The New York Knicks are at risk of losing their ninth of ten games while the Minnesota Timberwolves are simply happy to have enough players to field a roster as injuries begin to take their toll on the team. The Timberwolves are coming off a bad road trip losing five of six games with a four-game homestand and are hoping to take advantage of a slumping New York team which might be hard to do considering the amount of injuries on the team.
The injury list is long for Minnesota. Ricky Rubio is out with a bad ankle injury. Nikola Pekovic has an injured wrist. Ronny Turiaf is dealing with hip issues. Thaddeus Young is out following the death of his month. Rubio is benched indefinitely while Pekovic and Turiaf are day-to-day. With several players out, Kevin Martin is leading the offensive charge with 18.4 points per game. Against the Dallas Mavericks, he went on to score 34 points after totaling just 23 in the three previous games.
Newly acquired Anthony Bennett has replaced Young in the starting lineup. He put up 10 points and seven rebounds against Dallas. Gorgui Dieng took over for Pekovic while averaging 8.0 points and 6.9 boards. The team has some momentum despite the injuries and sitting at 2-7 on the year.
New York is not playing well and they are likely tired preparing to play their third game in four days. The Knicks are fresh off a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, trailing by as many as 26 at one point. The defense continues to be an issue as opponents are averaging 101.9 points in the past seven games. Carmelo Anthony is of course the lone bright spot, averaging 33.3 points on 63.2 percent shooting. However, he aggravated a knee injury in that game which could hold him back on Wednesday. Iman Shumpert is also dealing with injuries while Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani are expected to return shortly.
