To snap their losing streak, the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to have to handle these 3 Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday

The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Minnesota Timberwolves clash on Sunday.

Despite being one of the better defensive squads on paper, the Minnesota Timberwolves are struggling to keep opponents from scoring on them. That is good news as the Cleveland Cavaliers are looking for a “get right” game and that may come against the Timberwolves. The Cavs are riding a three-game losing streak and are currently 8-4 on the season. The Timberwolves are 1-6 in their last seven and on their own three-game skid.

One of these teams has to win on Sunday, that’s just science.

Yet, for the Cavaliers to do so, they’re going to have to attack Deangelo Russell on defense and offense and cut off the passing lanes. Russell is struggling badly this year, and the Cavs can capitalize on that.

The last thing they want to do is challenge Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert constantly, as the T-Wolves have one of the better front-court duos in the league. Sure, they’re big and lumbering, so they’re preventing guys from getting to the basket on offense, but they’re also keeping guys from the hoop on defense as well.

So are guys like Russell, Anthony Edwards, and others on this list of players to gameplan for?

Three Minnesota Timberwolves that can send the Cleveland Cavaliers to four-straight losses

Karl Anthony-Towns

Karl Anthony-Towns is still the best player on the team, and the versatile big-man could really hurt the Cavs with his shot. He can draw out defenders from the pain and nail shots from mid-range, meaning the Cavs big men can’t just sit in the paint and wait for Anthony-Towns to test them inside. They’ll have to be as active as he is.

Rudy Gobert

Getting on the Cavs nerves when you’re playing them is the key to victory. Make them shoot shots they don’t want, limit passing and make their lives hell. Those are things Rudy Gobert can do in his sleep. He’s one of the best defensive players on the team and the Cavs have to account for that. This will be a tough matchup for Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley on both ends of the court.

Kyle Anderson

This may seem shocking, to see Kyle Anderson and not Anthony Edwards here, but let me explain. Edwards is a skilled shooter, but he’s not shooting his best shots and has a -2.0 BPM, which includes the offensive side of the ball. Clearly, Edwards’s per-game stats aren’t the whole story and he’s not as efficient as he could be. Kyle Anderson, however, is the swiss army knife of their bench group. Anderson is a great defender who can score when given the chance. We know Edwards is going to try to go for 20, but that’s all he’s going to do, Anderson is going to play some dynamic ball, including on defense.