Oklahoma City at Minnesota
Time: 7 PM CT (ESPN)
Spread: MIN -4.5
Total: 212.5
Odds c/o 5dimes
The Minnesota Timberwolves have won seven of its past 10 games, including its last two, to surge to The No. 4 spot in the Western Conference. It will host the No. 6 seeded (if the playoffs began today!) Oklahoma City Thunder in the first game of an ESPN doubleheader on Wednesday night.
Minnesota is 4.5-point favorite over Russell Westbrook and the Thunder, with an over/under set at 212.5 points according to NBA oddsmakers at bookmaker 5dimes.
THUNDER NEWS & NOTES:
While Russell Westbrook continues to play amazing basketball, Carmelo Anthony is struggling to find his niche and role with his new team. Chances of demoting Anthony to a Sixth Man remain low, howsoever it might be the best thing that Billy Donovan could do to inject some life into the Thunders’ second unit. Anthony is averaging a career-low 17.6 points per game and attempting just 15.6 field goals per game.
Similarly, Paul George has reduced his load to 16.4 shots per game, but Westbrook maintains his 21.1 field goals per game. The balance needs to be struck more, particularly since outside of that big Three, and Steven Adams, the Thunder get so little offense from the rest of its cast.
Indeed, a sheer lack of depth continually hurts the Thunder. Jerami Grant, Ray Felton, Alex Abrines and Andre Roberson are all fine players, but a team is in trouble when that quartet comprises its fifth through ninth best players. None of them are major scoring threats, and the Thunder still are not vastly utilizing Patrick Patterson, who looms as a potential source of mid-range shooting and rebounding.
While the team does not likely regret losing Victor Oladipo, as well as he is playing in Indiana, maybe it should.
Beyond that, it is not likely George remains in OKC after this season, making this experimental rental all the more of a failure if the Thunder cannot manage to get more from George, and the rest of its team. The Thunder have been strong defensively, but with just three scorers and an active Adams, it is difficult to envision this team posing any legitimate threat to either Houston or Golden State.
WOLVES NEWS & NOTES:
Minnesota, meanwhile, is building towards a meaningful future with two of the league’s brightest stars in Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns, alongside established veteran All-Star Jimmy Butler. The Wolves occupy the No. 4 spot in the West and would have home court advantage if the playoffs began today.
Tom Thibodeau finally has the veteran leaders to lead his strong young core. Towns is averaging 20.5 points, 11.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks pregame with a team-high PER of 23.0.
Butler has reduced his scoring load from a season ago with the pitiful Chicago Bulls, but is playing strong two-way basketball and still tallying 20 points per night.
Andrew Wiggins has made meaningful strides as a playmaker and defender, with the cost that he is averaging less points than last season, but the Wolves are a better more well-rounded team this season.
Credit some of that to unheralded additions Jeff Teague and Taj Gibson. Gibson has relegated the once-promising Gorgui Dieng to the bench, while Teague has seamlessly replaced Ricky Rubio at the point guard position. Jamal Crawford is not seeing a lot of minutes (17 per game), but is still a viable scorer off the bench and he can get hot at any time.
The Wolves have sufficient depth and leadership to finally cash in on its potential, and developing consistency on both ends of the court is next on Thibodeau’s checklist for his rising Wolves. The team is off to a great start for a young ball club and could be one of the most feared by the time the postseason finally arrives in 2018.
