After a disastrous December, the Timberwolves came into this week beat up, worn down, and in bad shape in the standings. While they're still beat up, the outlook after this week is definitely more positive.
December 30, 2019: MN 122, Nets 115 (OT)
Led by Shabazz Napier's 24 points and Gorgui Dieng's 20 rebounds, the Wolves (sans Towns, Wiggins, Layman, Vonleh, and Treveon Graham) made some clutch buckets down the stretch and executed well in overtime. Another bright spot in the game was rookie Jarrett Culver, who scored a season-high 21 points, to go along with a stat-sheet-stuffing 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block.
January 1, 2020: MN 104, Bucks 106
The Wolves came into this game with an even longer injury report, adding Jeff Teague to the fallen. Considering the Bucks have the best record in the league, the outlook for this game was especially bleak. However, in a big moral victory for the young pups, the Wolves were a missed Gorgui Dieng jumper away from sending this game to overtime. Shabazz Napier once again led the Wolves with 22 points, and Jarrett Culver made some highlight-reel plays on his way to 10 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. Culver also got some nice minutes at point guard in this game with Teague out, and performed well. Hopefully we see more of that going forward. Holding the Bucks to 106 points is also no small defensive feat, and it's good to see the young players playing engaged defense.
January 2, 2020: MN 99, Warriors 84
With another long injury report, the young Wolves took on the tanking Warriors and played some more excellent defense on their way to the win. Led by 20 points from Robert Covington and Napier (again), the outcome of this game was never really in doubt. Another bright spot of the game, and really the whole week, was rookie Naz Reid, who had 13 points and 6 rebounds filling in for the plethora of injured big men.
Overall, it was a very positive week for the Wolves, as they won 2 of 3 without many of their best players. Hopefully Culver continues showing progress as he did this week, and we keep up the defensive intensity from this week when we get some of our better players back.
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