NBA - 507 Minnesota Timberwolves @ 508 Charlotte Bobcats
Projected Line: 185 points
***DOUBLE DIME PLAY***
I've watched the last two games of this shorthanded version of the Wolves and they are very limited offensively as expected. They have no presence on the inside, as Derrick Williams is another perimeter player and Greg Stiemsma has no offensive skills. So, they need to work a lot to score points. They scored 83 points against Brooklyn, while attempting just 6 free throws, while yesterday they scored 101 points at Washington, however that isn't so impressive when you study what happened in that game. Washington had an early lead and everything seemed so easy for the Wizards that they toyed with Minnesota. Therefore, the Wolves ended up grabbing 62% of the rebounds, 22 offensive rebounds and attempted 33 free throws!
Minnesota will now play a back to back game and so, this isn't a good spot for a shorthanded team, especially knowing that Ricky Rubio will also see his minutes being limited tonight. Charlotte's defense even in the middle of their mediocrity has a good spot in here to limit Minnesota's offense. First of all, the Wolves really doesn't have any offensive skills with their current available roster. Then, the Bobcats's problem on defense has been on their perimeter, but the Wolves are #30 on 3pts with just 29.1%, while they are also #27 on spot up offense. Besides that, Minnesota lacks a big man that can take advantage of Charlotte's inexperienced frontcourt. Josh Smith torched the Bobcats with 15-24 FG, but Minnesota only has Derrick Williams, Greg Stiemsma and Chris Johnson available right now.
Just like Minnesota, Charlotte doesn't have a lot of quality on their perimeter offense. The Bobcats are just #28 on spot up offense and their offense is based on the penetrations from their guards and with that, Minnesota will simply have to pack the paint and contest Charlotte's shots at the rim. The Bobcats's transitions has been their key on offense, but Minnesota has been showing good effort on this shorthanded version and they have been recovering well on defense, while allowing just 13, 14, 8 and 6 fast break points on their last four games. I believe that this game will be a competitive one and when the fourth quarter comes, both teams will slow down the pace and this will be an offensive disaster for both teams, as they just can't attack on half court. The first game between these two teams earlier on the season ended with a Bobcats win by 89-87 and I wouldn't be surprised if the score of today's game is similar to this one. Therefore, I'll be taking the Under in here in a Double Dime Play!
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