Atlanta Hawks Play Minnesota Timberwolves Tonight

The Atlanta Hawks, fresh off their 10th win of the season, look to avenge an earlier loss when they take on the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center.

The Atlanta Hawks (10-6) will play the second of two annual games with their Western Conference foe in the Minnesota Timberwolves (6-8). Atlanta lost their previous meeting with the Wolves at the Highlight Factory by ten points. However, what Hawks fans will fondly remember about that game was how the team came back from being down by 30 points to at least tie Minnesota in the fourth quarter.

Minnesota’s youthfulness and obvious athleticism won’t scare the Atlanta Hawks tonight, as HC Mike Budenholzer seems to know what Timberwolves HC Sam Mitchell will want to do with his young, but exciting basketball team.

Though Atlanta will play a back-to-back when they take on the Wolves at the Target Center tonight at 8 PM ET, Minnesota is thus far a lousy home team (1-6). Oddly enough, the Timberwolves are a superior team away from the Twin Cities (5-2). From the looks of it, it seems as though Minnesota will stay relevant in the Western Conference Playoffs race this season, as they are only half a game back of their division rival Utah Jazz (6-7) for the eight-seed in the West.

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For the Atlanta Hawks to come away with a road victory in Minneapolis tonight, they will need to do three things well to contain the upstart Minnesota Timberwolves:

1. Remain aggressive on the offensive glass. Atlanta looked fantastic rebounding last night versus a physical Boston Celtics team at home on Deke Night.

2. Force the Timberwolves into making consistently costly turnovers. It worked wonderfully when Atlanta attempted to pull off a comeback for the ages back in Philips Arena a few weeks ago.

3. Contain SG Kevin Martin on the outside. Martin has an unorthodox, but deadly stroke from the outside. He’s an interesting piece that Mitchell has to work with. I think he sticks in Minnesota for the foreseeable future.

Atlanta benefits from having PG Jeff Teague back in the lineup. The Hawks are at their best when Teague is playing at a high level. It appears that starting SF Kent Bazemore‘s ankle injury is only going to keep him out for a matter of days now. Could he return tonight versus the Timberwolves?

If not, Thabo Sefolosha looks fully healed out on the wing and can start at the three if need be. He played arguably one of his best basketball games in Atlanta Hawks’ uniform last night. Wing depth is a crucial element to the Hawks’ overall success this season and HC Mike Budenholzer believes that a lot is riding on Tim Hardaway Jr., Justin Holiday, and Lamar Patterson‘s collective development out on the wing.

Tiago Splitter did not play last night do to a hip injury. I doubt that he will play at the Target Center tonight, as hip injuries with 7-footers aren’t good in any capacity. Does this mean more of Mike Muscala and Walter Tavares? Potentially, as playing a young team in the Minnesota Timberwolves seems to make sense to play young players in the Atlanta front court.

Next: Atlanta Hawks Crush Boston Celtics, 121-97

The Atlanta Hawks will have Thanksgiving off, as do all 30 teams in the National Basketball Association. Atlanta will travel to face the Grit N’ Grind Memphis Grizzlies Friday night at 8 PM ET at the FedEx Forum. Though Memphis has not come as strong out of the gate as originally expected, let’s hope that the Atlanta Hawks aren’t dealing with any of the lingering effects of tryptophan (i.e., too much turkey) when they have to play arguably the most physical team in the NBA of the last five years. Let’s Go Hawks!

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