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The Cavs’ five-game road trip out west concludes in Minnesota against the 21-22 Timberwolves, winners of 5 of their last 6 games (all but one against losing teams). The Cavs are 2-2 on this trip and need a win to finish 3-2 and give them momentum going into a tough week that includes games against New Orleans, Memphis, Golden State, and Milwaukee. Ricky is getting back in the nick of time.
The Wolves are 13-9 at home. They are playing on the second night of a back-to-back having defeated Phoenix last night 121-116 in a game that went down to the end. The Suns came in having lost 10 of 11. Chris Paul and Devin Booker were out for the Suns, but they still made a close game of it, scoring 41 in the 4th quarter but falling a little short.
In their previous game the Wolves were hammered by Detroit 135-118 as the Pistons shot 60%. In addition to playing the second night of a back-to-back the Wolves are playing their third game in four nights and their defense has been really suspect the last two games.
These teams played in Cleveland on Nov. 13 with the Wolves winning a shootout 129-124. Karl-Anthony Towns, their All-Star power forward, had 29 points, 13 rebounds, and was a +15. He is out tonight with a calf strain. The Cavaliers played that night without Allen, Mitchell, and Rubio, but they will all be back. So subtract KAT and add Allen, Mitchell, and Rubio and that should be enough to give the Cavs at least six more points.
KAT is out but the Wolves still have 7’1” multiple Defensive POY Rudy Gobert defending the paint. Gobert averages 14 points and 12 boards on 66% from the field. Anthony Edwards leads in scoring at 23.6 points, but he’s not that efficient at 44% from the field and 32% on 3’s. Former Buckeye D’Angelo Russell averages 17 points on 43% and 34%. He’s on a bit of a roll right now, hitting 11 of 20 three-point attempts over the last three games. I’m sure the Cavs watched the Wolves/Suns game last night and picked up on that.
Kyle Anderson and Jaden McDaniels start at the forward positions, averaging 7.9 and 11.5 points, respectively. They don’t put up a lot of shots but are hitting 48% and 44% on 3’s so you can’t leave them alone.
Last night the Wolves’ bench scored 45 points, led by former Cav Taurean Prince with 16 and Naz Reid with 13.
The Wolves rank 20th in offensive efficiency. They’re good shooters, ranking 7th in effective field goal percentage, but what knocks down their scoring average is turnovers (27th most) and lack of second chance points (22nd in offensive rebounding). In terms of shooting frequency they are 4th in the NBA in percentage of shots taken at the rim, so they love to go inside. That percentage may be a bit lower with KAT out. They’re 6th in accuracy at the rim, so Allen and Mobley will be busy tonight. Since the Cavs have good rim protectors it seems like the Cavs would match up well against the Wolves defensively. With Allen in the lineup this time we hopefully won’t see another 129-point outburst.
The Wolves are middle of the pack in 3-point rate and 3-point percentage. They are average in free throw attempts per possession despite all the trips to the rim. They are hitting 35% of their 3’s at home - nothing special. The key to defending the Wolves is to defend the paint and take away what they want to do and what they do best - attack the rim.
Defensively the Wolves are 14th in efficiency. They defend the paint well (thanks to Rudy and KAT). They’re second worst in the league defending the 3-point shot and they give up a ton of offensive rebounds, ranking 28th. This is one of the few teams where the numbers indicate you need to shoot from deep. Gobert is a monster in the paint and both their starting forwards are 6’9”. You'd think they would be better defensive reboundes with all that height on the front line. My guess is they go for blocked shots and leave themselves short on rebounders if they don't get the block.
They also force a lot of turnovers, ranking 5th in that category. Last night they had 13 steals against Phoenix, so the Cavs need to be aware that this team gambles for steals and counts on Rudy to defend the rim if they don’t get the ball. Garland and Mitchell need to be aware that it’s difficult to lob the ball over Rudy due to his incredible length. Obviously Mitchell is pretty familiar with him from their years in Utah.
Cleaningtheglass has the Wolves 4th best at forcing misses at the rim and 28th at preventing 3’s. It appears they are willing to allow open looks from deep in order to prevent points in the paint.
This would be a good game for Kevin Love to break out of his 1-for-20 shooting slump on 3’s. He’s pretty familiar with this building and so is Ricky Rubio. Isaac Okoro has made 11 of his last 24 from deep (45.8%), so I’m cautiously optimistic that all those hours in the gym shooting thousands of 3’s while a machine tells him the exact angle of each shot is starting to pay off.
In their last two games the Wolves’ opponents are 31-for-55 on 3’s (56.3%). This might be a game where the Cavs need to hit some 3’s to win. Love and Osman have combined for 15 points in the Cavs’ last three games. They have practically disappeared. This would be a great game for both of them to hit some 3’s and get themselves back on track against a bottom five 3-point defense.
Hopefully the Wolves will be a little tired on a back-to-back and playing for the third time in four nights. Their best player is out, but they are 10-11 with KAT in the lineup and 11-11 without him, so it hasn’t had any impact so far. The Cavs should be 3-1 on this trip except for an epic meltdown in the final 1.5 minutes against Utah where they somehow gave up 13 points in 60 seconds without scoring. I’m still waiting to hear if that is an NBA record.
Edit: Oops - almost forgot. In the first game Garland lit up the Wolves for 51 points and that was without Mitchell around to draw off the defense. Gobert and KAT both played but Darius would not be denied. He was 10-for-15 from deep and the Cavs hit 50% of their 3's. It will be interesting to see if he can have another big game tonight, but with Mitchell and Allen on the floor I don't expect anything like that this time around.
The Wolves are 13-9 at home. They are playing on the second night of a back-to-back having defeated Phoenix last night 121-116 in a game that went down to the end. The Suns came in having lost 10 of 11. Chris Paul and Devin Booker were out for the Suns, but they still made a close game of it, scoring 41 in the 4th quarter but falling a little short.
In their previous game the Wolves were hammered by Detroit 135-118 as the Pistons shot 60%. In addition to playing the second night of a back-to-back the Wolves are playing their third game in four nights and their defense has been really suspect the last two games.
These teams played in Cleveland on Nov. 13 with the Wolves winning a shootout 129-124. Karl-Anthony Towns, their All-Star power forward, had 29 points, 13 rebounds, and was a +15. He is out tonight with a calf strain. The Cavaliers played that night without Allen, Mitchell, and Rubio, but they will all be back. So subtract KAT and add Allen, Mitchell, and Rubio and that should be enough to give the Cavs at least six more points.
KAT is out but the Wolves still have 7’1” multiple Defensive POY Rudy Gobert defending the paint. Gobert averages 14 points and 12 boards on 66% from the field. Anthony Edwards leads in scoring at 23.6 points, but he’s not that efficient at 44% from the field and 32% on 3’s. Former Buckeye D’Angelo Russell averages 17 points on 43% and 34%. He’s on a bit of a roll right now, hitting 11 of 20 three-point attempts over the last three games. I’m sure the Cavs watched the Wolves/Suns game last night and picked up on that.
Kyle Anderson and Jaden McDaniels start at the forward positions, averaging 7.9 and 11.5 points, respectively. They don’t put up a lot of shots but are hitting 48% and 44% on 3’s so you can’t leave them alone.
Last night the Wolves’ bench scored 45 points, led by former Cav Taurean Prince with 16 and Naz Reid with 13.
The Wolves rank 20th in offensive efficiency. They’re good shooters, ranking 7th in effective field goal percentage, but what knocks down their scoring average is turnovers (27th most) and lack of second chance points (22nd in offensive rebounding). In terms of shooting frequency they are 4th in the NBA in percentage of shots taken at the rim, so they love to go inside. That percentage may be a bit lower with KAT out. They’re 6th in accuracy at the rim, so Allen and Mobley will be busy tonight. Since the Cavs have good rim protectors it seems like the Cavs would match up well against the Wolves defensively. With Allen in the lineup this time we hopefully won’t see another 129-point outburst.
The Wolves are middle of the pack in 3-point rate and 3-point percentage. They are average in free throw attempts per possession despite all the trips to the rim. They are hitting 35% of their 3’s at home - nothing special. The key to defending the Wolves is to defend the paint and take away what they want to do and what they do best - attack the rim.
Defensively the Wolves are 14th in efficiency. They defend the paint well (thanks to Rudy and KAT). They’re second worst in the league defending the 3-point shot and they give up a ton of offensive rebounds, ranking 28th. This is one of the few teams where the numbers indicate you need to shoot from deep. Gobert is a monster in the paint and both their starting forwards are 6’9”. You'd think they would be better defensive reboundes with all that height on the front line. My guess is they go for blocked shots and leave themselves short on rebounders if they don't get the block.
They also force a lot of turnovers, ranking 5th in that category. Last night they had 13 steals against Phoenix, so the Cavs need to be aware that this team gambles for steals and counts on Rudy to defend the rim if they don’t get the ball. Garland and Mitchell need to be aware that it’s difficult to lob the ball over Rudy due to his incredible length. Obviously Mitchell is pretty familiar with him from their years in Utah.
Cleaningtheglass has the Wolves 4th best at forcing misses at the rim and 28th at preventing 3’s. It appears they are willing to allow open looks from deep in order to prevent points in the paint.
This would be a good game for Kevin Love to break out of his 1-for-20 shooting slump on 3’s. He’s pretty familiar with this building and so is Ricky Rubio. Isaac Okoro has made 11 of his last 24 from deep (45.8%), so I’m cautiously optimistic that all those hours in the gym shooting thousands of 3’s while a machine tells him the exact angle of each shot is starting to pay off.
In their last two games the Wolves’ opponents are 31-for-55 on 3’s (56.3%). This might be a game where the Cavs need to hit some 3’s to win. Love and Osman have combined for 15 points in the Cavs’ last three games. They have practically disappeared. This would be a great game for both of them to hit some 3’s and get themselves back on track against a bottom five 3-point defense.
Hopefully the Wolves will be a little tired on a back-to-back and playing for the third time in four nights. Their best player is out, but they are 10-11 with KAT in the lineup and 11-11 without him, so it hasn’t had any impact so far. The Cavs should be 3-1 on this trip except for an epic meltdown in the final 1.5 minutes against Utah where they somehow gave up 13 points in 60 seconds without scoring. I’m still waiting to hear if that is an NBA record.
Edit: Oops - almost forgot. In the first game Garland lit up the Wolves for 51 points and that was without Mitchell around to draw off the defense. Gobert and KAT both played but Darius would not be denied. He was 10-for-15 from deep and the Cavs hit 50% of their 3's. It will be interesting to see if he can have another big game tonight, but with Mitchell and Allen on the floor I don't expect anything like that this time around.
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