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Scouting Report | Wolves at Pelicans

Mitchell HansenWeb Editorial AssociateTwitter

‪8:30 p.m., Smoothie King Center 

‪Where to Watch: ESPN

‪Where to Listen: 830 WCCO

‪The Minnesota Timberwolves take on the New Orleans Pelicans at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday night at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.‪ 

‪The game is the second game of a double-header on ESPN and will follow the San Antonio Spurs vs. Charlotte Hornets game at 6 p.m.

‪The Wolves enter the game at 4-9 following Monday’s loss. 

‪The Pelicans, who are playing the second game of a back-to-back, come in at 5-10 after Tuesday's win. After losing its first eight games, New Orleans comes into Wednesday's contest a winner in five of it's last seven games. ‪ 

‪Coming Off Of…‪ 

‪The Wolves are coming off of a 99-93 loss to the Boston Celtics on Monday in Minneapolis.‪ 

‪Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points and 18 rebounds to lead Minnesota. Gorgui Dieng added 20 points and 10 rebounds, Andrew Wiggins had 14 points and four rebounds, Nemanja Bjelica had 10 points, and Ricky Rubio had seven points, nine assists and eight rebounds. ‪ 

‪The Pelicans are coming off of a 112-94 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday in Atlanta.

‪Tim Frazier had 21 points and 14 assists to lead New Orleans. Terrence Jones had 17 points and six rebounds off the bench, E'Twaun Moore and Jrue Holiday each had 15 points, and Anthony Davis finished with 13 points and three rebounds. ‪ 

‪Last Matchup: ‪ 

‪The Wolves and Pelicans split the season series 2-2 a season ago.

‪The last matchup game on April 13, the final game of the season for both teams, and resulted in Minnesota winning 144-109.

‪In that game, Towns and Shabazz Muhammad each had 28 points to lead the Wolves. Wiggins had 21 points, Dieng had 20 points and 11 rebounds, Zach LaVine had 19 points and five assists and, Bjelica added 10 points.‪ 

‪James Ennis had 28 points to lead the Pelicans. Omer Asik had 24 points and 11 rebounds, Toney Douglas had 22 points and five assists, and Dante Cunningham had 17 points for New Orleans.‪ 

‪Wednesday’s game is the first of three games between the two teams this season.‪ 

‪Key Matchup: Karl-Anthony Towns vs. Anthony Davis 

‪Two of the NBA’s most promising big men, Minnesota's Karl-Anthony Towns and New Orleans' Anthony Davis, will square off Wednesday night.

‪Although the two former No. 1 overall picks from Kentucky are listed at different positions, Towns, who is listed as a center, has been matching up against the opposing team's power forward often this season. So it's likely to see the two go head-to-head during the game, if Davis, who suffered a right knee contusion Tuesday but returned to the game, indeed plays. 

‪Towns and Davis played against each other in two of the four games last season. Davis did not play in the final two games.

‪In those two games, Towns averaged 19.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. Davis averaged 31 points, 7.5 rebounds and 0.5 assists.

‪This season, the 21-year-old Towns is averaging 22.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Davis, who is 23 years old, is averaging 30.4 points, 10.7 rebounds and two assists this season.

‪Injuries: ‪ 

‪New Orleans: Tyreke Evans (knee) and Pondexter (knee) are out. Terrence Jones (illness) and Davis (knee) are questionable. 

‪Minnesota: Nikola Pekovic (ankle) is out. ‪ 

‪Projected Starters: ‪ 

‪New Orleans: PG – Frazier, SG – Moore, SF – Cunningham, PF – Davis, C – Asik‪ 

‪Minnesota: PG – Rubio, SG – LaVine, SF – Wiggins, PF – Dieng, C – Towns