Howlin' Wolves | Minnesota Timberwolves MyLeague
Posted: 12 Jul 2020, 15:54
Playoffs Preview: (3) Timberwolves vs. (6) Trail Blazers
nba.com/timberwolves/beat | April 17th, 2020
Series Theme: Fatboy Slim - Right Here, Right Now
Minneapolis – The Minnesota Timberwolves (36-22) open the NBA Playoffs tomorrow night, April 18, by hosting the Portland Trail Blazers (35-23). The Trail Blazers swept the season series, 2-0. They played both contests between January 20 and January 27. We have to be honest here, we didn’t believe the Minnesota Timberwolves were going to be this good – at least this quickly into their rebuild when they purged the roster almost a year ago. We knew they were going to be competitive – but to put in a Cinderella run season, where they were a top of the Western Conference for much of the year says a lot about the direction their franchise is heading. At the end of March, they were almost on the outside looking in with the seventh seed in the Conference. A nice winning streak in April and playing the type of winning basketball that they had done up until spring has given this team optimism with a chance at a deep postseason run. The Kelly Oubre Jr. trade in late December has significantly improved this team. Naz Reid has also been a hidden gem at power forward for the Timberwolves, who used a handful of rotations at the position until they were comfortable with Reid starting.
The Timberwolves remained healthy for much of the season. Sixth man James Johnson went down with an injury and never regained his place in the team which had been so competitive. But, their big three (D’Angelo Russell, Kelly Oubre and Karl Anthony-Towns) all escaped the dreaded regular season without injury. Injuries can pose a significant barrier to posting a regular season record worthy or entering the postseason. The Timberwolves, who posted quite a few 5+ winning streaks, were lucky to not have a major injury which could have derailed what can be considered their second best season in franchise history. Their 2003-04 season saw them post a .707% winning record. The season before, they posted a .622% but claimed fourth place in the conference. This season, they posted a .621% winning record and secured the third seed. They’ll be hoping to avoid their 2002-03 memories of a first round exit – which came at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers in the Conference Finals.
You should expect a high-scoring series between these two teams. Both were tied with the most points scored per game (113.7) and both had pretty bad defenses. The Trail Blazers had the fourth worst defense, allowing 109.9 points per game while the Timberwolves were slightly better in eighth – allowing 108.5 points per game. Here is where it gets interesting. The Timberwolves weakest link is allowing points in the paint. Fortunately for them, the Trail Blazers were 28th in the league in scoring points in the paint per game (33.2). The Trail Blazers were the second best team in the NBA in free throw scoring (.817%). The Timberwolves were disciplined in this area, allowing the least amount of fouls per game (17.9). Both teams like to shoot from the perimeter. The Trail Blazers were fifth in the league with 1,983 three point attempts. The Timberwolves tenth, with 1874 attempts. Both teams were among the most accurate in the league. The Timberwolves were second only to Golden State, shooting .401% from beyond the arc. The Trail Blazers third, converting .399% of their three point attempts.
This is a juicy contest to kickoff the 2020 NBA Playoffs. You have D’Angelo Russell against Damian Lillard, and a spate of other high profile players looking for that chance at a ring. Carmelo Anthony may be the player flying under the radar here. The Timberwolves will expect to try and minimalize the damage Damian Lillard can do. DeMarcus Cousins had a better season than Hassan Whiteside or Trevor Ariza – but he sits comfortably as the sixth man and can do some damage coming off the bench.
So who will take this season series? The Minnesota Timberwolves are poised to do something special, we just don’t know when. If they can hold Lillard to around 20 points and not let him break out for a monster game, they will likely have an easier path to winning the season series. Despite the season sweep by the Trail Blazers, they should be viewed as the underdog with the Timberwolves finishing off the season on a high and in form.
♦ 2020, January 20 --- POR @ MIN --- Trail Blazers escape Minnesota with a victory in divisional warfare: In a closely fought game in Minneapolis, the Portland Trail Blazers ended the Timberwolves’ three-game winning streak with a three point victory, thanks to C.J. McCollum leading the team with 24 points, having converted 3 of 4 from three point range. Damian Lillard was held to just 19 points as DeMarcus Cousins and Jusuf Nurkic combined for 42 points as they converted 14 of their 25 shots combined. Trevor Ariza had a difficult night, hitting just 1 of his 6 three point attempts and Carmelo Anthony managed just 4 points in 26 minutes as he missed all four of his three point shots. The Timberwolves didn’t fare much better. Karl Anthony-Towns led the team with 25 points and Malik Beasley hit 4 of 6 from beyond the arc but D’Angelo Russell had to settle for just 7 points when he converted just 3 of his 11 field goals.
♦ 2020, January 27 --- MIN @ POR --- Lillard dominates with 51 points as Portland crush Minnesota at home to sweep series: The Trail Blazers crushed the Timberwolves a weak later after posting a second quarter in which they scored 48 points. Damian Lillard led the game with 51 points and scored nine three point shots. C.J. McCollum put up a respectable 22 points and Gary Trent had an impactful game, registering 24 points. Jusuf Nurkic, Carmelo Anthony and DeMarcus Cousins all registered double numbers on rebounds, with Nurkic leading the trio with 10 points.