Preview: Knicks Face Timberwolves in a Battle of Budding Stars
Neither the Timberwolves nor the Knicks are very good, but their two young giants are, and tonight is part one of the young guns going to battle.
The Timberwolves are losers of six of eight, the Knicks have cooled down after a hot stretch to drop two straight. New York and Minnesota will be looking to use this two game series to get themselves back on track.
It is already quite clear that neither of these teams are going to be dominant forces in the NBA this season, so typically both the entertainment and importance of these types of bottom-tier team matchups exponentially decline, but the matchup of two budding superstars, Kristaps Porzingis and Karl-Anthony Towns, brings forward no lack of excitement and nervous anticipation.
Towns, who just turned 21 two weeks ago mind you, is kind of sorta already a top three big man in the NBA. Porzingis is certainly, and hopefully, headed slated to end up there one day, but isn’t quite there yet. The pair of second-year men finished first and second in Rookie of the Year voting last season, though Towns did win the honor unanimously. A story recently published by the NY Post also talks about how the two are actually friends.
This friendship/rivalry/competition is reminiscent of a young Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James, and both teams would be lucky to have their future centerpieces grow and turn out similarly.
Towns has a definitive leg up on Porzingis currently, but tonight as well as the game on Friday are opportunities for this gap to be lessened, or dare I say it, closed? Probably not, but this is the first time the two have met this season, and Porzingis has improved largely since the two times they met last season where Towns outplayed Porzingis heavily. KAT averaged 24.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, two assists and two blocks compared to 8.5/4.0/1.5/4.0. Porzingis did have an astounding defensive game in their first meeting, however, blocking seven shots.
This is a matchup that will be looked at later on as an early battle between two developing superstars, and we would be insane to not appreciate it when we can.
Another matchup worth noting is Zach LaVine and Derrick Rose. LaVine has proven to be a more than solid starter and maybe even a borderline all-star type player one day. Rose has been playing his best basketball in years over the last few games but has continued to struggle defensively. Though LaVine spends most of his time as a two guard now, it is likely, especially if the Knicks run Brandon Jennings and Rose together, that these two will be squaring off for a solid portion of the game. LaVine is also good for a few highlight dunks a game but will be faced with giant Porzingis at the rim challenging him.
‘Melo will be forced to matchup against Andrew Wiggins, who has proven to be a great on ball defender, but has been extremely one-dimensional on offense this season, which should make Anthony’s job to guard him a bit easier, with limiting facilitating and rebounding output from the 21-year-old.
The Knicks are currently the better team, but the Timberwolves have a handful of emerging stars that have the potential to take over any given game on any given night. An intriguing matchup for a handful of different reasons, this game should prove to be one worth watching.
UPDATE: 6:57pm ET.
Joakim Noah will not play tonight.
— Bailey Carlin, site writer
Follow The Knicks Wall during the game for more coverage and highlights on Facebook and Twitter! Don’t forget to listen to Episode 5 of the Podcast on SoundCloud.
