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Detroit Pistons vs. Minnesota Timberwolves: Game Preview

The Timberwolves will play their penultimate preseason game at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba against the Detroit Pistons tonight at 7:00 pm CST. I can't find any information about broadcasting, but I'm guessing those determined enough will find a way to watch/listen.

The Wolves will most likely be starting Luke Ridnour, Brandon Roy, Andrei Kirilenko, Derrick Williams, and Nikola Pekovic. The Pistons will match with Brandon Knight, Rodney Stuckey, Tayshaun Prince, Jason Maxiell, and Greg Monroe. I'm guessing the Wolves will be able to apply enough pneumatic pressure to crush the Pistons, just looking at their lineup of has-beens, never-will-bes, and Greg Monroe. This being one of the last few preseason games, I'll be looking for Rick Adelman to be finalizing lineups, being less experimental, and playing the starters for good chunks of the game. This will mean that Pek will crush Detroit's only good player and probably put up a 25-17, minimum. That's being conservative. May God have mercy on Greg Monroe's skull.

The real player to watch in this game is Derrick Williams. While his preseason has been, um, of mixed success, many in this community haven't lost total faith in him (even as we've revised our predictions on his potential down). Rick Adelman is still saying good things about the former #2 overall pick, and he'll be starting in tonight's game, so hopefully he can rise to the occasion and show that he deserves to play in the NBA sooner rather than later. If he has a good game tonight, it will give me hope that he can provide meaningful minutes in the regular season and/or fetch a decent trade value. If he performs like he did in his last few games, it might just be one more nail in his coffin. It's still the preseason, which means less than nothing, but I'm still hoping for the former scenario.

In the meantime, I present for your reading pleasure Zach Lowe's nice NBA preview, in which he predicts that Pek will put up all-star numbers and become a household name. If listening is more your thing, Bill Simmons has an entertaining chat with the one, the only Brian Scalabrine. I also credit this preview from Timberwolves.com for much of the information in this post.