1/8 PREGAME: Timberwolves Take On James, Love and the Cavaliers

The Minnesota Timberwolves and Cleveland Cavaliers play Monday night at the Target Center. They have more in common than one might think.

Between the return of Kevin Love, the LeBron James-Jimmy Butler matchup, the friendship between former teammates in Butler and Dwyane Wade, and some general statistical similarities, this is a game with more connections than what initially meets the eye.

The Cavaliers – who have featured James and Love as teammates since the 2014-15 season – come into this season with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference, but are just getting back one of their All-Stars in Isaiah Thomas.

They are a team that, because of the reputation of James, are expected to turn it on come playoff time.

But even with that expectation, the Cavaliers are far from a perfect team. In fact, when looking at them in comparison to the Timberwolves, they aren't that far off from each other.

When looking at this, a few things pop out:

1. The Timberwolves have jumped to 20th in defensive rating, and the Cavaliers have stayed towards the bottom. While the Timberwolves continue to improve on that end, the Cavaliers continue to struggle. Bringing back Thomas – a plus player overall but a minus defender – has its upsides and downsides.

Still, the challenge defensively is just as tough for the Wolves.

"I love this challenge," Butler said at Monday's shootaround. "I'll be locked in."

2. The Timberwolves are not the young team some make them out to be.

"Young team?" James asked at Monday morning's shootaround. "They're not young anymore."

James went on to give the Timberwolves credit for the improvements they've made this season.

"They've got a good chance to be one of the better teams in the West, especially with Thibs," he said. "Obviously I've had my battles with Thibs over the years."

James isn't wrong. He took out Thibodeau's Bulls three different times – twice with the Heat, once with the Cavaliers.

But he didn't win a title in Cleveland until Kevin Love showed up.

Love, who initially struggled – relatively speaking – after his trade from Minnesota to Cleveland, is enjoying perhaps his best season as a Cavalier.

He's shooting a career-best in 3-point percentage, is near it in field goal percentage, all while transitioning to full-time starting center.

"Playing the 5 is obviously different," Love said. "I played power forward 90-plus percent of the time in my career."

The Wolves' starting center, Karl-Anthony Towns, draws a lot of statistical comparison to Love – especially when Love was a Timberwolf.

[caption id=attachment_24520" align="alignnone" width="640] Stats from Basketball-Reference.com[/caption]

Despite several similar facets of their game – the 3-point shooting, the rebounding, the intensity inside, and the gradual improvement percentage-wise, Towns thinks the stats don't line up with his personal eye test.

"I think we're two different players," Towns said. "I think there are some similarities, but I think we're two totally different players."

This will be the second of a five-game homestand. It will be the first opportunity for the Wolves to notch a victory against a team in the Eastern Conference playoff picture that isn't the Miami Heat.

It will be a tough place to start, but the stats suggest it's very doable.

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