The Minnesota Timberwolves finished their three-game road trip with a banged-up roster and a deflating loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.
The Minnesota Timberwolves went into Boston’s TD Garden on Wednesday sans Jeff Teague, Robert Covington, and Derrick Rose. Somewhat predictably, they came out with an ‘L’, too.
More on the rotation in a moment. As for the game, it featured a slow start, a competitive end to the first quarter, and a dreadful second frame. Boston led by as many as 22 points and took an 18-point advantage into the break.
But the Wolves hung around in the third quarter and eventually used a run keyed by a 20-point frame from Karl-Anthony Towns to pull within six heading to the fourth quarter.
At home and with Gordon Hayward playing arguably his best game of the season, however, the Celtics simply had too much firepower for the depleted Wolves.
For as good as Towns played and as well as he passed the ball out of double and triple-team coverages, his teammates simply did not shoot the ball well enough from the perimeter to allow the Wolves to get over the proverbial hump.
Let’s look at the key takeaways from the game.
1. The depleted rotation
No Teague and no Rose means that Tyus Jones slides into the starting lineup, bumping Jerryd Bayless to the backup spot at the point. The loss of Covington not only removes the Wolves’ best all-around defender from the equation, but it also robs the bench of yet another contributor in Josh Okogie.
That means that Jones, Rose, and Okogie were all missing from the second unit. Dario Saric and Gorgui Dieng were the only regular bench contributors available to be deployed with the reserves, meaning that Anthony Tolliver was forced to play 26 minutes, with most of them coming out of position at the three.
James Nunnally saw a couple of first half minutes after a rough stretch from Okogie, and Bayless didn’t play at all in the second half as Tom Thibodeau opted to stick with Tyus Jones, who continues to play extremely well.
All that to say that the Wolves have a deep team, but they simply aren’t going to beat one of the better teams in the league on the road with three of their top contributors out of the lineup.
2. Karl-Anthony Towns’ continued improved (yet still inconsistent) play
Towns had another monster line, following up back-to-back Kareem-esque performances with another monster line on Wednesday: 28 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and a block. He only attempted two 3-pointers and three free throws on the night, however, keeping his scoring potential down just a bit.
Towns only had two points until he reentered the game midway through the second quarter and just four points at halftime. Part of this was due to the Celtics’ aggressive defense, but it was equal parts Towns’ lack of urgency without the ball in his hands, both throughout offensive sets and on the offensive glass.
Once again, however, a sense of urgency set in at halftime and Towns came out of the locker room for the third quarter like a man possessed, grabbing boards on both ends of the floor and finishing through contact.
If Towns wants to break through the “empty stats” moniker that he’s in the process of earning, he must bring intensity from the opening tap until the final horn.
3. The importance of Robert Covington
In case fans weren’t aware, Robert Covington is absolutely vital to the success of this team. After the loss on Wednesday, the Wolves are now 0-2 without Covington in the lineup since he joined the team via trade in November. It’s unclear how long he’ll be out with his current ankle injury.
Outside of his defense — which is vital to the Wolves’ success in its own right — the simple threat of a 3-point attempt helps open up the Wolves’ offense significantly.
Outside of Anthony Tolliver’s two made 3-pointers during what was essentially garbage time at the end of the game, the team made just five threes all game long, and including garbage time was only 7-of-23 (30.4 percent) from beyond the arc. Covington averages 6.7 3-point attempts per game, and the Wolves would have been well-served to have that threat against the Celtics.
What’s Next?
The Timberwolves return home to take on the Orlando Magic on Friday night in another winnable game that the 17-21 squad simply can’t afford to lose.