Timberwolves at Kings
The Minnesota Timberwolves and the Sacramento Kings both brought in new head coaches with strong defensive resumes designed to coax talented rosters into some discipline. That process is ongoing, and both teams will get an early look at which is improving faster when the Kings host the Timberwolves on Saturday.
Tom Thibodeau was arguably the most sought-after free-agent coach on the market but he could not stop his young squad from squandering a 17-point first-quarter lead and a four-point lead down the stretch in a 102-98 loss at Memphis in his debut on Wednesday. "I like the way we started the game, and I thought we lost our discipline in covering the (3-point) line," Thibodeau told reporters. "... We put them to the line. The free throws hurt us in the third quarter, and then the rebounds got us down the stretch. We’ve got a lot of work to do." Sacramento began the Dave Joerger era with a convincing 113-94 win at Phoenix on Wednesday but faded down the stretch in the opening of its new arena the next night. The Kings took a four-point lead into the half against the San Antonio Spurs but were outscored 23-14 in the third quarter and ended up with a 102-94 setback.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, NBATV, FSN North (Minnesota), CSN California (Sacramento)
ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (0-1): Thibodeau frequently drew criticism when he was the coach of the Chicago Bulls for playing his starters heavy minutes, and he showed no sign of doing anything different in Minnesota on Wednesday as all five starters logged at least 33 minutes. Andrew Wiggins led the way with 25 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 21 but pulled down only four rebounds. "We got to learn from these games," Towns told reporters. "Early on we felt like we had our swagger through the roof and this humbles us."
ABOUT THE KINGS (1-1): The Sacramento fans that showed up to the opening of the new arena were treated to a strong performance from DeMarcus Cousins, who tallied 37 points and 16 rebounds. Cousins' effort on the defensive end will be a key to the Kings success in Joerger's system, and he and Kosta Koufos combined to hold the San Antonio starting frontcourt of LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol to 8-of-20 from the floor on Thursday. Sacramento could use more production from the starting backcourt of Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo, neither of whom reached double figures in scoring in the first two games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Timberwolves rookie PG Kris Dunn scored eight points on 4-of-6 shooting over 15 minutes in his NBA debut.
2. The Kings are 12-of-41 from 3-point range through the first two games.
3. Minnesota took each of the four meetings last season.