With just over a month left to go in the season, the Minnesota Timberwolves are showing signs of improvement and seem to be finding their identity as a youth-filled squad.
Fortunately or unfortunately for the Wolves, they have a tough road ahead of them to close out the 2016 NBA season. The outcomes from playing the top teams in the league may not be pretty, but there’s nothing better a young player can do for his development than going against the best players in the world.
The Timberwolves soon have a very difficult road trip down south to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, Memphis Grizzlies and Houston Rockets.
In anticipation for the road trip tipping-off this Friday on Mar. 11th, I took a look at what the Timberwolves will be going against in their eight days away from home.
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook led Thunder are 4-6 in their last 10 games. Although they’ve been struggling as of late, OKC is still 43-20 on the season, rank second in the league in scoring and have beat Minnesota in all three contests this season.
Phoenix Suns
In the most winnable game on the road-trip, the Suns are 17-46 on the season and are 3-7 in their last 10 games. Phoenix ranks similarly to the Wolves with a 21st ranked offense and 29th ranked defense. Minnesota has already won once in two tries against the Suns and with their recent improvement, I would expect the Timberwolves to put on a good performance against Phoenix.
Memphis Grizzlies
The Dave Joerger led team looks a lot different than the last time the Wolves played them, but they are still playing well. 37-25 on the season and 7-3 in their last 10 games, Memphis’ defense has been top notch all season putting them at seventh in the league. Minnesota is 1-2 against the Grizzlies and will need to defend well as Mike Conley and Marc Gasol know how to score at will.
Houston Rockets
Minnesota has only played the James Harden led Rockets once this season and it was a competitive contest. Over two months later, Houston is 31-32 and 4-6 in their last 10 games. Yes, they can put up 130 points on any given night and rank fifth offensively in the league, but they do allow quite a bit of points as well, putting them 26th in the NBA. Matchups of Wiggins vs. Harden and Towns vs. Howard will make this one a must-watch.
Considering that the Wolves currently rank 20th offensively and 25th in the league defensively, the road-trip will tell a lot about the heart of this young team and how much they’ve truly grown throughout the season.
