The Timberwolves are out of excuses after another loss to the mediocre Warriors

On By Littum

The comeback for the Minnesota Timberwolves was spirited. They threw everything they had at the Golden State Warriors in the final three quarters to crawl out of another deep, dark hole to give themselves a chance to win.

In the end, all that energy and effort was just fool’s gold, lipstick on the pig that was their first quarter performance. It was flat. It was lifeless. It was inexcusable, especially at home, especially on national television, but especially against a mediocre team depleted by injury and illness on Wednesday night.

And yet, these carefree Warriors jumped all over the Timberwolves early in the game, leading 13-0 before the Target Center fans could take their seats after the home team’s first basket. The Warriors were up 34-10 late in the quarter, a stunning combination of Minnesota ineptitude and Golden State desperation that proved enough for Golden State to pull out a 116-115 victory.

“The start was bad. We know we have to get better, but I think it’s about the finish,” said Anthony Edwards, who scored 28 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had five turnovers. “Not moral victories, but we We were down 10 to 32 in the first quarter. You would have thought it would be like (a 26-point loss to) New York, so I’m proud of that.”

Edwards spent seven minutes delving thoughtfully into the game and the state of the team as they approached the halfway point of the season, but grasping for silverware would fall on deaf ears after that one.

This is a game the Wolves needed. They were 4-1 in their last five, showing a little momentum after changing their starting lineup and needing to pick up wins with a killer schedule coming up, starting with back-to-back games in New York on on Friday and at home against Cleveland on Saturday. There are no excuses that can come close to justifying this one.

The Wolves (21-19) were fully healthy, while the Warriors (20-20) played without Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Kyle Anderson and Brandin Podziemski. Golden State started Gui Santos, who has spent much of the season in the G League, at power forward against Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert, who are making a combined $77 million this season.

In his first career start, Santos grabbed seven rebounds and the Warriors won his 21 minutes, 26 seconds by five points. He had never made a 3-pointer in the NBA before hitting one from the corner in the first quarter.

The Wolves are in the middle of a physically demanding part of the schedule, flying every other day and going back and forth without more than one day in the same city. But the Warriors themselves were coming off a long, four-game road trip.

The refs, a frequent target of Minnesota’s ire, couldn’t be blamed this time either. The Warriors were whistled for nine more fouls and the Wolves shot eight more free throws in the game. They shot 20 free throws in the third quarter alone.

Most of all, the Warriors have struggled massively after a hot start. They have gone 5-16 since Nov. 23, with three of those wins coming against the Wolves.

Of course, the Wolves will regret two losses to Portland in November, the loss in Toronto and the home loss to Miami without Jimmy Butler. But if they can’t get their act together in the second half of the season and push themselves into the top six in a crowded Western Conference playoff field, they’ll look back on those three losses to these Warriors with tremendous regret.

“They came out like we should have come out,” said Donte DiVincenzo, who had 28 points, nine assists and six rebounds. “There are no excuses. I just think we have to be better at starting the game. We got it together. We fought and fought back, but we start the game differently, this is a different story.”

Steph Curry scored 12 points in the first quarter, went 4 of 4 from 3-point range and had three assists in 9:25. The entire Wolves team shot 5 of 20, 1 of 8 from 3 and had an assist.

Trayce Jackson-Davis, Golden State’s second-year center, grabbed six rebounds in the first quarter and three on the offensive end. He gave Gobert five inches and four NBA Defensive Player of the Year Awards, but still outscored the Wolves’ big man 15-10.

Nine of Jackson-Davis’ boards came on the offensive end, and the victory was sealed for the Warriors when Gobert couldn’t recover a missed free throw from Gary Payton II that should have given the Wolves the ball and a chance to win the game. That came two games after the Wolves were crushed on the offensive glass against Memphis, giving the Grizzlies 25 extra shots in a two-point loss.

“I think Rudy’s got to get the ball in the air,” coach Chris Finch said. “I think he’s trying to play a hand-to-hand combat game, and he’s getting too tied up to do that.”

Gobert is averaging just 10.5 rebounds per game, his lowest number since his second season in the league. He averaged 12.9 boards last season, which helped him tie the record for DPOY awards, but hasn’t been nearly as efficient this season. The Timberwolves are 22nd in the league in defensive rebounding percentage. They finished ninth last season.

Having Karl-Anthony Towns at power forward in place of Julius Randle certainly helps, but such a precipitous decline is a direct reflection of Gobert’s regression this season.

“I think a lot of times the defensive rebound starts before the shot, when we get out of position and stuff like that,” Gobert said. “Just keep being the way we are defensively and then, on the ball, everybody does a better job and it starts with me.”

Minnesota turned the ball over five times in the quarter and the Warriors scored 12 points off the turnovers. For the game, the turnover-prone Wolves gave up just nine turnovers, but Golden State turned them into 22 points, a ridiculously high conversion rate.

The starting lineup has been a real problem for the Wolves all season until Finch made the switch to put DiVincenzo at point guard and bring Mike Conley off the bench. Minnesota is 4-1 since the change, with starters posting an outstanding plus-17.2 points per game. 100 possessions net rating in 65 minutes together during that stretch. The former starting lineup had a plus-0.2 rating through the first 34 games of the season, so the improvement offered some optimism that a two-year search for an offensive force was starting to show some resolution.

Then came Wednesday night in front of a national audience. They didn’t score until the 7:33 mark of the quarter. They were outrebounded 16-8 despite missing 15 shots. Edwards was 1 of 5 with two turnovers in the quarter. Randle was 1 of 6.

“The starting five, we’re terrible,” Edwards said. “Every game we come out with low energy and the second group comes in and energizes us. I’d say the starting group needs to come out with more energy, like we want to play basketball, like we love the game.”

The Wolves battled back, hit shots and played better defensively in the final three quarters. DiVincenzo in particular was terrific, hitting 6 of 12 3s and crashing the boards with reckless abandon to help his beleaguered frontcourt mates.

Naz Reid converted two free throws to tie the game with 1:07 left. But the problem with falling so far behind in the first quarter is that it leaves zero margin for error the rest of the way. And the Wolves committed some more expensive ones down the stretch.

DiVincenzo fouled Buddy Hield on a 3-point shot with 3:20 left. Edwards just missed the greatest shooter that ever lived with 2:36 left, giving Curry a nice look for a 3 that made it 108-103. And right after Reid’s free throw tied the game, the Warriors put the Wolves defense into action at half court. Reid had the unenviable task of staying in Curry’s hip pocket, and he turned his head for a split second. Edwards had Curry’s back as he caught the pass for an open corner 3.

Splash.

The Wolves still had a chance when Payton missed his second free throw with 10.4 seconds left. Had Gobert grabbed the board, the Wolves would have had the ball down 114-112. But Kevon Looney poked it away from him and Andrew Wiggins pounced on it.

“The game was lost in the first quarter. That’s the obvious one,” Finch said. free throw.”

Reid had 15 points and six boards in 29 minutes, finishing the game at power forward in place of Randle, who had 17 points and six boards in 27 minutes and left the locker room very quickly after the game.

All season, the Timberwolves have been unable to put together a run due to their inability to avoid long stretches of poor play in a game. On Wednesday night, it was 12 points in the first quarter that got them in. They are now 40 games into this season and have not been able to shake it.

And now the road becomes even more difficult. After the Knicks and Cavaliers games on Friday and Saturday, the Wolves head to Memphis and Dallas before returning home to face the improving Denver Nuggets and pesky Atlanta Hawks. If they fall behind against these teams, they will be quickly buried and dismissed.

For most of the season, they have lacked the focus, urgency and cohesion needed to have consistency. Right now they are a mediocre team with mediocre habits.

There have been glimpses of progress over the past few weeks, especially since Finch changed the starting line-up. But the highlights came in wins over the LA Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, injury-ravaged Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards.

Now it’s time to find out what these wolves are made of.

(Photo by Donte DiVincenzo and Kevon Looney: Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images)