Important Points In The Timberwolves’ Season

4. The Timberwolves Go Streaking

After the Minnesota Timberwolves lost the first four games of January, they bounced back to finish the month strong. They went 8-3 over the last 11 games and finished January with a winning record. That was the only month of the 2016-17 season where the Wolves won more games than they lost.

Throughout the season, the Timberwolves’ had the lowest scoring bench in the NBA. Some of that went away from January 9th-January 30th.

The scoring parity was the difference maker during this stretch of basketball.

The Timberwolves were able to rely on other people to put the ball in the hoop besides their big three of Towns, Wiggins, and LaVine.

Six Timberwolves’ averaged double digits in scoring, while a seventh, Brandon Rush, wasn’t too far behind with 7.7 points per game.

On the season as a whole, only five Wolves’ players averaged in double digits scoring.

The Timberwolves also moved the ball a lot better, resulting in a higher shooting percentage over that span. Go figure huh?

Over the last 11 games of January, Minnesota assisted on 64.8 percent of their baskets compared to 60 percent the rest of the year.

Minnesota’s true shooting percentage was also higher over those 11 games in January compared to the rest of the season, 57.6 percent to 55.5 percent.

The Timberwolves’ streak was snapped in a blowout loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on February 1st.

That loss was the beginning of a new streak for the Wolves, a four-game losing streak.

The Timberwolves lost their balanced scoring attack during that time and reverted back to the big three carrying the scoring load.

It also coincided with the loss of LaVine, which we will get to later.

The Minnesota Timberwolves finished January only three games back of the Denver Nuggets for eighth place. It looked like they were going to carry their hot streak into February and make a strong push before the All-Star break. Unfortunately, that never happened.