Anthony Davis made his much-anticipated return to the New Orleans Hornets’ lineup this week. The Minnesota Timberwolves are hoping they can soon say the same for phenom point guard Ricky Rubio.
After an injury-plagued early portion of the 2012-13 regular season, the Hornets and Timberwolves are looking forward to competing in the Western Conference while being closer to full strength roster-wise. Rubio is not expected to play Friday, but ESPN 1500 AM radio in Minneapolis has reported that he will do so Saturday vs. Dallas.
In the absence of Davis (stress reaction in left ankle), New Orleans went just 3-10 in games played between Nov. 3 and Dec. 10, clearly missing his scoring (average of 15.0 points, second-best on the Hornets), rebounding (team-leading 7.8 average) and shot-blocking (team-leading 2.13 average). Over his first eight appearances of the season, Davis also was off to an excellent shooting start from both the field (48.9 percent) and the foul line (85.0 percent).
The Hornets probably won’t get much sympathy from the Timberwolves about not having key players available early in ’12-13 due to injury. Not only did Rubio (torn ACL in left knee) miss the first 19 games for the Timberwolves, but All-Star power forward Kevin Love (broken right shooting hand) also was sidelined for the initial nine. Love made his welcomed return to action the day before Thanksgiving, but understandably is not 100 percent yet, with his hand injury appearing to still hamper him. One of the best perimeter shooters among big men in the NBA, Love has produced career-lows in shooting percentages while battling through the injury. He initially wasn’t expected to be back until mid-December, but managed to accelerate his recovery.
Intriguing matchup: Center, Robin Lopez vs. Nikola Pekovic
As a 7-footer who checks in at 255 pounds, Lopez doesn’t often encounter men larger than him in the paint, but the massive Pekovic is one such matchup. Pekovic, a native of Montenegro, is listed as 6-foot-11, 290 pounds, making him a near-immovable presence under the basket. Pekovic made impressive improvements as a player last season, upping his scoring average from 5.5 to 13.9 points. Lopez has similarly developed for the Hornets in 2012-13, going from 5.4 to 11.9 in that category.
