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Unbeaten Wolves to take on Shaq, LeBron and the Cavs tonight
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On the heels of a dramatic, last- second victory to open the regular season, the Minnesota Timberwolves will welcome LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal and the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Target Center tonight.
The Wolves were led by rookie Jonny Flynn's spectacular fourth quarter on Wednesday night, coming back from a 16- point fourth quarter deficit to stun the New Jersey Nets when Damien Wilkins rebounded a missed jumper by Flynn and made a putback at the buzzer for the 95-93 victory. Wolves forward Corey Brewer struggled mightily on offense, making only three of his 14 field goal attempts. But Brewer did make a huge baseline jump shot with just over a minute left and played very well defensively.
Flynn led the Wolves with 18 points (13 in the fourth quarter), and Wilkins recorded a double- double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Cavs, on the other hand, have been disappointing so far this season in getting out to an 0-2 start. After losing only two home games all of last year, the Cavs dropped their home opener 95-89 to the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, and followed that with a 101-91 road loss to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday.
Cleveland has been a little out of sync so far on offense, as James and O'Neal try to grow accustomed to playing with each other. Still, James did record a triple- double against the Raptors, and is arguably the best player on the planet.
Guards Anthony Parker and Mo Williams are both very good three- point shooters, so the Wolves will have to deal with those two spreading the floor and creating room for James to drive to the hoop and O'Neal to score in the paint. The most intriguing matchup of the night will likely be O'Neal vs. Al Jefferson. While Shaq has not looked like his old, dominant self so far this year, Jefferson is not a good defender and looked pretty rusty himself on Wednesday, playing his first regular- season game since a January knee injury.
Tipoff for tonight's game will be at 7:00 Central time.
