The Minnesota Timberwolves fell by one point in overtime on Tuesday evening against the Indiana Pacers at Target Center. While the starters didn't play the entire game, this was yet another instance of the Wolves having a hard time closing a tight contest down the stretch.
Minnesota erased a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime. It was a valiant effort, but the home team ultimately came up short in the extra period. Now, of course this was a preseason game that ultimately had no stakes. But at the same time, it was hard to see the Timberwolves lose in the same kind of scenario they so often saw themselves in last season.
No one thought this was a playoff game. No one was seriously expecting the outcome of this game to mean much of anything. However, I think it's still fair to say some Wolves fans felt some minor PTSD after seeing their team fail to close out in the clutch so many times last season.
We're all aware of the fact that Minnesota played more clutch games than any other team in the association during the 2024-25 season, as well as the fact that they had the most losses in these moments. Now, that narrative is alive again. The overtime loss in a close preseason game is unfortunately an easy trigger for fans and media alike to point back to some of the shortcomings of last season's team.
Minnesota came up short in the clutch again
Guys that will be playing fewer minutes off the bench dominated the rotation for much of the latter half of the game. So in essence, you could say this breakdown and loss was more so a reflection of bench depth and simply a lack of continuity among many of the players slated to play in more minimal roles this upcoming season.
It's understood that we have a very small sample size to work with when evaluating this team thus far. Obviously, preseason games are for testing, experimenting, and ironing out kinks. Mistakes are to be expected, and execution flaws are far easier to forgive in early October than in April or May.
At the end of the day, these are the kinds of games meant for trial and error. Still, the patterns that surface now often mirror the ones that linger when the stakes rise. Minnesota has every reason to trust its growth and chemistry, but cleaning up those familiar lapses before opening night could create a meaningful difference for this team.