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The Cavaliers are super good at basketball right now, and the Wolves are not super good at basketball. This should be a drubbing, but maybe Andrew Wiggins will play out of his mind again and keep it close.
Who: Cavs (24-9) at Timberwolves (12-24)
When: Friday, 8 PM EST
Where: Target Center, Minneapolis.
TV: The Worldwide Leader in Sports and Fox Sports Ohio
Enemy blog: Canis Hoopus
Music:
- Tonight's song is "Ill with Want" by the Avett Brothers, because we as a Cavalier community sometimes want to have our cake and eat it too. I'm desperately asking you to try not to draw definitive conclusions about the Kevin Love trade based on this game, even if Andrew Wiggins plays really well. Both sides are happy.
- The Wolves shoot a hilariously low amount of threes in Sam Mitchell's offense that literally seems designed to have all of his players catch the ball two feet inside the three-point line. If the Cavaliers protect the paint and contest midrange jumpers, their defense should have their way with the Wolves, assuming health.
- This will be the Cavaliers' first look at Karl-Anthony Towns, who might be having the best rookie big man season I've ever seen (note: I'm not that old, so don't yell at me). The kid has serious touch on his jumper, can whip passes around like a guard, and his defensive instincts are stunning for his age. Oh, and he's huge. Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov will both have their hands full tonight.
- The Cavaliers really need to win gimme games on this road trip, including tonight and Sunday's tilt at Philly, because after the Philly game, they'll play at Dallas, at San Antonio, at Houston and then they'll come home to host the Warriors.
Fearless Prediction: I know the Cavaliers a lot better than the Timberwolves, but FTS and a Wolf Among Wolves' own William Bohl tweeted this out yesterday:
Anyway, my prediction for the final score is Cavs 133, Wolves 71.
— William Bohl (@BreakTheHuddle) January 7, 2016
Who am I to disagree? Apparently the Wolves are going to get beat so bad they'll all consider retiring. Jokes aside, I don't think it'll be such a beatdown, as the Cavaliers have a tendency to mess around once the game's in hand. It'll be a comfortable win. 109-91, Cavaliers.