Defending NBA champion Cleveland makes its only visit this season to Target Center on Tuesday, just two weeks after the teams last played at the Q.
Kevin Love will miss this game, too. He didn’t play in the Cavs’ 125-97 victory over the Wolves on Feb. 1 because of back spasms and has been ruled out for Tuesday because of a knee injury that could keep out through this weekend’s All-Star Game in New Orleans and maybe beyond. He’s reportedly getting a second opinion on his knee pain on Tuesday.
“I would have loved to have played against him,” former teammate Ricky Rubio said after practice Monday. “And see him with this crowd where he played six years and played great and see how everybody loved him here. He’s going to be missed.”
The Cavaliers have added former Wolves No. 2 overall pick Derrick Williams to a 10-day contract since the two teams last played and LeBron James wants the team to sign him long-term.
The Wolves have added Lance Stephenson to a 10-day contract themselves and Stephenson is a guy who well knows James. While with Indiana, he played James and Miami three consecutive years in the playoffs.
“He’s tough to guard,” Stephenson said. “You just have to stay solid, play tough.”
Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau praised Stephenson’s defensive versatility when the team signed him last week and he has had Stephenson defend point guards in his first three games with the team.
Asked if he’s strong enough to defend a 260-pound “small forward” like James, too, Thibodeau said this:
“I don’t know if anyone’s strong enough,” Thibodeau said.
But he indicated that, given Stephenson experience in the league and against James, he’ll get a chance.
Stephenson has a history with James beyond just those three playoffs series, for anyone who remembers the chock gesture Stephenson flashed at him from the bench way back during the 2012 playoffs and the time Stephenson blew in James’ ear two years later.
Asked about that gamemanship long ago, Stephenson after Monday’s practice said, “Oh, man, that’s what, four years ago? I’m a different person now.”
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