Pistons vs Timberwolves preview: Towns, Wiggins will put Pistons’ defense to the test

Things don’t get any easier for Andre Drummond and the rest of the Detroit Pistons. After generational talent Joel Embiid left his mark on Little Caesars Arena two days ago, generational talent Karl-Anthony Towns and a handful of new Timberwolves pay a visit to Detroit (I’m not sure if the label “generational talent” is allowed multiple times in same decade but there is no shortage of scary, still developing big dudes in the league).

Game Vitals

When: October 25th at 7p.m. EST
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI
Watch: Fox Sports Detroit / League Pass

Analysis

At 2-2, Minnesota is off to a bit of slow start and could easily be 0-4 with a few redirected bounces. Arguably, the ever-so-early Play of the Year belongs to Andrew Wiggins as his game winner in Oklahoma City came just after Carmelo Anthony put the Thunder up one with just under five seconds remaining:

Helluva play.

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Tonight’s tip-off will be the second night of a back-to-back for the Timberwolves as they were ran off the court by the Indiana Pacers last night, 130-107. Playing without defensive stalwart Jimmy Butler due to illness, Minnesota was outscored (a well known ugly trait) by 14 in the third quarter and allowed the Pacers to shoot 66-percent for the entire game. I’m sure Tom Thibodeau had no trouble falling asleep.

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Karl-Anthony Towns does most of his damage in and around the basket via post up or as the roll man on a pick-and-roll. He will, however, step outside the paint and is capable of hitting shots beyond the arc which will force Andre Drummond drift out of his cozy comfort zone.

The best Andrew Wiggins is an aggressive Andrew Wiggins. While he’s an improving three-point shooter, the Pistons are best served keeping him out of the paint as much as possible.

Basically, we want this:

And not this:

Defensively, he’s still a space cadet until consistently proven otherwise.

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Projected Lineups

Minnesota

Jeff Teague, Shabazz Muhammad, Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Taj Gibson

Detroit

Reggie Jackson, Avery Bradley, Andre Drummond, Stanley Johnson, Tobias Harris

Stay tuned to the GameThread for the latest injury report.

Prediction

The Pistons have never lost two in a row at LCA and I don’t see that changing tonight.

Timberwolves 100, Pistons 104

Full disclosure - My entire life I thought it was Karl Anthony-Towns and not Karl-Anthony Towns until about five minutes ago.

Also, the change to a 7 p.m. tip-off might be one of the top ten things to ever happen to me.