Timberwolves Wrap: Wolves dominated in Game 2

After only losing by three points in Game 1 of their first round series against Houston, the Timberwolves were thoroughly dominated in Game 2 on Wednesday night.

After relative optimism followed the Timberwolves’ close loss to the Rockets just 72 hours prior, Minnesota came out and laid an egg on Wednesday in Houston. (And what a waste of a 2-for-18 shooting performance from probably league MVP James Harden…)

The Wolves jumped out to a big first quarter lead thanks to scrappy defense and an uncharacteristically high number of missed shots from Houston; the Rockets didn’t reach double-digits until the midway point of the frame. The problem for the Wolves is that they committed five turnovers in that amount of time and left plenty of points on the board.

What should have been a something like a 10 to 15 point lead for the Wolves was kept much closer, and once again the Rockets dominated the final two minutes of a quarter, as they did in all four frames in Game 1.

Despite leading by a score of 23-18 at the end of the first quarter, things went downhill in a hurry. Houston dominated the second quarter to the tune of 37-17. A small Wolves lineup featuring Jeff Teague, Derrick Rose, and Jamal Crawford was destroyed, and Karl-Anthony Towns didn’t score another point after putting up a quick five early in the game.

There was nothing about this game that could be spun positively after the opening few minutes. Towns was absent, Jimmy Butler was clearly favoring his injured right wrist, Andrew Wiggins missed open shots, and after a hot start Jeff Teague was thoroughly frustrated by Chris Paul.

The Wolves trailed by 15 points at halftime and managed to lose the third quarter by seven, meaning that the deficit was an embarrassing 22 points. It was all over without as much as a whimper from Tom Thibodeau’s crew.

Tweet of the Night

Player of the Game

Chris Paul: 27 points (10-18 FG, 3-5 3P, 4-4 FT), 8 assists, 3 steals, 3 rebounds, one block

After a Game 1 stinker from Paul that saw him tally more turnovers than assists, Paul dominated the proceedings in Game 2. And the Rockets needed it, as Harden went from scoring 40+ in Game 1 to putting up just 12 points on 2-of-18 shooting, including 1-of-10 from beyond the arc, in Game 2.

Following the Wolves’ early burst, Paul destroyed Teague on both ends of the court. Once he was in foul trouble, Jones and Rose didn’t fair any better.

Notable Timberwolves Box Score Lines

• Karl-Anthony Towns: 5 points (2-9 FG, 1-3 3P, 0-2 FT), 10 rebounds, one steal, one block
• Jimmy Butler: 11 points (3-6 FG, 1-1 FG, 4-4 FT), 4 rebounds, 2 assists
• Nemanja Bjelica: 16 points (5-9 FG, 2-4 3P, 4-5 FT), 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
• Jeff Teague: 8 points (3-7 FG, 0-1 3P, 2-3 FT), one assist, one rebound, one block

Towns was quiet once again, and the Rockets’ physicality with him was enough to once again knock the Wolves’ All-Star off his game.

Butler only attempted six shots in 25 minutes and was clearly favoring his injuries. He did play awesome defense against Harden early in the game, although he committed a pair of bad early turnovers on the other end of the floor while the Wolves were wasting their opportunity to build a large lead.

Bjelica did most of his damage in garbage time, and Teague somehow managed to notch a single assist against four turnovers in 19 minutes.

Next: 3 players for the Wolves to consider with the 20th draft pick

What’s Next?

The Wolves head back to Minnesota for the first Timberwolves playoff game at Target Center in 14 years. Tip-off will be at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, televised on ESPN.