Timberwolves Wrap: Hot start gives way to horrible finish in loss
By Ben Beecken
Once again, the Timberwolves started hot and led early before falling flat in the second half and ultimately falling to the Bucks by a final score of 95-85.
The Milwaukee Bucks did not make a field goal until the 3:21 mark of the first quarter, before which the Wolves held a lead of 22-5. But from that point forward, the visitors outscored the Timberwolves by an astonishing tally of 90-63.
There was no excuse for losing this game. The Wolves dominated in every facet early but simply stopped attacking on offense after the first quarter, despite getting into the bonus early in each individual quarter. Minnesota settled for long, two-point jump shots again and again.
It was also the perfect example of just how terrible the bench unit has been of late — especially the back court. Tyus Jones struggled mightily on both ends of the floor, and Zach LaVine continued his struggles, shooting 1 of 7 from the field until a couple of garbage time dunks.
Ricky Rubio had a fantastic game for the Wolves, and accentuated exactly how important he is to the team and just how large the drop-off is between he and his backup, Jones, with a plus/minus mark of +8 — highest on the team and one of only three positive marks on the night.
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And while single game plus/minus marks are far from the final word on a player’s performance. They’re quite fickle, actually, but what does speak loudly is his final box score line listed below. He was all over the floor, and when he was on the bench, well…Jones had a -19 on the night. The Bucks’ giant runs during the middle of each half coincided perfectly with his minutes.
Nobody on either team scored more than 19 points, and the Wolves only shot 39.3 percent from the field. And while Milwaukee only out-rebounded Minnesota by one, they dominated the glass in the fourth quarter while Sam Mitchell chose to go with a small-ball lineup featuring Andrew Wiggins and Shabazz Muhammad at the forward spots alongside Gorgui Dieng.
Karl-Anthony Towns had a horrible shooting night, making just four of 17 shots and going oh-fer from mid-range, where he is normally one of the best shooters in the entire league. That meant he only played 26 minutes and sat on the bench as the Bucks pulled away in the fourth quarter. Nemanja Bjelica and Adreian Payne both played solid first half minutes but did see the floor in the second half.
Mitchell’s rotation could be called into question once again on this night, but poor rebounding down the stretch, miserable free throw shooting (16 of 24, 66.7 percent), and once again, a miserable three-point shot differential (the Bucks shot 8 of 16 from beyond the arc while the Wolves were just 3 of 14) are what did in the Wolves.
Tweet of the Night
Rubio made it a point to say coaches put together a great game plan that was followed early. "Then we got too cool." Said loss on players
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) January 3, 2016
Clip of the Night
Star of the Night
Ricky Rubio — 14 points (4-8 FG, 2-3 3P, 4-5 FT), 7 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, one block, 2 turnovers
Rubio had a fantastic night on both ends of the floor. He bothered Michael Carter-Williams and Jerryd Bayless into a combined 5 of 20 shooting and once again had a sparkling assist-to-turnover ratio.
On this night, however, he was also efficient from the field, making half of his shot attempts and a pair of three-pointers. Outside of Muhammad, there wasn’t a single Timberwolves player who had a good evening.
Other Notable Timberwolves Lines
Karl-Anthony Towns – 8 points (4-17 FG), 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks, one steal
Andrew Wiggins – 19 points (7-17 FG, 0-3 3P, 5-9 FT), 6 rebounds, 3 steals, one assist, one block, 4 turnovers
Shabazz Muhammad – 12 points (5-11 FG, 1-2 3P, 1-3 FT), 4 rebounds, one assist, one steal
Who’s Next
The Timberwolves will be in Philadelphia on Monday evening to take on the 3-33 76ers, whom they beat at Target Center earlier this season.
The Wolves will then enjoy an off day before beginning a tough homestand on Wednesday by hosting the Denver Nuggets. That will be followed by home games against Cleveland, Dallas, and Oklahoma City. In other words, Mitchell’s bunch needs to get a win against the Nuggets on Wednesday if they want to keep a long losing skid at bay.