Charlotte, North Carolina Local News
Preview: Hornets visit Minnesota to take on new look Timberwolves – At The Hive
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What: Charlotte Hornets (2-4) (1-1 away) at Minnesota Timberwolves (3-3) (2-1 home)
When: 9:00pm Eastern
Where: Target Center; Minneapolis, MN
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass
Outfitting: Hornets–Association (white), Timberwolves–Icon (navy)
Game Lines: Hornets +9.5, Hornets money line +340, O/U 226.5
Injuries:
Hornets: Brandon Miller-questionable (glute), Mark Williams-out (foot), Nick Richards-out (shoulder), DaQuan Jeffries-out (hand)
Timberwolves: Rudy Gobert-questionable (ankle/illness unrelated to ankle)
Tonight’s game is at 9:00, which is an hour later than normal for a game in Minnesota. That’s because the NBA staggered the schedule tonight with all 30 teams in action on the eve of election day. Games are starting every 15 minutes from 7:00 Eastern to 10:30 Eastern. Enjoy your NBA League Pass if you have it.
The Hornets are taking on a Timberwolves team that surprisingly made a big shakeup to their roster right at the start of training camp. They finished third in the Western Conference and made a Conference Finals run, then decided to trade away arguably their second best player. Curious.
It hasn’t paid any dividends yet. The team that boasted the league’s best defense a season ago is currently middle of the pack through six games. They replaced Karl-Anthony Towns with a smaller power forward in Julius Randle that is seemingly a worse offensive fit. The Wolves have been worse with him on the floor so far, mainly because they aren’t stopping anybody. Chris Finch is going to have to figure out how to get Randle to play defense if the Wolves are going to have any chance of replicating last season’s success.
The matchup to watch is the one between Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball. The two are draft classmates and were only separated by James Wiseman on the draft board. With Wiseman being a nonfactor to the discussion, the career arcs of Ball and Edwards are always going to be intertwined. This season, the two are putting up very similar stat lines. Both are bombing away from deep; Edwards is first and Ball is second in 3-pointers made per game. Both are taking and making a lot of shots and scoring well. However, on the whole, Ball has been a bit better.
| Rk | Player | Age | From | To | G | GS | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | eFG% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LaMelo Ball | 23 | 2024-25 | 2024-25 | 6 | 6 | 34.0 | 10.5 | 22.2 | .474 | 5.5 | 9.8 | .559 | 5.0 | 12.3 | .405 | .586 | 4.2 | 4.7 | .893 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 6.3 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 5.5 | 5.0 | 30.2 |
| 2 | Anthony Edwards | 23 | 2024-25 | 2024-25 | 6 | 6 | 38.5 | 10.0 | 21.7 | .462 | 4.7 | 9.3 | .500 | 5.3 | 12.3 | .432 | .585 | 3.0 | 4.8 | .621 | 0.2 | 5.5 | 5.7 | 3.3 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 2.0 | 28.3 |
The Hornets need to keep Edwards and Randle in check to keep the Timberwolves from lighting up the scoreboard. Naz Reid and Donte DiVicenzo have the potential to get hot, but the Hornets will probably benefit by being forced to go small against them given that Reid is such a threat from the perimeter. Rudy Gobert could be a problem on the boards if he plays, but he’s not someone you worry about too much offensively other than his ability to be bigger than everyone when catching lobs and rebounds.
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