The Wolves are looking to bounce back from an ugly 30-point loss suffered Friday night at home against the Bucks.
The best way to forget a game? Move onto the next one. That’s what Anthony Tolliver and the Wolves are doing as they host LeBron James and the Lakers tonight.
When asked on how to forget about Friday night’s game, Tolliver replied, “What game?”
A true jokester.
But in all seriousness.
“You have to have a short memory in this league,” Tolliver said after the team’s shootaround. “When you win, you enjoy it for an hour or two and then you move on. If you lose, you forget about it very quickly and move on.”
Games like that happen. There are clunkers throughout an 82-game season. It’s about how a team bounces back from a game like that more anything. If the Wolves go on a five-game winning streak, we will have forgotten all about that game.
Of course, bouncing back against a team with James on it isn’t exactly an ideal situation. But James’ Lakers have the same 2-4 record as the Wolves and there are a lot of moving parts with this team. The rotation doesn’t seem set quite yet, which wasn��t expected of course with so many news faces on the team.
In his first season with the Lakers, James is averaging 27.3 points (0.2 less than last season), a career-high 9.0 rebounds to go with 8.3 assists and 2.0 steals. In other words, LeBron is doing the same things he’s always done. At 34 years old, he's the best player in the game. Still.
“LeBron, he’s an offense unto himself,” Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It’s what makes him who he is. It’s not only the scoring, it’s the playmaking and his ability to read defenses and make plays.”
One player who will likely matchup on James, if he plays, is Wolves wing Andrew Wiggins. Wiggins has missed the last two games with a right thigh contusion but participated in shootaround Monday and it appears as if he’s getting closer to returning. Whether or not that’s tonight, we’ll see.
“Go on the court, do my regular routine. See how I feel,” Wiggins said. “ . . . This is kind of a thing that lingers on a little bit. It’s something that gets better over time. . . Just trying to get right.”
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CT on Fox Sports North, NBA TV and 830 WCCO.