Tag Archives: Minnesota Timberwolves

Cavaliers topple Timberwolves 123-106

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The Cleveland Cavaliers took a trip to Minnesota and took care of business at the Target Center, defeating the Timberwolves 123-106.

From the start it was clear the Cleveland Cavaliers were going to cruise to a victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Cavs built an early 14 point lead at the end of the 1st quarter and continued to create separation between themselves and the T’Wolves. Eventually Cleveland would hold a 33 point lead in the contest as they proceeded to continue their scoring barrage into the second half and claim the inevitable double-digit victory.

It was one of the better shooting nights for the Cavaliers, conversing 46 of their 85 field goal attempts, good for 54.1%. 13 of their made field goals were of the three-point variety and the Cavs also went 18-22 at the free throw line. Only two of their made two-point field goals did not come in the paint, as Cleveland scored 62 points in that area compared to Minnesota’s 42. This differential certainly played a factor in the final outcome.

Leading the way for the Cavaliers was Jarrett Allen, finishing with an easy 21 points and 10 rebounds in addition to his two blocks, two assists, and one steal on the night. This was the ninth double-double in 10 games for Allen as he has proven to be quite a force this season.

It was also a productive night for Kevin Love off the bench, scoring 18 points and grabbing 13 boards in 23 minutes. Love made all seven free throws and went 3-7 from deep. Love has shown that he can be a valuable player off the bench at times this season.

Perhaps one of the more shocking shooting performances came from Lauri Markkanen. Markkanen went 4-5 from three-point range and 7-8 overall as he scored 19 points in 22 minutes.

The Cavaliers are now 15-12, good for sixth in the Eastern Conference. Cleveland will take on the Sacramento Kings Saturday night as they look to win their third straight game. 

With A Jimmmitude: deGrom, A-Rod, Miggy

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No help for deGrom

It is like some cruel joke is being played on Jacob deGrom every time he takes the mound for the New York Mets. deGrom was outstanding in his start on Saturday as he allowed 5 hits and stuck out 14 in 8 innings of work, more often than this should lead to a win. Not for Jacob deGrom. You see the issue is that deGrom gave up a solo home run to Jazz Chisholm in the 2nd inning and that is all Miami needed to win. The Marlins did add two more runs in the 9th off of Edwin Diaz, but one run is all they needed in their 3-0 shutout of the Mets.

It is just so incredibly disappointing to see someone like Jacob deGrom put together an outstanding start and come away with a loss because of a one minor mistake. In most of other games that one run does not matter since the pitchers offense usually picks him up. For some bizarre reason the Mets bats go silent fairly often on a deGrom start which leads to some mind boggling statistics. deGrom has 33 no decisions in the last four years and his ERA in those games is 1.76, that is absolutely insane! The majority of these games are wins for most teams, but here is deGrom getting stuck with no decision after no decision.

The fact the Mets are 11-22 in games that Jacob deGrom receives a no-decision is crazy, especially with that ERA. I just hope that whatever curse that was placed on deGrom that he is doomed to get stuck with no-decisions gets lifted and he starts getting the wins he deserves.

A-Rod taking his talents to the NBA

After failing to buy the aforementioned New York Mets, Alex Rodriguez has turned his sights to the NBA. Rodriguez, along with Marc Lore are buying the Minnesota Timberwolves from current majority owner Glen Taylor.

It seems that Rodriguez actually does have some legitimate interest in owning a sports team. The interesting aspect of this is that he did not go the route of buying a baseball team like when he attempted to buy the Mets. Perhaps this is a stepping stone towards buying a baseball team, but switching the focus to basketball is a smart move by Rodriguez. The NBA basically prints their own money and is extremely popular, more popular than Major League Baseball that’s for sure. If in the future Rodriguez wants to get into baseball, being a part owner of a NBA team should help generate enough money on his own that he could work his way towards owning a larger percentage of a team.

Miggy on the IL

When an older player keeps making trips to the injured list it is incredibly sad to see, that is the case with Miguel Cabrera. The Detroit Tigers have placed the 37-year first baseman on the IL with a bicep injury.

For those who do not remember, it was a left bicep injury in 2018 that ended his season prematurely. Cabrera suffered a rupture in his left biceps tendon that required season ending surgery. The Tigers need to just be careful with Miggy because of his past injury history in that arm.

As a fan of baseball Miguel Cabrera is someone to watch and be amazed with his talent. The fact that there were some career milestones possibly in his future this year makes this just a little bit more depressing. With 488 career home runs, 500 was definitely within reach this season. Cabrera also has 2,869 career hits which a good season could put him in striking distance of reaching 3,000 next season.

I just hope to see a speedy recovery and a return to play for the future Hall of Famer. The fact of the matter is that baseball is better when Miguel Cabrera is on the field.

Cavaliers look for better outcome against T’Wolves

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The Cleveland Cavaliers are looking for a different outcome as they take on the Minnesota Timberwolves for the second time in as many nights.

Dwelling on Sunday night’s loss is not something that can be done for very due to the fact the Cavaliers host the Timberwolves Monday night. Cleveland will be looking for a much different result as they can avenge their loss from the night before.

There are two clear areas that the Cavs can focus on coming into Monday night, three-pointers and turnovers. Minnesota made four times as many shots from deep (16-4) than Cleveland and turned the ball over nearly half as much (10-19). Closing the gaps in these areas, if not being on the winning end of both of those statistics.

As far as how these teams have performed this season, both give up more points per game than they score and that is part of the reason both have losing records. The Cavaliers score 104.2 and give up 108.7 and the Timberwolves score and give up 106.7 and 116.4 respectively. It seems like Minnesota slightly outperformed their performance in the three-point shooting department Sunday as they average 11.1 makes on 34.1% shooting. It is more than possible that the Timberwolves revert back in this area and that could play into Cleveland’s favor. The Cavs could also see an increase on their end back to their 9.5 three-pointers made and 35.7% shooting.

All in all the Cavaliers just need to have a bounce back performance on both ends of the court. The offense needs to be a little more efficient while the defense needs to make things difficult for Minnesota. This is a scenario that is more than possible and would get the Cavs one game closer to .500 on the year.