Wolves vs Mavs: There Will Be Points

Wolves vs Mavericks

2:30pm CST

FS North

In terms of sheer entertainment value, this afternoon game should deliver. The Wolves are one of the worst defensive teams I’ve ever seen, while Dallas and Luka Doncic sport the most efficient offense in the history of the sport. That’s pretty good, in my opinion.

The fun part, now, is that even without Karl-Anthony Towns the Timberwolves have enough offensive firepower to at least somewhat keep pace. The point total for this game has been set in the mid 240s. and for good reason.

It’s going to be a lot of fun to have Luka in town, although it surely won’t be fun to be playing against him. I can’t get over the fact that he just turned 21. I have a feeling we celebrated our 21st birthdays in slightly different ways.

Of the non-Luka guys, I’m most interested to see Maxi Kleber play. He’s not going to put up gaudy counting stats, but he is such a useful player. He’d be the perfect type of player to put alongside KAT in the frontcourt.

Really, though, this will just come down to whether or not Minnesota is capable of stringing together any stops at all. I’m not very confident in them being able to hold Dallas under 130 points.

It’ll be intriguing to see how Malik Beasley plays today, after Friday was probably his worst game of his brief Minnesota tenure. I’d guess he bounces back in a big way this afternoon.

Can Jordan McLaughlin keep it going? He’s been so good recently, it would be awesome to see him play well.

Speaking of J-Mac, there will be some truly awesome backup point guard play in this one, with McLaughlin, Seth Curry, and Jalen Brunson. Not that having great backups is the be-all-end-all or anything, but it certainly helps.

Anyways, while I’m struggling to believe Minnesota can get enough stops, maybe D’Angelo Russell and friends can score enough to keep this one close.