Timberwolves must avoid sloppy turnovers in Game 3 vs. the Rockets

The Timberwolves were uncharacteristically sloppy with the basketball in a Game 2 blowout loss to the Rockets, and simply can’t afford a reprise at Target Center on Saturday night.

For as much of a roller coaster as the last 10 months have been for the Timberwolves in terms of injuries, defensive performance, and roster decisions, there’s one area that Tom Thibodeau’s squad has remained consistent: they take care of the basketball.

Indeed, the Wolves finished second in the league in turnovers per game, only committing 12.5 miscues per contest. Along with free throw rate/percentage and offensive rebounding, a lack of turnovers is what drove the NBA’s fourth-best offense in terms of offensive rating.

Through the first two games of the playoffs, however, the Timberwolves have found that it’s much more difficult to avoid turnovers against an opposing defense that has decided to clamp down.

After committing 13 turnovers in a three-point loss in Game 1, the Wolves turned the ball over six times in the first frame of Game 2 en route to 16 for the game — a contest that they still managed to lead by five after the first quarter but ultimately lost by 20.

And while the Rockets’ defense is quite good (they finished sixth in defensive rating in the regular season), the first quarter issues were far more a case of sloppiness than anything else.

Here were the first two miscues, both uncharacteristically sloppy mistakes by Jimmy Butler, and both coming before the Rockets had even scored a point.

Then, an unnessecary offensive foul by Taj Gibson in the open floor, and two mistakes from Andrew Wiggins, all before the first eight minutes of the game had gone by.

To cap it all off, the officials fabricated a non-existent travel call against Gorgui Dieng.

Yeah, that pivot foot didn’t move. A brutal call.

But let’s not make this about the officiating: the Timberwolves squandered an opportunity to have a double-digit lead heading into the second quarter. And no, that doesn’t mean they would have won. They still would have had to avoid stumbling over themselves for the remaining 36 minutes, of course, but the game would have absolutely had a different feel.

The Wolves only committed 10 turnovers the rest of the game — far from perfect, but at least most of them were forced by solid Houston defense; James Harden and Chris Paul finished the game with three steals apiece.

If the Timberwolves can ride the energy of their home crowd — after all, the Target Center faithful will be enjoying their first home playoff game in nearly 14 years — and avoid sloppy turnovers in the first quarter, they just might have a chance to steal Game 3.

And if they can win Game 3, well, why couldn’t they win Game 4? And heading back to Houston with a 2-2 series tie would be a massive win.

Unlikely? Sure. The Rockets aren’t going to stay ice-cold from beyond the arc forever (29.2 percent so far), but if they have one more sub-par game from deep and the Wolves can capitalize on home court advantage and cease their suddenly sloppy play, things could get interesting.

Next: Towns and Rose: The good, the bad, and the decent

We’ll be back with postgame reaction following Game 3. Keep it tuned to Dunking With Wolves.