One game after getting smoked by the San Antonio Spurs, Charlotte’s reserves made all the difference against the short-handed Minnesota Timberwolves. He scored his only point of the game on a free throw in the second quarter.
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The Timberwolves committed a season-high 22 turnovers Tuesday and the Hornets turned those into 22 points.
While Minnesota is a flawless 4-0 on the road, they have struggled at home and are still searching for their first Target Center victory after Tuesday night’s loss. The Wolves exercised caution by holding out Wiggins and Rubio with a long season still ahead, and this was the product of that caution. “In many ways I believe that’s why Al got injured in the playoffs”, said Clifford.
It was a stark contrast from the Spurs game, when Zeller, Lamb and Lin all were a minus-29 or worse when they were on the floor. “We wanted to make up for what we did last game, which was give them a negative boost against the Spurs when the starters came out strong”.
Hornets: P.J. Hairston had to go to the locker room in the first half with a migraine headache and did not return….
Charlotte still led by 11 late in the half when the Wolves scored the final seven points on LaVine’s drive, Payne’s 3-pointer and Martin’s steal and fast-break layup to cut the lead to four at halftime.
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The Timberwolves have options to back up Rubio that include veteran Andre Miller and rookie Tyus Jones. He had one point and one rebound and missed all four of his shots in 11 minutes…. This season, Towns ranks fourth in the National Basketball Association with 3.0 blocks per game. And then, moments later, Ricky Rubio was scratched with a sore left knee. Lavine had 20, Martin 18, Payne 10. The Hornets are 3-4 so far this year but that can’t be blamed on Lamb and Lin as they have both been great, as a matter of fact, Lamb has been Charlotte’s best player in terms of PER. “I did as much as I thought I could possibly do, but games like this when you’re missing two star players you have to step it up to another level and I wasn’t able to do that tonight”. Read through our slideshow to find out as we pick out a few keys to the game for the Knicks against the Hornets Wednesday night.
