Minnesota Timberwolves clamp down on Indiana Pacers in 101-91 win

MINNEAPOLIS — Through the first three games of the season, the Minnesota Timberwolves were not playing the type of defense that head coach Tom Thibodeau wanted to see.

That changed Monday night.


Minnesota clamped down on the defensive end against Indiana as Jimmy Butler returned to the lineup to score 20 points to lead the Timberwolves to a 101-91 win over the Pacers.

“We played a little bit of defense finally,” Butler said. “It felt good.”

Butler, who received a mix of boos and cheers during player introductions, sat out Saturday due to precautionary rest. Karl-Anthony Towns added 17 points and 12 rebounds for Minnesota, while rookie guard Josh Okogie scored 12 points off the bench.

Minnesota also played most of Monday’s game without forward Andrew Wiggins, who exited in the first quarter due to a right quad contusion and did not return. Wiggins scored two points in eight minutes before the injury.

Thibodeau said Wiggins is day-to-day and the team will know more Tuesday about the injury. Wiggins, a Toronto native, indicated that he’ll play Wednesday at the Raptors.

Okogie saw his minutes increase in Wiggins’ absence. Okogie made the most of the extended playing time and the home crowd at Target Center gave the rookie a nice ovation as he took a seat on the bench late in the fourth quarter.

While Okogie struggled from the floor early, he kept shooting at the behest of his teammates — and his head coach.

“I just like the way he sort of persevered through it,” Thibodeau said of Okogie. “I thought the spirit of the team was strong. His teammates were encouraging him to shoot, and he just kept playing, which I think is important.”

The Wolves led by as many as nine early before Indiana cut it to one point at the half. Victor Oladipo scored 15 of his 20 points before halftime to lead the Pacers. He has now scored at least 20 points in three straight games.

Bojan Bogdanovic also had 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting for the Pacers, while Myles Turner chipped in 16.

“I feel like overall, they kinda forced us into some tough shots as well,” Oladipo said. “Credit them, they did a pretty good job defensively.”

Minnesota’s reserves went on a 12-0 run to open the fourth quarter and take an 84-73 lead — its biggest of the game. Derrick Rose scored four of his 11 points during the run to put the Wolves ahead after they trailed by one entering the fourth.

After allowing 140 points in a loss Saturday to Dallas, Minnesota’s defense tightened Monday against a Pacers team that scored 132 points its last time out. The Wolves held Indiana to just 38.8 percent shooting from the floor in the first half. The 91 points allowed was the first time Minnesota held a team under 100 this season.

Indiana shot over 55 percent in two of its first three games before shooting 39.6 percent on Monday.

“I thought our shot collection was poor,” said Pacers coach Nate McMillan. “We didn’t have ball movement. Basically we were taking quick shots and taking quick, contested shots.”

TIP-INS

Pacers: F Domantas Sabonis returned to action Monday after missing Saturday’s game against Brooklyn. Sabonis had eight points in 17 minutes off the bench. … Indiana assigned C Ike Anigbogu to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA G League on Monday. Anigbogu played three minutes Saturday.

Wolves: C Karl-Anthony Towns had 17 points and 14 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. … F Taj Gibson’s 3-pointer in the first quarter Monday marked the first time he connected from downtown since Dec. 31, 2017, which also came against Indiana.

COLD FROM DEEP

The Timberwolves struggled from 3-point range in Monday’s game, finishing 7-for-33 from behind the arc. They were just 3-of-26 after three quarters before shooting 4-of-7 in the fourth.

PUSHING THE TEMPO

Minnesota led Indiana in fast break points, 26-8. Much of that was a result of the Wolves’ ability to get stops on the defensive end and turn the ball up the floor quickly. Ten of those fast break points came in the fourth quarter.

“Our stops got us into the open floor,” Thibodeau said.

UP NEXT

Pacers: Visit San Antonio on Wednesday night.

Wolves: Visit Toronto on Wednesday night.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Rockets advance to 2nd round with eyes on bigger goals

HOUSTON — The Houston Rockets spent almost no time celebrating their first-round playoff series win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night.

For the top-seeded Rockets, it simply moved them a little closer toward their goal of bringing the franchise its first title in more than two decades.

“This was a pretty good step for us, a step in the right direction, but we’ve got a long way to go,” James Harden said. “We (don’t) have this team just to win one playoff series.”

From the moment Chris Paul joined the Rockets in a blockbuster trade from the Los Angeles Clippers last summer, the Rockets have talked incessantly about their desire and belief that the pairing of the two star point guards could propel this already good team into contender status.

A 65-win regular season led by Harden’s MVP-caliber play and Paul’s work in a top supporting role gave the Rockets the NBA’s best record for the first time in franchise history and added to the belief that this could be the year they win it all.

Despite not playing their best at times, the Rockets easily handled the eighth-seeded Wolves, turning in three blowout wins in the 4-1 series triumph, capped by Wednesday’s night 122-104 victory.

“We’ll continue to get better, work on some things, figure out who we play and take it from there,” Harden said.

They move on to the Western Conference semifinals for the second straight season and look to return to the conference finals for the first time since losing to the Golden State Warriors in 2015.

But first they’ll get a few days to rest as they await the winner of the series between the Thunder and Jazz. Utah leads 3-2 after Oklahoma City overcame a 25-point second-half deficit to avoid elimination Wednesday night.

Coach Mike D’Antoni said it’s difficult to do too much preparation before they know who they’ll face.

“We’ll watch it. Get some popcorn and enjoy the NBA like everybody else does then we’ll break it down,” he said. “We’ll have plenty of time to prepare and get in there and do what we do.”

While the Rockets have their eyes on winning their first title since taking back to back trophies in 1994-95, the next round will be a benchmark of sorts for Paul considering his disappointing playoff history.

The nine-time All-Star has faced criticism after making nine previous playoff trips without advancing past the second round. The worst of those flops came in 2015 against Houston, when Paul and the Clippers had a 3-1 lead in the conference semifinals. They got blown out in Game 5 and squandered a 19-point second-half lead in Los Angeles in Game 6 before falling in Game 7 at Houston.

He bristles when the subject is brought up by reporters, but both Harden and Trevor Ariza said Paul discussed that series this week as a cautionary tale when Houston took a 3-1 lead over Minnesota.

Paul carried the Rockets with a 27-point performance in a Game 2 win against Minnesota and scored 25 points in Game 4 when he and Harden fueled a 50-point third quarter that allowed the Rockets to come back to Houston a win away from wrapping up the series.

While his scoring helped Houston through this series, perhaps more important to Houston’s success was what he did to facilitate scoring by others like Clint Capela, who led Houston with 26 points on Wednesday night. Paul had a tough time in the first game of the series when he tied a season-high with six turnovers.

In the next four games he piled up 29 assists with just three turnovers to help Houston advance.

Minnesota coach Tom Thibodeau marveled at how difficult it is to deal with both Harden and Paul after the pair combined for 21 assists on Wednesday night.

“They can hurt you a lot of different ways,” he said. “They hurt us with the pass tonight. They’re not worried about their shots. They’re worried about the team getting good shots.”

While Houston’s offensive prowess was evident throughout the year, the Rockets hope that their work on defense against Minnesota shows that they’re solid on that side of the ball, too.

“We’ve been saying it all season long and in order for us to get where we want to go defense is going to have to be our backbone,” Harden said. “We’re going to have to get stops.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

Top pick Towns vows to deliver for Timberwolves

Karl-Anthony Towns is a young man with many gifts, but the 19-year-old top pick of the National Basketball Association Draft vowed to give all he can to help turn around his new team, the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The 19-year-old Towns, who has thrived academically and aspires one day to become a doctor, is focused on helping to cure the ills of the Wolves, who have missed the playoffs for the last 11 years.

"That's going to be the main goal of the season for me, making the playoffs," said Towns, who helped Kentucky to a 38-0 record as a freshman forward-center last season.

"I know the one thing I have to do is I have to live up to the expectations and goals and lofty expectations that people are going to have for me for being the number one pick.

"But through my life, there's always been expectations and goals set against me, and I've just always had to meet them ... and also jump over the goals and the hurdles."

The versatile big man honed his game on a homemade basketball court at his New Jersey house that was promised to him by his father after a Christmas when they had no money for presents.

All the early training with his father paid off.

He won New Jersey state high school titles and played on the Dominican Republic national team as a 6-foot-10 (2.08m) ninth-grader, representing his mother's home country.

Towns said it was special to share his NBA Draft moment with close to 50 friends and family from neighboring New Jersey on hand at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

"I mean, I'm home. This is home to me," he told reporters.

"My sister started crying immediately. My mom started crying. My dad was just very ecstatic. All those times me and him were in the gym, and you see the end result." - Reuters

Kevin Love finally lands in Cleveland

The Cleveland Cavaliers have sent top overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins and former number one pick Anthony Bennett to the Minnesota Timberwolves for prized All-Star forward Kevin Love as part of a blockbuster three-team deal.

Cleveland also sent a protected 2015 first-round pick to the Philadelphia 76ers, who will acquire guard Alexey Shved and forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute from the Timberwolves in exchange for veteran forward Thaddeus Young in the multi-player trade.

The addition of Love, who will team up with recently-signed four-time league most valuable player LeBron James and exciting young talent Kyrie Irving, further solidifies the Cavaliers as a favourite to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.

"Kevin joining the Cavaliers represents a very special and unique opportunity for our team," Cavaliers general manager David Griffin said in a statement after the three-way trade was formally announced on Saturday.

"At only 25, Kevin has already firmly established himself as one the NBA's elite players and his talent, versatility and fit are major parts of our team's vision for success."

The Love deal was announced in principle earlier this month but could not be finalized until Saturday because Wiggins, who was taken first overall by Cleveland in June, could not be traded until 30 days after the signing of his rookie contract.

Bennett, the first overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft, had a rough start to his rookie campaign with Cleveland but improved as the season progressed. He averaged 4.2 points and 3.0 rebounds in 52 games.

"We are excited to add three young, talented and athletic players to our team in Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and Thaddeus Young," said Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders.

"With the additions of Wiggins, Bennett and Zach LaVine this summer, we have brought in three exciting young athletes who all have the potential to have an impact in this league.

"I appreciate all that Kevin, Luc and Alexey have done for our organization and wish them the best of luck with their new teams."

According to local media, the Cavaliers made the deal with Minnesota with a firm agreement that Love will opt out of his contract in 2015 and re-sign with the Cavaliers on a five-year, $120 million-plus contract extension.

Love averaged 26.1 points per game, 12.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists last season for a Minnesota team that went 40-42 and was nine games back of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com