Minnesota Timberwolves: Player grades from loss to Atlanta Hawks

ATLANTA, GA - FEBRUARY 27: Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves and John Collins #20 of the Atlanta Hawks. Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Jasear Thompson/NBAE via Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - FEBRUARY 27: Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves and John Collins #20 of the Atlanta Hawks. Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Jasear Thompson/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Minnesota Timberwolves fell in a devastating overtime loss to the Hawks in Atlanta on Wednesday night by a score of 131-123.

The Minnesota Timberwolves entered Wednesday night just three games out of the No. 8 playoff spot in the Western Conference. With a week full of winnable games and a win over Sacramento on Monday night in their pocket, it was looking like the Wolves could gain some ground.

Unfortunately, the Atlanta Hawks had other ideas. Despite the Wolves building a lead that hovered near double digits for much of the game and reached 13 points early in the fourth quarter, the Hawks battled back to force overtime and sweep the season series against Minnesota.

This was a fun game to watch until crunch time became sloppy for both teams. The Wolves and Hawks traded disorganized possessions, missed free throws, and shoddy defense.

Ultimately, it was a missed old-fashioned 3-point play from Towns and a poor defensive possession from Josh Okogie that allowed the game to be tied with 20 seconds remaining.

After a timeout, the Wolves ran a Derrick RoseKarl-Anthony Towns pick-and-roll that didn’t leave enough space for Rose to operate. He forced a runner from near the elbow that missed badly, and the game went into overtime with the momentum on the side of the home Hawks.

The Hawks took control quickly in the extra frame, and it was all but over with around two minutes left on the clock.

The Wolves now must turn around and win less than 24 hours later in Indiana against a solid Pacers squad and on Sunday in Washington against the Wizards. Then, the schedule gets much more difficult…

The rest of the players

Anthony Tolliver was coming off of a monster game against Sacramento and played 19 minutes in this one. He only made two threes en route to a final line of six points.

Luol Deng played eight first-half minutes before heading to the locker room with what the team termed as a “sore left Achilles.”

What’s Next?

The Timberwolves have to forget about this one in a hurry as the head to Indianapolis to take on the Pacers at 6 p.m. Central Time on Thursday night.