The Wolves face the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night in Ryan Saunders’ first
home game as Interim Head Coach. He will certainly get a warm welcome from the
Minnesota crowd. The Wolves looked great in his first game on the sidelines in
OKC, and they’ll look for a repeat performance in yet another important
conference matchup.
The Mavericks are an interesting team. They are currently 19-22 and sitting in
the No. 14 spot in the Western Conference. That being said, they are a quality
squad. Everything is so tight in the West right now that’s it’s better to look
at record than seeding to determine how good a team is–the Mavs are just 3.5
games out a playoff spot. The Wolves are in a similar situation with a record of
20-21, though they’re a little closer, just 2.5 games out of a playoff spot.
Needless to say, this is an important game. Getting back to .500 and picking up
a win over a Western Conference opponent would be huge.
This is the part of the season where true playoff contenders separate themselves
from the pack. Friday night is that start of the second half of the NBA season
and the Wolves would love to start out on a high note.
Karl-Anthony Towns has been an absolute monster on the boards in the last few
games, and that will be even more important on Friday night against DeAndre
Jordan. Jordan’s prime is behind him and he isn’t the athlete he once was but
he’s still an imposing physical presence and one of the strongest players in the
league.
Towns needs to be careful to avoid getting into shoving matches with Jordan and
instead use his superior quickness and verticality to outmaneuver the Mavs big
man. On defense, he needs to stay between Jordan and the basket. Jordan loves
catching lobs for dunks. Positioning is going to be everything in this
matchup–if Towns can get a few fouls early on Jordan and get him on the bench,
the rebounding battle will the Wolves’ for the taking.
On the season, Jordan is averaging 10.9 points and 14.0 rebounds, while Towns is
averaging 22.1 points and 12.3 rebounds per game. It’s very important that Towns
wins that matchup on Friday.
Wolves: Robert Covington (knee) is out.
Mavs: Dennis Smith Jr. (back) is out, Dirk Nowitzki is probable.
Wolves: PG – Teague, SG – Okogie, SF – Wiggins, PF – Gibson, C – Towns
Mavs: PG – Brunson, SG – Doncic, SF – Matthews, PF – Barnes, C – Jordan
Player: Josh Okogie
Player: Karl-Anthony Towns
Player: Andrew Wiggins
Media Content:
https://www.nba.com/timberwolves/scouting-report-wolves-mavericks-01-11-2018
Media Keywords: NBA, Sports, Minnesota Timberwolves, Josh Okogie, Karl-Anthony
Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Minnesota Timberwolves
Media Thumbnail:
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Taxonomy: Scouting Report
Story Link:
https://www.nba.com/timberwolves/scouting-report-wolves-mavericks-01-11-2018
