Wolves' Wiggins leaves his mark against Cavs
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Andrew Wiggins averages over 27 points per game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Minnesota Timberwolves guard Andrew Wiggins averages over 27 points per game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Minnesota Timberwolves' Andrew Wiggins is on a 13-games streak of scoring 20 or more points, which happens to be the third-longest active streak in the NBA.
Based on history, expect it to reach 14.
Minnesota plays Cleveland on Tuesday. The Cavaliers happen to be the team which drafted Wiggins No. 1 overall in the 2014 NBA Draft and subsequently dealt him to the Wolves.
Wiggins has faced his former team -- well, he did play for the Cavs in the NBA Summer League in '14 -- five times and he's played some of his best basketball in each.
In all five matchups Wiggins has scored 20 or more points, with an average of 27.6. Twice he's scored over 30 points -- 33 on Jan. 31, 2015 and 35 on Jan. 8, 2016. Those two games represent two of Wiggins' top-seven scoring games as a pro.
Not only has Wiggins put up the points against Cleveland, but he's done it in an efficient manner. In each of those five games, the third-year small forward has made at least half of his field-goal attempts. Overall against Cleveland, Wiggins is 51 of 91 (56.0 percent).
Other notes:
-- Karl-Anthony Towns is fourth among active streaks of 20+-point games with 10.
-- Towns has had a double-double in 74.5 percent of his games this season (41 of 55), which is the third-highest percentage in the NBA, behind just Houston's James Harden (77.2) and Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook (75.0).
-- Ricky Rubio has 11 games with 10+ points and 10+ assists, seventh-most in the NBA this season.
-- Minnesota (82.5) and Cleveland (81.8) rank third and fourth in the NBA in points per game by starters.
-- The Wolves are fifth in the NBA in having the highest percentage of rebounds be offensive (26.9 percent).
Statistics courtesy STATS