The Charlotte Hornets (3-4) defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves (4-3) 104-95 on Tuesday night.
The Timberwolves were coming into the game extremely hot an left extremely injured. They really caught fantasy owners off-guard, by scratching Andrew Wiggins and Ricky Rubio minutes before tip-off with no prior word of an injury. Charlotte capitalized on facing the B-squad for Minnesota and prevailed by drawing 22 turnover and shooting nearly 50 percent from the field. The benches were the big difference though, as Charlotte out-scored Minnesota's bench 57-23.
The Hornets started off the season 0-3, but have now won three of their last four. They have to credit this win to their bench, as they got 51 combined points from Cody Zeller, Jeremy Lin and Jeremy Lamb. Those three were amazingly efficient as well, shooting 19-for-29 from the field. The best starter was Nicolas Batum, who accumulated 17 points, six rebounds and three assists in the victory. This is a very talented roster from head-to-toe and they should continue to develop the more they play together. The Hornets will look to keep this momentum up against the New York Knicks on Wednesday in the second half of a back-to-back.
Minnesota played this game without Ricky Rubio (knee) and Andrew Wiggins (knee) and it clearly hampered them in the loss. They did out-rebound the Wolves 48-34, but simply couldn’t pull out the win with this depleted roster. The late scratches did open the door for some players though and the Wolves have to be encouraged with some of the performances. Zach LaVine got the start for Rubio and tallied 20 points, eight assists and five rebounds in the loss. Rookie Karl Anthony-Towns was also great in the loss, stuffing the stat sheet in a 19 point-13 rebound line. The injuries don’t appear to be serious, but it's definitely worth monitoring before the Wolves next game against the undefeated Golden State Warriors on Thursday.
