NBA: Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Golden State Warriors Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Minnesota Timberwolves face the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night. The T-Wolves have been playing quite well recently, and this promises a good matchup at Chase Center in San Francisco. For the moment, they hold the seventh spot in the West and are near the playoffs. As for the Warriors, Steve Kerr’s unit did slow down in the recent few events, but is still holding well when looking at the overall picture. Their main goal is to implement Klay Thompson in the rotation again and make him as lethal as he was before the injuries.

Preview

Minnesota Timberwolves (24-23, +170) are 7-3 in the last ten contests and have four triumphs over the recent five. Among others, they beat the Warriors and the Nets in Minneapolis and are now eager to prove themselves on the road. The Wolves made a very good intro for the upcoming matchup, beating the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center, 109-107.

Anthony Edwards once again showed his massive potential dropping 40 points, and indicating that he might be the best attacker in the entire new generation of superstars. Even better than Ja Morant. The former No.1 pick dropped 14 buckets in the last period, and also had nine boards and three steals.

Karl-Anthony Towns scored only 17 buckets but had monstrous 17 boards as well, while D’Angelo Russell ended the game with 22 points and had four assists. With Jarred Vanderbilt, who had 13 points and 13 boards, these three guys were the only ones with a notable offensive impact on the game.

Golden State Warriors (35-13, -210) are slowly getting out of the crisis and have three wins in a row. Since coming back home after an exhausting tour throughout the USA, GSW posted four wins and one defeat. The most recent triumph was against the Dallas Mavericks, 130-92.

The Warriors were much better than Luka and the company, leading 39 points in one moment. They dominated on the glass, having 58 boards, 20 more than the rivals, and also made 17 threes. Klay had a solid game with 15 points and six assists, while Steph scored 18, adding nine boards and seven assists as well.

The top scorer in GSW was the rookie Jonathan Kuminga with 22 points; Jordan Poole added 17 off the bench while Andrew Wiggins and Otto Porter Jr had 14 and 12, respectively. The only guy with a double-double among the hosts was Nemanja Bjelica with 10 points and rebounds.

Head to Head Games

This is already the third meeting between the T-Wolves and the Warriors this season. The first was in San Francisco, and the hosts won, 123-110. The most recent one, 10 days ago, occurred in Minneapolis, where Timberwolves sliced the conference rivals, 119-99.

Prediction

The line for the total number of points is set at 228, and betting on over is much safer for us than going with the Warriors’ win. We are aware that the hosts are favorites, especially at Chase Center, but still, the T-Wolves are playing well, and they have players able to compete with the GSW’s stars. So we wouldn’t go into predicting the winner or anything like that.

Pick: Over 228 points