Game #22: Minesota TimberWolves at Kings

I’m going to try to keep this short. Wolves vs Kings tonight, and hell might be influenced by this game tonight. Or, probably not. Unless a few games below 500/well below 500 matchup of teams (who were both expected to be at the bottom of the Western Conference for the season) counts as a ticket to hell, I suppose. On the other hand, at least the Wolves are realizing their low expectations.

The Wolves are 3-20, and the Kings are 9-12 at this point (and would be better if they had hit their FT’s. Speaking of FT’s, PW had this to say about the FT shooting:

Westphal isn’t panicking over the Kings’ recent free-throw problems. The Kings have made just 37 of 66 free throws (56 percent) in their last three games.

“We’re trying to emphasize free-throw shooting every day (in practice) in pressure free-throw situations,” Westphal said. “I think we have good shooters, and I think over the course of the season we’ll make them.

“We’ve hit a rough patch, and so we’ll keep playing with confidence and figure it’ll even itself out.”

Yuh. Pretty much.

The Wolves aren’t very good offensively (29) or defensively (22), in terms of rating. Minnesota, though, plays at a fast pace as do the Kings.

I wonder how this could play out.

Matchup wise you would figure that the Kings have an advantage with Tyreke Evans over Jonny Flynn/Ramon Sessions. Likewise, I hope to see Donte Greene play in the post more against SG’s rather than just shoot 3’s. Which is to say, when you have a matchup problem, you have to exploit to score hoops consistently in this league. Which is why Donte Greene does not consistently score.

The Wolves are not deep at the 2/3 and the Kings are. Taking advantage of such will mean that the Kings do so. A quality game by Andres Nocioni would be welcome.

Kevin Love/Al Jefferson vs Jason Thompson/Spencer Hawes should be interesting, but I’m not holding my breath. Hawes/JT have been up & down lately, and I hope this match-up brings out the best in both.

Minnesota is not deep, and the Kings have depth that Paul Westphal is willing to play. Hopefully, if a few starters falter, the Kings can use their depth to keep themselves in the game.

So that’s pretty much that.

Wolves vs Kings at 7pm PST. TV is CSNCA and Radio is 1140. Enjoy!