Takeaways from Minnesota Timberwolves’ loss to the Atlanta Hawks

The dam bursts from three – but for the Timberwolves’ opponent

The Hawks entered the game ranked No. 26 in the league in 3-point attempts per game but No. 2 in shooting accuracy from downtown at 37.8 percent. On this night, Atlanta opened fire with abandon but only gained accuracy, making a franchise-record 25 threes on 49 attempts.

Atlanta wasted no time in its assault; seven of its first eight made field goals came from behind the arc, so the Wolves found themselves down double-digits just minutes into the game. The Hawks led by as many as 20 in the second period.

Even when the Hawks appeared to slow down at the end of the second quarter and Minnesota went on a small run early in the third, the Hawks made sure to put them in their place by making four from deep in about five minutes to open the half.

Finch said he wasn’t upset with the execution of Minnesota’s defensive scheme but that his team needed to close out with more purpose.

“We just stopped short. Our urgency to contest shots was not there,” he said. “The ball movement, we knew it was going to be there, we knew what they were trying to do, but we didn’t run shooters off the line.”

It wasn’t surprising that Trae Young had a big night from three, making four of his nine attempts and sprinkling in some ridiculously deep makes. What was surprising was Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, who made nine threes in 17 games played entering the night, went 7-of-14 from downtown to set a career-high for makes in a game. Luwawu-Cabarrot scored 23 points.

Even former Timberwolf Gorgui Dieng got in on the action, twisting the knife with three bombs in the second half.

The 31.3 percent mark teams shot from deep against Minnesota entering the game always felt lucky for the Timberwolves given how many open shots they’ve allowed from behind the arc. Atlanta is one of the first teams to really make them pay for it.