Double trouble: Timberwolves' Wiggins, Towns adding to streak
Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns have been double trouble for opponents of the Minnesota Timberwolves lately.
Both players have been lighting up the scoreboard, with Wiggins owning a streak of 18 consecutive games with 20 or more points and Towns doing the same in 15 straight games.
You might think this is because of Zach LaVine's season-ending injury, but Wiggins' streak actually began eight games before LaVine went down.
Wiggins and Towns own the longest active 20-plus-point streaks in the NBA, with Kyrie Irving next at nine games.
Since the 2011-12 season, Wiggins is tied for the 17th-longest such streak. With another 20-plus-point effort Wednesday against Utah, he'll move into a tie for 14th with Kevin Durant (Jan. 6-Feb. 9, 2012). The players with 20 or more games with 20-plus points reads like a who's who of NBA scorers: Durant, Isaiah Thomas, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Blake Griffin, James Harden, Russell Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan.
During his streak, Wiggins is averaging 27.7 points per game while shooting 50.3 percent from the field (and 37.3 percent on his 3-point attempts). He has had five games of 30-plus points, including back-to-back games with 41 and 40.
In addition to his streak of 20 or more points, Towns also has had seven or more rebounds in each of those contests. He can become the first player to have 20-plus points and 7-plus rebounds in 16 consecutive games since Minnesota's own Kevin Garnett in 2003.
By the way, in Towns' 15-game streak he is averaging 28.9 points -- with five games of 30 or more points -- and 13.0 rebounds while shooting 58.7 percent from the field.
Double trouble, indeed.
Other notes:
-- In those 18 games during Wiggins' streak, Minnesota is 10-8 and the Wolves are 5-3 in their last eight. However, Minnesota has lost its last five games to the Jazz.
-- Ricky Rubio averaged 10.5 assists per game in February, third best in the NBA (minimum five games). He has 13 point/assist double-doubles this season, with six of them coming last month.
-- Minnesota's team field-goal percentage has increased with each month this season: .446 in November, .464 in December, .474 in January, and .483 in February (fourth best in NBA).
-- Over the last three seasons (2014-15 and since), the Jazz have a better record in the second of back-to-back games (28-22 .560) than in all other situations (87-87 .500).
-- Minnesota's team field-goal percentage has increased with each month this season: .446 in November, .464 in December, .474 in January, and .483 in February (fourth best in NBA).
Statistics courtesy STATS and basketball-reference.com
