Losing Ant Man was a devastating blow, but the Timberwolves were able to recover following the unexpected loss to Golden State in their first game without him. Last night saw them dominate the Clippers 127-101, not exactly the same level of opponent they’ll see on Saturday, but I’m sure they’ll take any win they can get without their best player. Up next are the San Antonio Spurs on the road, the oddsmakers have very little faith in the T’Wolves here having them as 12.5 point underdogs. This could very well be a match-up in the West playoffs at some point, but with the Timberwolves playing on a 2nd night of a back-to-back scenario and not having their best player at their disposal, it’s hard to figure out if they stand a chance here.
The mini 2-game losing streak to start the season is a thing of the past as Wemby and co. have responded with 3 consecutive wins over Dallas, Sacramento and Utah. Although they failed to cover, the win over Utah was still impressive considering they had no rest before that game. This team is still waiting on Tobias Harris to make his official debut, adding him into the mix will add even more depth and veteran leadership or an already loaded team at every possession. Wemby going up against Gobert down low is always an intriguing match-up, it took the Spurs 6 games to dispose of Minnesota in last year’s West semi finals.
It would be foolish for Minnesota to run with the Spurs here, that’s a scenario in which I can’t see them winning. However, if they can keep the pace relatively slow and tighten up on defense, anything is possible. They have the 5th best three-point defense and Gobert to protect the paint against Wemby. I’ll take the under here.
Timberwolves vs Spurs Predictions: Under 226.5 Points is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.
