It’s starting to get cold, the snow is falling, and Minnesota is turning into the frozen tundra once again. As the holiday season approaches, here are three things on every Timberwolves fan’s wishlist.
To this point the Minnesota Timberwolves are 15-11 this season, which for anyone just looking at the standings would seem like a great season if you consider the Wolves’ past. For the past 13 years the Wolves and their fans have been sitting on the couch in May, watching the NBA playoffs sans Timberwolves.
To this point in the season, it appears that the Wolves will finally break the NBA’s longest drought from the playoffs come spring. However, things have not been running smoothly like many have anticipated.
There have been losses to the San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons (twice), Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns, Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Washington Wizards, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Memphis Grizzlies.
The loss to the Pacers and the first loss to the Pistons happened early in the season when Butler was out due to sickness. However, those two losses were not pretty as they lost by a combined margin of 44 points.
The losses against the Suns and Grizzlies are games that good teams should win. And the Hornets, Heat, and Wizards games were all contests that they probably should have won, too. Minnesota has already beaten the Hornets this season by 16 points, so when they finally played them again…Minnesota lost by 16.
The Heat are a team that has been struggling a lot this season, but to help the pain, the Heat were coming off a big win against the Boston Celtics that ended their long win streak. The Wizards were without All-Star John Wall, and of course beat the Wolves with a late shot.
However, losing against the Grizzlies and Suns were killer. The Grizzlies were on an 11-game losing streak, were without Mike Conley, and recently fired David Fizdale, although the Wolves were on a back-to-back with travel the night before. The Suns as well are a team that is rebuilding and is no where near the talent of the Wolves.
We can excuse the losses to the Spurs, Warriors and Thunder, of course, because we know they are talented teams.
The Wolves may be 14-11 as of now, but after looking at some of those losses, and close games – there are a few things on the wishlist that need fixing.