Howlin' T-Wolf

Timberwolves: 14-52

Kings: 22-44

The Wolves head West in search of their 15th win of the season. If the Wolves plan to scale their way out from this current losing funk, tonight could be the night to do it. The Kings are coming off a shellacking to the hands of the Portland Trailblazers and are a little down in the dumps, like the Wolves, coming in having lost the last four out of five. Many of the Wolves’ players are growing frustrated with the losing and pain, so they should take advantage of getting to play another lottery team that isn’t very good. Tyreke Evans of the Kings will be a handful tonight for Jonny Flynn. He’s big, strong and can score at will. The Kings are also a better team than most expect due to the trade deadline acquisition of Carl Landry. Since joining the Kings, Landry has averaged 17.4 points a game and scores a majority of those from the inside and mid-range jumpers. Sounds very similar to the style of Luis Scola or the Houston Rockets, whom put up 25 points and grabbed 21 rebounds against the Wolves just a few weeks ago. With Kevin Love most likely out for tonight’s game, Al Jefferson will need to step up his defense to keep Landry from scoring and stealing rebounds from him. I don’t want to see any of this standing-around-on-defense non-sense any longer. The Wolves should come out and play some physical basketball by sticking it the the Kings, in hopes of wearing them down so they can steal the win in the end.

Match-ups:

Point Guard:

Jonny Flynn vs. Tyreke Evans

I’m a little bit down on Flynn judging the way the he played the other night. On the other hand, Evans is still the lead runner for Rookie of the Year, averaging 20.1 points, 5.5 assists and 5 rebounds per game. Evans’ big and strong nature will give a smaller, weaker Flynn problems all night long, as he probably will go on to have a great game.

Advantage: Sacramento

Shooting Guard:

Corey Brewer vs. Beno Udrih

The dual-point guard backcourt of the Kings could pose a problem for the Wolves. Evans is too big and strong for Flynn to cover and Udrih is too quick and little for Brewer to guard. If you switch it around, it doesn’t get much better, a little but not much. I am looking for a bigger game out of Brewer on the offensive end tonight. With Love probably out, Brewer needs to step up and put up at least 15 tonight. He needs to show everyone that he can be a go-to guy for this team, especially down the stretch of this season.

Advantage: Minnesota

Small Forward:

Ryan Gomes vs. Donte Greene

Based on their recent trends, Donte Greene will be in the starting lineup over crowd favorite Omar Casspi. Probably the key tonight at this position is keeping Casspi out of rhythm, even though he’s not the starter. When he heats up, usually from outside, the crowd in Sacramento goes nuts for this guy. Its actually fun to see but I’d rather not see it happen against the Wolves tonight. As for Gomes, I noticed he had trouble getting involved in the offense on Friday night and couldn’t create shots of his own. This will need to change if the Wolves want a victory tonight.

Advantage: Sacramento

Power Forward:

Al Jefferson vs. Carl Landry

This match-up, in my opinion, is the most important on the floor tonight. Landry has been a great pick up for the Kings and his style of play has left the Wolves scratching their heads to figure out how to defend it. Jefferson needs to step up and contest mid-range jumpers and play physical underneath, not giving Landry any room to work with. On the offensive end, it’d be nice to see Jefferson get in a groove from his favorable high-post position. He could work Landry all night long if he finds a groove.

Advantage: Minnesota

Center:

Darko Milicic vs. Spencer Hawes

Still no word on whether Ryan Hollins or Darko will start tonight, but I think Rambis will give the nod to Darko. It will be nice to have Hollins back because they badly lacked depth on the front line on Friday night. Darko had a terrific game on Friday, scoring a season-high 12 points. Almost all of his points came off smooth skyhooks from the paint and that’s one thing the Wolves are missing from the center position. As for Hawes, he’s a rookie but a sturdy one at that. He can play tough underneath and move his range to the three-point line, so he could pose as a, yet another, match-up problem for the Wolves tonight. But I still think Darko being a true center gives the advantage to the Wolves.

Advantage: Minnesota