The Minnesota Timberwolves are 4-2, sitting in fourth place in the Western Conference.
They are coming off back-to-back road wins to teams that won a combined 110 games last season.
What a time to be alive…
If you watched last night’s game, you probably haven’t gone to bed. What happened? Were the Wolves up by as much as 34 points? Yes. Did they blow that lead? Yes. Did they then come back and win the game? Yes. Did I have a mini stroke during the game? I’m not a doctor, but probably. My left leg is still shaking.
Like a day after Taco Bell, basketball is a game of runs. We saw that last night.
It was only one game, but it was a big win against a team that has won seven straight. That’s impressive.
First four games: 13.7 points per game, one 3-pointer made, one assist per game
Last two games: 32 points per game, five 3-pointers made, three assists per game
It’s a super small sample size, but after starting off pretty horribly (the back injury probably had something to do with this), he’s back to looking like a future center piece for this team.
The numbers should excite you. Anytime anyone not named Steph Curry scores 30 points, it’s a big deal. But would should also excite you is the fact that the team has not had to force feed Wiggins the ball like they did last season. The shots are coming in the flow. Much of that probably has to do with having Ricky Rubio back and Nemanja Bjelica in the rotation, two guys who are incredible passers for their positions.
Wiggins will go through another slump this season, we know that, but the last two games have shown us (and him) what he is capable of.
More and more people are calling Nemanja Bjelica “Professor Big Shots.” Sometimes, they call him PBS for short. Better than IBS, I guess.
Well, Bjelica lived up to his name last night, hitting two HUGE 3-pointers within three minutes of each other in the fourth quarter. The first put the Wolves up eight and the second put them up nine. His numbers weren’t overly impressive. Eleven points, five rebounds, four assists. But those two shots felt like the most important shots of the second half. And the fact that he did that after being called for a few travels earlier in the game speaks to how short of a memory he has.
In six games, he’s shooting 40.9 percent from the 3-point line in 29 minutes per game. This is exactly who the player the Wolves needed to acquire this offseason. He struggles defensively and those travels need to be fixed, but it’s been six games. He’ll figure it out.
OK, I reached there. Whatever. Did you see what Teague did to Bjelica late in the fourth quarter? How is this not a foul?
Jeff Teague appears to slap Nemanja Bjelica. #smh https://t.co/0vOPtWjBog
C’mon, man. That’s just a dirty play.
If you have Teague on your fantasy basketball team, you must drop him immediately. Sorry, those are the rules.
I get it was a frustrating game for Teague, but what did Professor Big Shots ever do to you besides hit, well, two really big shots?
My roommates and I were driving in to work this morning and joked that Bjelica might think it’s OK to slap people now that a foul wasn’t called. Bjelica doesn’t fully know the NBA rules. If the Denver corner who did the eye poke on Sunday got suspended, well, I won’t speculate but you’d have to think there has to be some disciplinary action taken towards Teague. Then again, he might have been trying to get a foul called which opens up another can of worms.
It’s a quick turnaround for the Wolves. They’ll play the Hornets tonight at home. Let’s see how the team responds after a weird, but impressive, win on Monday night.
