Tag Archives: D

5 things we learned from the Timberwolves’ win over the Lakers

The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night and there were more clues to how this team will look this year.

With another monster night from Rudy Gobert and a big second half from Anthony Edwards, here are five things that we learned in the win over the Lakers.

Rudy Gobert is worth the price of admission

Gobert had another big night for the Timberwolves, putting up 22 points and pulling down 21 rebounds. The seven-footer was particularly effective on the offensive end, pulling down eight offensive boards – including one on an Edwards miss with 57.6 seconds to go that put the Wolves ahead 107-99.

Gobert’s presence also caused problems while Anthony Davis sat out with lower back tightness, holding the Lakers to 41.6 percent shooting over the course of the game.

There are moments where the Timberwolves appear to be forcing looks on Gobert offensively, but that’s a work in progress. After six games, Gobert is averaging 15.0 points and 15.2 rebounds, which is helping the Timberwolves so far.

KAT is settling in at the four

It hasn’t been an easy ride for Karl-Anthony Towns to adjust to playing beside Gobert but Friday was a step in the right direction.

Towns went off in the fourth quarter, scoring 14 of his 21 points in the final frame while shooting 6-for-9 with two 3-pointers. Towns also finished with eight rebounds and seven assists while backing his transition to power forward after the game.

“I don’t got no ego in this. I just want to win,” Towns said. “I’ve said that since Day 1. People question it, and I don’t know why. I think I’ve proved it in my actions and the way my career has played out so far. I’ve always put this team and this organization first, even when it wasn’t the cool thing.”

Gobert also praised Towns’ willingness to make the switch work, which could be a benefit as the two get comfortable in the Timberwolves’ new offense.

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Anthony Edwards is on a mission this season

The first half didn’t go well for Edwards but the second half was a continuation of his hot start to the season.

Edwards scored 23 of his 29 points in the second half and missed a free throw in the final seconds that would have given him his fourth 30-point game of the season.

Through six games, Edwards is averaging a career-high 23.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists. He’s also shooting 47 percent from the floor while knocking down 35.3 percent of 3-pointers.

If Edwards continues to play like this, it could be a breakout season for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.

The pick-and-roll game needs work

While Towns, Edwards and Gobert all had solid nights, the same can’t be said for D’Angelo Russell.

The Timberwolves point guard shot just 4-for-15 on the night and 2-for-7 from 3-point range. Although he found other ways to get on the scoresheet with seven assists and six steals, there is more to be expected from his offensive game, which left him with just 11 points on the night.

One reason could be the Timberwolves’ ironing out the kinks on offense, where Russell needs to find the pick-and-roll game he had with Jarret Allen during his time in Brooklyn. We’re six games into the season, so we can assume Russell will get comfortable with Gobert in due time and eventually start performing better offensively.

The Lakers are as bad as advertised

Sometimes the national media can blow things out of proportion but Friday’s game made it perfectly clear: the Lakers are a bad team.

LeBron James scored 28 points with seven rebounds and five assists, but his supporting cast is crumbling at the seams. Russell Westbrook came off the bench and shot just 6-for-17 from the field and as we mentioned earlier, Davis missed Friday’s game as he continues to battle injuries.

This is all good news for the Timberwolves, who are looking to move into the upper tier of Western Conference contenders, but as for right now, the Lakers don’t appear to be a team they have to worry about.



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Peloton, Nvidia, Airbnb, Expedia: What to Watch in the Stock Market Today

Futures ticked higher after jobs figures showed that hiring picked up in October and the unemployment rate fell. Here’s what we’re watching ahead of Friday’s opening bell:

  • Peloton Interactive shares went off the wheels, plunging 34% premarket. The maker of connected fitness equipment reported its smallest quarterly gain in subscriber growth since it became a public company two years ago, and said that fewer people are joining its online workouts.
  • Airbnb gained 5% ahead of the bell. The home-sharing company posted record revenue in the third quarter, punctuating its rebound from the collapse in bookings during the early days of the pandemic.
  • Nvidia added 2.1% premarket. Wells Fargo on Thursday lifted its price target for the stock, and it notched its best one-day performance in 19 months.
  • Pfizer shares climbed 12% after the drugmaker said a preliminary look at study results indicated that its experimental pill was highly effective at preventing people at high risk of severe Covid-19 from needing hospitalization or dying.
  • Expedia jumped 14% after the online travel agency turned a profit for the third quarter, driven by the performance of its Vrbo business, domestic travel and improvements across its lines of business.
  • Square dropped 3.9%. The payments firm reported weaker-than-expected revenue as it brought in far lower revenue from cryptocurrency bitcoin than what analysts were expecting.
  • GoPro rose 11%. The camera maker easily exceeded expectations for its most recent quarter and expressed confidence in its ability to hit its full-year targets.
  • DraftKings shares fell 6.1% after the online-betting company posted third-quarter revenue growth that fell short of analysts’ expectations and turned in a steeper net loss than had been anticipated.
  • Goodyear Tire & Rubber  and  Dominion Energy  are due to report earnings before the opening bell.
  • Yelp climbed 5.9% off hours. The online-reviews site reported record-tying quarterly revenue and earnings that blew past Street estimates.
  • American Homes 4 Rent slipped 0.9% off hours. The home-rental company reported better-than-expected results in the latest quarter as the demand for single-family home rentals remained strong.
  • Boeing added 2.4%. Current and former directors have reached an approximately $225 million agreement to settle a shareholder lawsuit that claimed the plane maker’s board failed to properly oversee safety matters related to the 737 MAX.
Chart of the Day
  • Investors have jolted government bond markets in the past month as they reassess what will happen to the basic cost of money that underpins the financial system. But other markets don’t seem to care.

Write to James Willhite at james.willhite@wsj.com

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Disney, HubSpot, Cloudflare, Coherent: What to Watch When the Stock Market Opens Today

Here’s what we’re watching ahead of Friday’s trading action.

U.S. stock futures edged lower Friday, putting the S&P 500 on track to end the week with muted gains after notching its ninth record closing high for 2021.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, pointing to a drop after the opening bell. Contracts linked to the Nasdaq-100 Index edged down 0.3%, suggesting that technology stocks may also slip. Read our full market wrap.

What’s Coming Up

The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index for the opening weeks of February, due at 10 a.m. ET, is expected to inch up to 80.8 from 79.0 at the end of January.

Market Movers to Watch

—All hail Baby Yoda. Walt Disney  shares were up 0.9% ahead of the bell after the entertainment giant reported a first-quarter profit, as its flagship streaming service, Disney+, added more than 21 million new subscribers during the period. But the pandemic continued to zap results in the company’s movie-distribution and theme-park segments.

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