On Easter Sunday, the Timberwolves had a chance to all but guarantee that they’d finish ahead of Utah in the Western Conference standings. Instead, they fell flat, losing by 24 points.
Last Monday night’s ugly loss to Memphis was bad for a varieyt of reasons. Sunday’s loss to Utah was worse, but in a completely different way.
The Timberwolves haven’t played well for awhile…let’s call it just under two weeks, when the Wolves beat the Clippers by 14 points back on March 20. They’ve stumbled to wins over the Knicks, Hawks, and Mavericks since then, but there have also been bad losses in the mix.
Sunday brought the Jazz to town, a team that was a half-game behind Minnesota and would have fallen to one-and-a-half back, and effectively two-and-a-half back because the Wolves would have held the tiebreaker.
Now, the Jazz are a half-game up, and Minnesota is looking at what was practically a three-game swing in the standings. With five games remaining on the regular season slate, that’s … significant.
The most frustrating thing about this loss was just how flat the Timberwolves were. After jumping out to a quick 9-4 lead, it was all Utah for the rest of the game. Over the course of three-plus quarters, the Wolves only made one meaningful run, pulling within a score of 56-50 with a chance to cut it to four late in the first half.
Tyus Jones stole a Donovan Mitchell pass and tried to dunk over him in transition, but the ball flew out of bounds. After that, the Wolves 11-point halftime deficit was as close as they would get for the rest of the game.
There isn’t much to analyze, other than that there was as stark a contrast between the Jazz defensive effort and effectiveness and the Wolves’ as possible. Utah is an outstanding defensive team, and gives 100 percent effort 100 percent of the time. Minnesota is a poor defensive team that only tries sometimes. And that simply isn’t enough in a playoff race.
Is it a coach-to-player disconnect? Probably, at least on some level. Do the players share culpability for not trying harder on the floor? Absolutely.
There’s no other way to slice this one, and the new No. 7 Wolves are running out of time to nail down a playoff spot.
Player of the Game
Ricky Rubio: 23 points (9-14 FG, 5-6 3P), 7 rebounds, 3 assists, one steal, one block
Rubio destroyed his former team, knocking down his first four 3-point attempts early in the game and staying aggressive throughout. He was great on defense, too, making it difficult for the Jeff Teague-less Wolves to get into a rhythm offensively.
Notable Timberwolves Box Score Lines
- Andrew Wiggins: 23 points (10-22 FG, 1-2 3P, 2-3 FT), 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals
- Karl-Anthony Towns: 20 points (7-13 FG, 0-4 3P, 6-6 FT), 7 rebounds, 2 assists
- Tyus Jones: 13 points (6-13 FG, 2-4 3P, 1-1 FT), 4 assists, 4 steals
There were only three players who produced for the Wolves, with Jamal Crawford, Nemanja Bjelica, and Taj Gibson combining to shoot just 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) from the field. Aaron Brooks scored 13 points off the bench in the backup point guard role but shot the ball 12 times and posted a plus-minus of -16 on the night.
Next: Tom Thibodeau's minutes problem...
What’s Next?
The Timberwolves will have three days off before traveling to Denver to take on the Nuggets on Thursday night. Denver is one game behind New Orleans for the No. 8 spot and just a game and a half behind the Wolves. The game will be broadcast nationally on TNT at 9:30 p.m. CT.