Minnesota Timberwolves have the clutch-time blues

The Minnesota Timberwolves were one of the worst teams in the NBA last season during clutch-time. Hopefully, they can change that.

The Minnesota Timberwolves were a first-half team last season. They often jumped out to nice leads only to see those squandered as the game went on.

Ten times last season they lost a game after leading by eight or more points at the half. That was more than any other team. In fact, that’s more than the Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards, Phoenix Suns, Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks combined.

In total, the Wolves were tied or leading their opponent 25 times entering the half and ended up losing the game.

More from Dunking with Wolves

• The dream starting 5 for Minnesota Timberwolves 5 years from now
• Anthony Edwards’ latest accolade is a great sign of things to come
• In an OT thriller, Team Canada snatches Bronze from Team USA
• Timberwolves start, bench, cut: Mike Conley, Shake Milton, Jordan McLaughlin
• Which Timberwolves roster additions have upgraded the bench?

In order for them to take the next step and make a substantial improvement, they must raise their second-half play. Everyone knows that.

More specifically, they must enhance their game during clutch time. The NBA defines clutch time as the last five minutes of any game or overtime where the teams are separated by five points or fewer.

Minnesota finished the 2016-17 year with the fifth worst net rating (-14.6) during clutch time. Their 97.3 offensive rating was also the third worst amongst all teams. That’s a 10.8 point drop-off from their normal average.

Their defense was only slightly worse. Dropping from a normal 109.1 defensive rating to a 111.6 during clutch time. This isn’t saying much, however, as their defense was awful during all points of the game.

One of the main reasons they struggled so mightily during the last five minutes of close games is their decision-making ability. Too often their star players forced the issue which led to a highly contested shot.

This play takes place with 33.6 seconds left in a tied ballgame. It’s quite sloppy as Wiggins tries to force himself into the lane. When that isn’t possible he attempts to kick it out to Ricky Rubio on the perimeter. However, Karl-Anthony Towns gets his hands on it and bobbles it for a minute. After gathering control, he uses his strength to work past his man and drive toward the lane. The issue is the help defense is ready and they swarm him at the point of attack.

When he takes the shot, the Thunder have four players inside the paint. This means there are Wolves open on the perimeter for an open jumper. However, you can’t completely blame Towns for not trusting Rubio, Andrew Wiggins, Gorgui Dieng or Tyus Jones to knock down an outside shot.

It’s hard to accept this shot with nine seconds left on the shot clock and so many open options.

Wiggins is also prone to making bad decisions in the clutch. What a shocker.

These kinds of shots can kill a teams momentum when trying to will their way back into a game. The play is clearly designed for him to come off a double ball-screen. However, I’m not sure he’s supposed to take a contested 15 footer. My guess is if he would have waited longer for the play to develop, Towns was about to dive through the lane and open up some holes for his teammates.

The last situation is just a horrible, no-good way to end a game. I’m sure most Wolves’ fans will remember this one, as it happened toward the end of the season. Rubio was playing some of his best basketball at this point, so I’m sure his confidence was sky high. That’s still no excuse for taking this highly contested, and blocked layup.

Typically, we would see the point guard whip the pass into the weak corner for a wide-open three. Unfortunately, even the best passers get tunnel vision. There’s no guarantee the ball would have gone in the hoop if he did make the pass, but it likely would have been a better outcome. After the video cuts off, the Lakers corralled the offensive rebound and found D’Angelo Russell for a game-winning three.

Rubio was one of the worst clutch-time players for the Timberwolves last season, registering a -22.9 rating. That’s a 21.9 point difference from his regular season average. His turnover ratio and true shooting percentage were also worse.

He wasn’t the only one who struggled. Basically, the whole team sucked during the last five minutes of a close game. The only two players who had a positive net rating was Lance Stephenson (in one appearance) and Tyus Jones (14.4).

Now that Rubio is gone, Jeff Teague should provide a nice boost in this category. He did register a -3.9 clutch net rating last season. That in and of itself is a nice upgrade. However, that’s the first time since the 2010-11 season that he had a negative net rating.

His combined playmaking and scoring abilities will bring a new touch to this roster. His offensive game is multi-faceted. That diverse skill set will be a welcome sight for this squad.

Jimmy Butler will be one of the biggest upgrades as well. Last season, he finished with a 12.8 net rating in the clutch. He’s so good that he improves both his offensive (+8.0) and defensive rating (+1.8) during that time. He also increases his assist percentage (+7.2) and true shooting percentage (+4.4) while increasing his usage percentage by 14.8 percent. That’s friggin’ incredible!

If he can carry that over into next season, he will almost single handily fix Minnesota’s clutch problem. However, we can probably count on improvements from Wiggins and Towns as their games continue to expand and mature.

Next: Minnesota Timberwolves: Top 5 rivalries

Either way, look for the Timberwolves to gobble up some victories during the last few minutes of tight games.