Andrew Wiggins
Well-rested Wolves square off with Luka Doncic
Andrew Wiggins

Well-rested Wolves square off with Luka Doncic

Published Dec. 4, 2019 4:00 p.m. ET

Minnesota Timberwolves teammates Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins have been one of the NBA's most effective scoring duos this season.

Towns is averaging 25.9 points per game, while a resurgent Wiggins is averaging 24.8 for a combined 50.7 PPG. Only two tandems are averaging more points this season.








































Team Player 1 (PPG) Player 2 (PPG) Combined PPG
HOU James Harden (39.5) Russell Westbrook (21.9) 61.4
LAL Anthony Davis (26.1) LeBron James (25.6) 51.7
MIN Karl-Anthony Towns (25.9) Andrew Wiggins (24.8) 50.7
BKN Kyrie Irving (28.5) Spencer Dinwiddie (20.7) 49.2
POR Damian Lillard (26.7) CJ McCollum (21.9) 48.6



The well-rested duo -- the Wolves haven't played since Sunday -- faces a major test Wednesday in Dallas: Red-hot Mavericks star Luka Doncic.

The second-year guard is averaging 30.7 points per game on 48.4% shooting with 10.3 rebounds, 9.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game this season. He averaged 21.2 points per game as a rookie. It's the league's largest year-to-year increase in scoring output this season.

Doncic went off for 33 points and a season-high 18 rebounds in the Mavericks' blowout win over the Pelicans on Tuesday, but there's a silver lining there for the Wolves: Dallas has struggled recently in back-to-backs.

Dallas fell to the Knicks then beat the Grizzlies in their first such set of the season -- Doncic had 24 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists against Memphis -- but is just 3-12 in the second game of back-to-back sets since the beginning of last season. That's tied for the second-worst such winning percentage in the NBA over that span.

Meanwhile, the 10-9 Wolves are off to one of the best road starts in franchise history. Minnesota is 7-2 away from Target Center this season. They're just the second Wolves team (2004-05) to win seven of their first 10 road games.

Towns and Wiggins have been getting some welcome help from second-year forward Keita Bates-Diop. Called up from the G League in mid-November, Bates-Diop has played major minutes over the Wolves' last four games. He's averaging 27.9 minutes per game over his last four, posting 15.3 points per game on 57.1% shooting, including a career-high 22 points during the Wolves' loss to the Suns on Nov. 23.

Statistics via Sportradar











ADVERTISEMENT
share


Andrew Wiggins
Get more from Andrew Wiggins Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more