Sunday was yet another confusing performance by the Minnesota Timberwolves losing at home to the Joel Embiid-less Philadelphia 76ers by 27 points. As good as Minnesota looks at times, there have been more than a few outings where their play is just confounding.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Tim Bontemps, and Tim MacMahon recently discussed a variety of NBA topics. When they got to the Timberwolves, fresh off that Sixers loss, the theme of their disappointing games came up.
“It’s who they’ve been the last three years. They’ve managed to get their stuff together to win a couple playoff series the last two years. But this is why I don’t consider Minnesota to be a threat in the West right now. They’ve got one of the top…four or five players in the Western Conference. Ant is a bonafide superstar, but for whatever reason, they’re extraordinarily frustrating; they continue to be an immature team," MacMahon said.Â
One game can be seen as an outlier, but since the Wolves have had numerous performances like this, it’s concerning.
Timberwolves have had numerous disappointing performances
Now, let’s start by stating that both Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid were absent from the lineup on Sunday. However, there's still no way they should have embarrassed themselves like that on their home court.
The Timberwolves have also experienced better injury luck than the majority of the other 29 teams (Gobert wasn’t injured; he sat out due to a one-game suspension). In many contests, we have seen Minnesota at full strength.
The Philly loss is the latest where the Timberwolves were a no-show. Now, two games in November against the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings weren’t necessarily no-shows; they were just complete meltdowns where the game looked to be in the bag for the Wolves before somehow finding a way to blow both.
A 16-point loss to the Brooklyn Nets on December 27 (Brooklyn is 5-22 since that game). Falling at home to the Golden State Warriors by 26. Another home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers by 19. Losing to the Atlanta Hawks by 24 on New Year’s Eve. Losses to the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans.
These are clear examples of where Minnesota wasn’t close to its A-game. With the No. 3-6 seeds in the West separated by just one game (Timberwolves currently are in sixth), they are games that Minnesota may look back at if they don’t move up in the standings by season’s end.
Look, this is still a good Timberwolves team. They place sixth in offensive and eighth in defensive rating. That makes Minnesota just one of four teams to be in the top-10 in both. Nevertheless, to reach their championship goals, these baffling losses have to end.