With no basketball being played now (besides on video game consoles), the Timberwolves and Fox Sports North are replaying some of the best Wolves' games while the NBA is on hiatus due to COVID-19.
On Sunday night, FSN replayed the Timberwolves and Clippers game from Feb. 8 when Minnesota beat LA 142-115 in front of a sold-out Target Center. It marked the Timberwolves’ debut for Malik Beasley and Juancho Hernangomez, and the two didn’t disappoint. Beasley finished with 23 points (21 coming from the 3-point line) and 10 rebounds, while Hernangomez finished with 14 points, shooting a perfect 3-for-3 from deep.
In total, the Timberwolves made a franchise-record 26 3-pointers.
We’re in a difficult time right. Everyone is (or should be) in their homes, isolating as best they can given their individual circumstances. The escape of sports has been taken away from us for now, but having it back on Sunday night (even if we knew the result) was pretty fun.
To join in on the fun, Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas live-tweeted the game.
After doing five minutes of research, I’ve discovered Rosas is the first POB to ever live-tweet a game.
Rosas had 50 total tweets. Rosas was taking this seriously and our social team should probably be a bit worried now that Rosas has this Twitter thing mastered.
Here were my three favorites:
This was the first game after the trade deadline and it was clear from the very beginning that the new players fit what the Timberwolves and coach Ryan Saunders are trying to do.
After acquiring Beasley and Hernangomez, it became obvious that the two had plenty more to offer than what they were given the chance to in Denver. That’s not a knock on the Nuggets. They are a deep team. It was just one of those things where they deserved more of a role, and after the deadline, they got it in Minnesota. And my goodness did they ever take advantage of it in the opening game.
This was also the debut of veteran forward James Johnson. Given he played in the East, I hadn’t watched a lot of Johnson throughout his career. Maybe you have. But his all-around game has really surprised me. That was on display in this one as he finished with 15 points, five assists, three rebounds, two steals and a block.
If you have League Pass (which is free right now), you get a good variety of announcers from around the league. Most are really good. With all due respect to everyone else, FSN’s crew of Dave Benz, Jim Petersen and Marney Gellner are probably the best. They mix in personality with knowledge from the game seamlessly.
They also know so much about the team and what is happening on the court. A lot of that has to do with the access that Rosas has given them. Rosas allows the three into every practice and shootaround so they have a better idea of what’s happening during the games so they can convey that to fans.
This was Rosas’ final tweet of the night. Rosas hits on what we are all going through right now and no situation is the same. Some of us are lucky enough to be able to work from home. Some have lost jobs. And some are dealing with the virus directly. There’s nothing anyone can say to make this situation any less scary, but by doing your part and staying home, we will indeed get through this. And what a healing day it will be when we’re watching live basketball again.