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Minnesota Timberwolves: What went wrong on the final play against the Atlanta Hawks

By Brian Sampson

OAKLAND, CA - JANUARY 25: Head coach Tom Thibodeau of the Minnesota Timberwolves complains about a call during their game against the Golden State Warriors at ORACLE Arena on January 25, 2018 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - JANUARY 25: Head coach Tom Thibodeau of the Minnesota Timberwolves complains about a call during their game against the Golden State Warriors at ORACLE Arena on January 25, 2018 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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The Minnesota Timberwolves completely botched the final after-timeout play against that Atlanta Hawks on Monday night. Here’s what went wrong.

With a difficult game against the Toronto Raptors on the immediate horizon, it appeared the Minnesota Timberwolves may have overlooked the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night.

Atlanta came into the game tied for the fewest victories in the NBA, but that didn’t stop them from pulling the upset. In an embarrassing, and increasingly routine, fashion, the Timberwolves lost a game on the road to a far inferior Eastern Conference team.

Despite Minnesota playing like doo-doo throughout most of the game, they found themselves with multiple chances to win down the stretch. Most notably, they were down one point with 14.5 seconds left and Tom Thibodeau just called a timeout to set up a sideline out of bounds play on their side of half court.

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And this is where things went from bad to worse for Minnesota.

Before the play even began, there was confusion about which one of Taj Gibson or Jamal Crawford was actually in the game. Gibson initially thought he was out of the play and was sitting on the bench while Crawford was taking off his warmup. Then, at the last second, the coaches notified Crawford he was out and Gibson was in. As Gibson was running onto the floor, he needed last minute direction from Thibodeau about the play.

Check out the video below for a more detailed breakdown about that miscommunication and what happened during the play:

It’s easy to blame Jeff Teague for his horrible, awful, no good play during this game and due to the fact he had the ball in his hands on that inbounds play. But I’m not sure he had a better alternative.

Next: Western Conference landscape is challenging for the Timberwolves

Realistically, blame should be spread to everyone on the floor and the coaching staff for that embarrassing last-second play call. Hopefully, they can use this as a learning experience for everyone.

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