. The shooting from Beasley has been awful, but it's also been his decision-making that frustrates me. Frankly, I'm ready to see Jaylen Nowell take some of his minutes and all of Josh Okogie's. Beasley needs to string together some solid performances immediately. Let's hope that starts tonight.

They need to keep trying to get Beasley going. I can guarantee you that Nowell will never be a reliable shooter with this franchise.

Q12543 wrote:They need to keep trying to get Beasley going. I can guarantee you that Nowell will never be a reliable shooter with this franchise.

They definitely need to get Malik Beasley going, but there also needs to be an understanding that Jaylen Nowell can flat out do more with the basketball than Beasley can. He's better off the dribble whether it's scoring or passing, and he's a better finisher at the rim. Beasley's ticket to being a game-changer is his perimeter shot and it's just not falling. What's the point in playing him 25 minutes a night if he's bricking from deep?

Camden wrote:

Q12543 wrote:They need to keep trying to get Beasley going. I can guarantee you that Nowell will never be a reliable shooter with this franchise.

They definitely need to get Malik Beasley going, but there also needs to be an understanding that Jaylen Nowell can flat out do more with the basketball than Beasley can. He's better off the dribble whether it's scoring or passing, and he's a better finisher at the rim. Beasley's ticket to being a game-changer is his perimeter shot and it's just not falling. What's the point in playing him 25 minutes a night if he's bricking from deep?

I agree with you in theory on Nowell and I can see inserting him in for a game or two so that Malik can may be hit the reset button and get his head on straight. But Nowell is not a solution to our bench scoring problem and we will find that out once he starts bricking them from deep, just like nearly everyone else on the team.

The other guy who has been literally useless is Prince. He might be one of the most worthless vets I've ever seen don a Wolves uniform. And that's not an easy accomplishment!

I don't want to put too much weight on this one game, but I think a win tonight would be huge. It would be another signal of resilience from this franchise that we haven't seen much of in recent years. I'm basically looking for something that indicates that this year could be different. Going on the road to California and winning two out of three against quality Western Conference opponents would be significant, I feel.

That would put the Wolves at 5-7 heading back to Target Center with back-to-back wins under their belt before facing the Suns, Kings, Spurs, and Grizzlies during the home stand. I truly believe the Wolves have the talent to win all four of those games, but even splitting that stretch leaves them at a manageable 7-9. Momentum is a big deal, especially with this franchise.

The other possibility is that the Wolves come out flat and immature tonight -- still riding the high from last night's blowout against a banged up Lakers team -- and that rolls into another five-game skid. They could be 4-8 after tonight and 4-12 after the home stand if they don't play up to their talent level. Obviously, that would be pretty brutal.

I agree that a win tonight would be huge. I teed up yesterday's GDT with a conclusion that we were going to steal one, but I never would have expected last night's blowout...very impressive. I'm not confident about tonight. Nothing would make me happier than a Staples Center sweep, but I'm thinking they're overmatched tonight. I think the Clips by 10.

Timberwolves going with the same starters tonight:

Beverley
Russell
Edwards
Vanderbilt
Towns

Two fast fouls

Dlo needs to put more effort on defense. They are attacking him every play

kekgeek1 wrote:Dlo needs to put more effort on defense. They are attacking him every play

This is the Clipper game. PG has started the point of attack on about 80% of their plays. Not sure what you're watching