Game Preview: Knicks vs. Timberwolves-3/20/23

Mar 20, 2023 - 2:10 PM

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Coming off of a huge comeback win against the Nuggets on Saturday, the Knicks take on the Timberwolves at the Mecca Monday night trying to build off of another memorable Garden evening.

The Knicks fought back from down double digits in the third quarter to beat the team with the best record in the west over the weekend and made another statement to the rest of the league. Now they take on a Timberwolves team that has lost three straight, five of their last six and has a ton of injury concerns.

Speaking of the injury front, Minnesota has five players at the time of writing who are listed as doubtful for Monday and all of them would be big absentees. They include Jaylen Nowell, Anthony Edwards, Austin Rivers, Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid. At the moment, the Knicks do not have anyone listed on the injury report.

Of course, we can’t forget about the threat that Karl Anthony-Towns brings to the table in any scenario, but that is a lot of important pieces out for a Timberwolves team who is just trying to hold everything together at the moment.

Going into the game, the T-Wolves are just a half game in front for one of the last play-in spots in the west. It is not a good time to be struggling with injuries and Minnesota is trying to make sure it doesn’t lead to an early end to their season.

For the Knicks, Jalen Brunson came back to the lineup with a roar against Denver and helped to lead the comeback charge over the weekend with 24 points and five assists. Now the Knicks have their sights set on the number four seed in the east and a home first round playoff series. They are just two and a half games back of the Cavaliers for that coveted fourth spot.

Prediction

The Knicks beat the Timberwolves back in November by 13 in Minnesota when they were just about fully healthy. In theory, that already bodes very well for them tonight. Mix in the fact that Timberwolves are struggling and missing key pieces, I think the Knicks will act as a buzzsaw at the Garden tonight if they play like they did against Denver in the fourth quarter on Saturday. I’ll take New York to win and complete a season sweep over the Timberwolves just like they did against the Nuggets.

As always, we will have all of the coverage of the game on the website. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. tonight at the World’s Most Famous Arena.