Minnesota Timberwolves: The Wiggins and LaVine Show
Feb 13, 2015; New York, NY, USA; World Team guard Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves (22) talks to World Team center Gorgui Dieng of the Minnesota Timberwolves (5, center) and U.S. Team guard Zach LaVine of the Minnesota Timberwolves (8, right) after the game at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
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Last night’s NBA Rising Stars Challenge featured four Minnesota Timberwolves, and two of the young Wolves largely stole the show.
Soon-to-be Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. He scored 22 points for the World team, which tied for the most in the game. He scored in a lot of different ways, but a lot of his points came via dunks. He had a 360 dunk when he was alone in front of the pack and another where he drove the baseline and slammed it through hard. The best one though was here, when he was on the receiving end of an alley-oop:
If I could be given one skill that I could only have for a day, I think I would pick being able to dunk a basketball like that. Obviously there was not much resistance on the defensive end last night, but being able to fly through the air at a 45 degree angle, make the catch and flush it like that is absurd. That play should be another in a long line of career highlights for Andrew Wiggins.
Wiggins was not the only Wolf with highlights last night. In fact, Zach LaVine also scored 22 points for the U.S. team. He hit a few jumpers and was one of the best players of the night. He also had one of the best plays of the night:
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It looks like he is more than ready for tonight’s dunk contest. I saw someone on Twitter drop an historic #WellActually about that play, dogging LaVine because he technically double dribbled by touching the ball with both hands at the same time. Despite what that wet blanket had to say, it was a phenomenal display of his outrageous athleticism. Tonight should be a lot of fun. The line-up is full of good dunkers but Zach Lavine seems like he was created in a laboratory to win the dunk contest. He has to be the prohibitive favorite.
Last night was fun for the Wolves and their fans. Gorgui Dieng had a block and a nice dunk, and Shabazz Muhammad scored 10 points and had a monster tomahawk throw down in the first half. I think it’s cool that they do this game. In what has been a difficult year for the Wolves, their best up and coming players got to shine on the national stage.
Tonight, LaVine gets another opportunity to put his stamp on All-Star Weekend. I don’t know what he has in store, but I can’t wait to find out.