Player grades from Minnesota Timberwolves’ road loss to Kings
By Ben Beecken
After a late comeback attempt fell short on Monday night in Sacramento, the Minnesota Timberwolves have now lost 12 games in a row.
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And with that, the Minnesota Timberwolves now have their worst losing streak of the season.
Of course, for almost any other team, suffering an 11-game skid would easily be the low point of the campaign. But for the Wolves, it was merely a second 11-game losing streak. Until Monday in Sacramento, that is.
Last time the Wolves had a slide of exactly this length, they went into Sacramento and won a war of attrition that lasted for two miserable overtimes. They had a shot to do the same thing this time around, too, but ultimately fell short.
The Wolves trailed for nearly the entirety of the game, falling behind by as many as 15 points at halftime and trailing by nine heading into the fourth quarter. They didn’t get much out of anyone not named Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Okogie, or Kelan Martin, and it was an all-bench unit that lead the fourth-quarter comeback that brought Minnesota within shouting distance in the final minute.
Okogie, Martin, Jordan McLaughlin, Gorgui Dieng and Jordan Bell were the unlikely quartet that allowed Towns, Andrew Wiggins and the rest of the starters a shot at winning the game at the end with a spirited start to the final frame. Alas, it wasn’t enough.
Trailing by six, Robert Covington corralled an offensive rebound and drained a 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds left on the clock. After a timeout, the Kings were called for a five-second violation prior to inbounding the ball, and the Wolves had the last crack.
Without a timeout, the Wolves didn’t have time to set-up a play and apparently didn’t have much of anything prepared to call in that situation. Towns was double-teamed, so Napier got the ball inbounds to Wiggins outside the arc on the right side of the floor. He attempted a tough turnaround jumper and was nearly fouled, but the ball was still true and just barely rimmed out. Towns committed a foul with 0.1 on the clock, leading to the final margin of four points.
Boiling it all down, this game was a lackluster effort for most of the first three quarters and a furious and impressive flurry at the end, led by the bench. But when it was all said and done, it was just another loss.
Player Grades
B+. Karl-Anthony Towns was solid, but the Kings defensive effort on the Wolves superstar was even more impressive. Double-teamed on nearly every catch, Towns shot 7-of-17 from the floor and just 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. Sacramento wasn’t going to get beat on open Towns 3-point attempts in transition or by letting him score on single-coverage in the post. Towns also had 10 rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal in 37 minutes.. Center. Minnesota Timberwolves. KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS
Andrew Wiggins struggled mightily, shooting only 3-of-11 from the field en route to just 10 points. He did contribute six rebounds and five assists, but his five turnovers negated any of those positives. Wiggins missed all three of his 3-point attempts and was only 4-of-6 from the free throw line.. Wing. Minnesota Timberwolves. ANDREW WIGGINS. C-
B-. <a rel=. Guard. Minnesota Timberwolves. SHABAZZ NAPIER
B. Robert Covington looked a bit more like himself in this game than he has of late, although he was ultra-aggressive and unsuccessful shooting the ball from the floor early the game and didn’t really come on until the second half. He finished with 15 points (6-15 FG, 3-9 3P), eight rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block in 30 minutes.. Forward. Minnesota Timberwolves. ROBERT COVINGTON
A-. Josh Okogie continued what has been something of a recent resurgence, providing plenty of energy off the bench with the second unit and keying the Timberwolves’ fourth-quarter run. The second-year wing finished with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting with four rebounds and a pair of steals in 26 minutes in a game in which starter <a rel=. Wing. Minnesota Timberwolves. JOSH OKOGIE
Guard. Minnesota Timberwolves. JARRETT CULVER. C-. Jarrett Culver started again and also struggled again. He played only 20 minutes and shot 1-of-5 from the field. Culver was also a team-worst -25 in a game that the Wolves only lost by four. After a dozen or so strong performances in a row, JC has now hit somewhat of a personal skid.
Other Players
Kelan Martin had one of his better games at the NBA level, putting up 12 points and five rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench. He shot 5-of-6 from the floor and made two of his three long-range attempts, providing a spark alongside Okogie.
Jordan McLaughlin was good, with nine points, two assists and two steals in 19 minutes and shooting 3-of-4 from the field.
Gorgui Dieng had seven points and six rebounds in only 11 minutes, playing most of his time alongside Jordan Bell in a rare frontcourt pairing. Keita Bates-Diop only saw five minutes of playing time due to this shift in the rotation and didn’t do much. For his part, Bell had two points and a rebound in nine minutes of play.
3 potential Robert Covington trades for the Wolves. dark. Next
Up Next
The Wolves head back home to host Jeff Teague, Treveon Graham and the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, also known as Trade Deadline Day Eve.