The Game
The Timberwolves kick off a six-game road trip on Tuesday night in Houston against the Rockets.
This is the final matchup between the two teams with the Wolves still looking for their first win against James Harden’s club.
The Wolves go into the game with a 19-44 record, 14th in the West.
The Rockets are desperately looking for a win having lost four-straight games, most recently on Sunday night against the Magic at home.
Houston is 39-24 on the season, sixth for West. The playoff positioning battle in the West will certainly be interesting. The Rockets are just four games out from the second seed in the West, but only one game up from seventh.
What: Wolves at RocketsWhen: Tuesday, 7 p.m., Mar. 10Where: Toyota CenterWatch: Fox Sports North Listen: 830 WCCO
20-Point Club
Timberwolves shooting guard Malik Beasley has been red hot in his time with the team, averaging 21.9 points per game while shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 43.6 percent from the 3-point line.
Beasley has scored 20 or more points in four-straight games and in nine out of 13 games with Minnesota. In fact, nine of his 10 20-point scoring games this season have come in his short time with the Wolves. This is Beasley’s fourth game against the Rockets this season and he’s averaging 10.7 points per game against them. I would imagine we’ll see him score north of that on Tuesday night.
Old Friend . . .
This is the first matchup for the Wolves against old friend Robert Covington since the team dealt him at the trade deadline. Covington has been fantastic in his time with Houston, averaging 13 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.5 (!) blocks per game while shooting 36.1 percent from the 3-point line.
Covington still has tons of respect in the Timberwolves’ organization even though he was only with the team for about a season. I’m sure there will be plenty of hugs going around for Covington, even though there aren’t many players who were with Covington in Minnesota prior to the deadline.
Injury Report:
Wolves: Karl-Anthony Towns (wrist) is out. Kelan Martin (ankle) is questionable.
Rockets: Eric Gordon (knee) is questionable.
Projected Starters:
Wolves: PG—Russell, SG—Beasley, SF—Okogie, PF—Hernangomez, C—Reid
Rockets: PG—Harden, SG – Westbrook, SF – House, PF – Tucker, C – Covington