Sunday night basketball gives us the Chicago Bulls taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center in Minneapolis. While the Timberwolves find themselves at the bottom of the standings this game means a lot for their opponents.
The Bulls dropped their last game after reeling off three straight victories. Each win is important as they look to climb the eastern conference standings with limited opportunities to do so.
Taking care of business against a bad team is very important for obvious reasons. The game has the added storyline of Zach LaVine playing the team that drafted him.
Normally I would say that storyline has lost all importance, but it is a bit more interesting tonight as LaVine is coming off a career-high 50 point performance against the Hawks.
Not only did he drop 35 on his old running mates earlier this season, but he also averages more points against them than any other team in the NBA. In the limited sample size of six games, he has put up 28.7 points per game against the Timberwolves.
Could we see another absurd scoring burst from the all-star guard in this one? It’s not hard to envision it. Regardless, we know what he can do and will do.
He qualifies as a nice honorable mention in terms of key matchups as he faces off with the team that drafted him for just the seventh time in his NBA career. That team is on a very different path than LaVine these days.
They were just sold and are among the worst teams in the league this season. More concerning than being a bottom feeder, though, is being one despite having the level of talent the TImberwolves roster possesses.
That talent makes for some very interesting matchups in this game.