Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 takeaways from loss to the Warriors

The Minnesota Timberwolves lost to the Warriors in Golden State for the second time in as many tries this season. What can we conclude from the loss?

Monday night brought the second consecutive loss for the Minnesota Timberwolves as the team dropped to 13-14 on the year and a hideous 2-10 on the road, including 0-7 against Western Conference opponents away from Target Center.

It’s a trend that obviously needs to stop in short order if the Wolves are going to sniff the playoffs, although the eight-point losses in both Portland and Oakland were both one possession games in the final minute and were closer than the final score might suggest.

That said, we can still glean some information from Monday’s loss to the Warriors as Karl-Anthony Towns and Dario Saric kept the Wolves close down the stretch before ultimately succumbing to the brilliance of Steph Curry.

1. Karl-Anthony Towns is a monster

In case anyone had forgotten, Karl-Anthony Towns is an absolute monster and a legitimate All-Star candidate for a second-straight season.

Towns scored at will in the post, but also scored facing the basket on straight-line drives and jumpers from all over the court, as well as on the offensive glass. His passing ability from the post was on full display in this one, too.

Towns ultimately scored 31 points on an ultra-efficient 11-of-15 from the floor while grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out four assists. He only shot 8-of-12 from the free throw line and did turn the ball over four times, but was easily the best player on the floor for the Wolves in this one.

2. Dario Saric needs an expanded role

Dario Saric has been nothing but awesome since coming to Minnesota in the Jimmy Butler trade.

Saric, was a regular starter in Philadelphia for the last two-plus seasons and was relegated to a bench role behind 32-year-old Taj Gibson with the Wolves. But Saric has had games in which he’s played well enough to convince Tom Thibodeau to leave him on the court down the stretch, and Monday was one of those games.

Saric had 13 points and eight rebounds in 31 minutes while Gibson only saw the floor for 17 minutes on the night. The Croatian forward showed chemistry with Towns as a cutter, with Towns finding him a couple of times on tough passes in the paint after the double-team swarmed KAT.

Saric is also a capable outside shooter and ball-handler, and while he isn’t quite as good on defense as Gibson, the gap is shrinking rapidly as Gibson ages and Saric continues to improve.

At any rate, Gibson is a free agent after the year while Saric will be eligible for an extension. We can fully expect Saric to be the regular starter on opening day of the 2019-20 season.

3. Derrick Rose needs to dial it back

For as good as Derrick Rose has played for much of the season, the bounce-back tour has turned into a bit of a chuck-fest over the last couple of nights.

After a dreadful 9-of-25 shooting performance (yes, Rose attempted 25 shots in 37 minutes in Portland) against the Trail Blazers on Saturday in the absence of Robert Covington, Rose still shot the ball 18 times on Monday in 34 minutes.

While he played better overall at Golden State, there were a handful of terrible shots taken, and not very many of them went in the basket. Rose remains a key part of the Wolves bench and their offense as a whole, but ball movement and open shots will always trump contested twos and wild forays to the rim.

Here’s hoping that Rose can find the proper balance moving forward. After all, playing at Portland and at Golden State are always tough tasks, and Wednesday’s test at Sacramento figures to be a bit more manageable.