The Minnesota Timberwolves did not get a lot of time to work out the bugs of this new and improved roster before the start of the season. There was a sore knee of newly acquired center Rudy Gobert, and it simply made more sense to let the knee heal and get playing time out of the veteran as he began his Timberwolves learning curve.
There was the illness of power forward Karl Anthony Towns that dropped his weight over 20+ pounds, weight that he has yet to gain back. That forced him to sit out many precious practices as well.
But the schedule to open the Minnesota Timberwolves season was not frightening. The Timberwolves would face the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Utah Jazz, the San Antonio Spurs, and the LA Lakers to start October. And, on paper, those teams had traded away stars or were simply mired in rosters that were too dysfunctional to open the season.
Some believed that the Timberwolves might go undefeated in October 2022.
Then reality set in. And right on its heels came the San Antonio Spurs. Here is Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch’s reaction to the loss to the Spurs:
Wolves Head Coach Chris Finch on the MIN loss to the Spurs: "They just outpunked us in every way possible. Out ran us, out competed us, out physicaled us, it was ugly and
— Paul Garcia (@PaulGarciaNBA) October 25, 2022
unacceptable."
The loss was pure regression. Despite the 3000th point of Anthony Edwards and despite KAT and DLo combining for 52 points, the Timberwolves simply played as though they were sleepwalking in this one. At one point in the game, the Spurs were up by 30+ points. A late rally by the Timberwolves, long after the Spurs relaxed, made this one respectable.
Before the game, the San Antonio Spurs (2-1) were thought to be a good test for the Minnesota Timberwolves (2-1). Well, the Timberwolves flunked. They will have another chance this Wednesday, October 26, at 7:00 pm CT to see if they can overcome the Spurs.