Things are finally warming up around the Atlanta metro area Saturday and, to a lesser extent, a slow thawing is underway for the Minnesota Timberwolves, tonight’s opponent for the Atlanta Hawks (7:30 PM SportSouth, Fox Sports North). The T-Wolves had won five of their last six before a disappointing loss at home last night to the Memphis Grizzlies. Victorious in just one of their last 13 games against the Hawks, Minny will try today to snap Atlanta’s 10-game home winning streak head-to-head.

Despite being one of the league’s highest scoring teams (105.8 PPG, 4^th in NBA), the Wolves (23-23) have been taking two steps forward, one or two steps back all season, bickering internally along the way. Stuck in the hyper-competitive Western Conference, they are in a dogfight with the Grizzlies and Denver, hoping to be in prime position in the event one of the bottom-half of the West’s Top 8 falters. The team continues to struggle to keep key contributors healthy, a factor which will be evident in tonight’s game.

Love hurts! Hulking center Nikola Pekovic is out for at least a week to deal with bursitis in his ankle. Ronny Turiaf, who just returned this month from a fractured elbow, has been starting in Pekovic’s place alongside All-Star double-double machine Kevin Love (25.1 PPG, 4^th in NBA; 13.0 RPG, 2^nd in NBA).

Now, Love is struggling to deal with a sore ankle, suffered in the first half of last night’s game. He finished with 28 points and 16 boards, but was visibly and admittedly struggling after the game with discomfort. Reserve forward Chase Budinger recently returned from a surgically repaired knee, but is still working his way back into the rotation.

Even with four perfectly functional ankles, Love and Pekovic (18.0 PPG; 4.1 Offensive RPG, 3^rd in NBA) have been unable to stop opponents from dominating on one end of the floor the way they do on the other. The Wolves give up 18.6 buckets per game on shots within 5 feet of the rim, with opponents shooting a league-high 65.1 FG%. Whether Love can go or not, Paul Millsap and the Hawks must continue to find ways to pile up points in the paint. Minnesota scores 47.0 points in the paint (5^th most in NBA), usually with Love and Pekovic together, but give up just about as many (45.8 opponent PPG in the paint, 5^th most in NBA).

Love is a battlefield. When he is not keeping his team in games with three-point shots (career-high 2.3 3FG per game), Love is masterful with his ability to create leverage under the basket for offensive rebounds. The Hawks will need forwards to be extra-protective around the basket, not only for Love, but for Turiaf and rookie Gorgui Dieng, each of whom have offensive rebounding percentages that exceed Love’s. One-and-done offense neutralizes the Wolves team that ranks 25^th in both field goal percentage and three-point shooting percentage.

Love kills, at times on the other end of the floor. He has become the most proficient player in the league with outlet passes off of defensive rebounds, boosting his passing average to a career-high 4.1 APG. If Love plays tonight, DeMarre Carroll will have to stay back and do his best Richard Sherman impersonation by disrupting outlet passes to the opposite end.

Eager to reach the postseason for the first time since 2004, Minnesota is sobering to the realization that some of their young pups are not gonna make it after all. The patience wore thin for 2011 second-overall draft pick Derrick Williams, their fourth-leading scorer last season who seemed to regress in the first month of the season. Desperate for greater defensive presence at the wing, Flip Saunders shipped D-Won’t to Sacramento in exchange for the remains of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Once-hyped lotto pick Shabazz Muhammad (3.9 minutes per game. 26.1 FG%) has barely seen the floor.

Head Coach Rick Adelman does appear to be resigned to the understanding that it’s WYSIWYG with wunderkind Ricky Rubio. He remains perhaps the most electric passer in the game (8.2 APG, 5^th in NBA), and roves the halfcourt enough to lead the league in steals (2.6 SPG). Yet he also remains perhaps the least-effective shooter in the league, his 39.2 effective field goal percentage the lowest by far among active NBA players getting 25 or more minutes.

The long-armed point guard has not improved significantly as a man defender, either, although his +11.9 on/off per 100 possessions comes on the strength of his cross-court pass pickoffs. Last night, Rubio was benched in the final quarter in favor of J.J. Barea, with Adelman ominously suggesting the latter was the “best option to win.” Now in his 23^rd season, Adelman looks the part of a man leaning toward retiring rather than hanging around to see things through with Minnesota’s core.

The Wolves create advantages on the scoreboard by striving to keep opponents off of the free throw line. They make 20.7 freebies per game (3^rd most in NBA), while allowing just 18.3 attempts on average (fewest in NBA). Without Love or Pekovic, Adelman will lean heavily on his top summer acquisition, Kevin Martin (19.1 PPG, 42.8 FG%), to attack the paint and earn whistles from the refs. Martin (88.6 FT%, 4^th in NBA) is a virtuoso in drawing cheap fouls, and should be kept away from the heavy-handed Lou Williams as much as possible. Rubio (85.0 FT%) has no business getting his points from anything other than desperation threes and wild forays into the paint.

Corey Brewer will be primarily charged with chasing around Kyle Korver, who has resumed the top spot in the league for three-point shooting (46.6 3FG%) after a recent swoon by the Spurs’ Marco Belinelli. If necessary, Head Coach Mike Budenholzer has an array of offensive alternatives to Korver. In addition to the red-hot Carroll (62.5 FG% and 63.2 3FG% last five games) and “MoHawk” Mike Scott (16 points in the second quarter of Friday’s convincing win in Philly), Budenholzer has Cartier Martin back at his disposal.

After getting waived by the Hawks a few weeks ago, Martin spent a pair of 10-day spells with the Chicago Bulls, shooting 62.5 FG% and 60.0% on threes in six brief stints. Scott (14.1 PPG, minimum ten points in last ten games) continues working hard to impress in case the Rising Stars coaches need to find an alternate or two before All-Star Weekend.

Go Hawks!

~lw3