The Game
Both of these teams are looking to get back on track.
The Lakers are coming off a 14-point home loss to the Raptors on Sunday, even though Toronto was without Kawhi Leonard.
The Wolves, on the other hand, are looking to snap a three-game losing streak.
Both teams entered the season with playoff aspirations, but both are out of the playoff hunt right now. The Wolves are 4-7, 13th in the West, while the Lakers are 4-6, tied for 10tth.
Of course, it’s early. We aren’t even a month into the season, but if Wolves fans learned anything last season, it’s that every game matters.
This is the second time these two teams will have faced off this season. The Wolves beat the Lakers 124-120 on Oct. 29 at Target Center. Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 25 points, 16 rebounds, six assists and four blocks.
What: Wolves at LakersWhen: 9:30 p.m. CTWhere: STAPLES CenterWatch: ESPNListen: 830 WCCO [[{"fid":"91712","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","alignment":"","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"default","alignment":"","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"1"}}]]
The Rise Of Rose
In case you missed it, Derrick Rose finished with 50 points in a win over the Jazz last week.
In the very next game, Rose injured his ankle and that forced him to miss Sunday’s game against Portland.
He returned to the starting lineup on Monday and finished with 21 points and four assists.
When Rose has played 30 or more minutes this season (four games), he’s averaged 26.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. Obviously there’s the 50-point outlier, but if you take that out, he’s still averaging 19 points in those other three games.
On the season, Rose is averaging 17.4 points per game. He’s not the same Rose as he once was, but he’s as close as he’s been after suffering a slew of injuries over the years. Minnesota’s low-risk, high-reward signing of Rose this offseason (and the end of last season) has paid off thus far.[[{"fid":"91713","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","alignment":"","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"2":{"format":"default","alignment":"","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"2"}}]]
The KUZ!
Playing with LeBron hasn’t always been the easiest thing for some players over the years. We’ve seen players such as Kevin Love and Chris Bosh struggle to adjust to playing alongside The King.
One player who hasn’t had any trouble at all is second-year forward Kyle Kuzma.
Kuzma is averaging 19 points (+2.9 from last season) per game while shooting 49 percent from the field.
His PER has gone from 14.2 last season to 15.6 this season. After coming off the bench for the first two games, Kuzma has been in the team’s starting lineup and should be a fixture there barring any trades.
In his last three games, Kuzma has shot a red-hot 59.5 percent from the field, but just 22.2 percent from deep.
Injury Report:
Wolves: Jeff Teague (knee) and Justin Patton (foot) are out.
Lakers: No injuries to report.
Projected Starting Lineups:
Wolves: PG - Rose, SG - Wiggins, SF - Butler, PF - Gibson, C - Towns
Lakers: PG – Ball, SG – Ingram, SF – James, PF – Kuzma, C - McGee