This Minnesota Timberwolves team has an extremely high ceiling. Don't believe me? Just look at their stunning, come-from-behind victory over likely the best team in basketball, which occurred not even a week ago. Even despite their injuries, the Wolves have a lot of collective talent and have figured out a lot since the start of the season. At their best, Minnesota can defeat any team you put in front of them.
But then we go to games like Friday night's against the Utah Jazz, and we see once again why the Timberwolves can still be such a frustrating group to watch at times. Just as often as they bring the intensity against a top team and play above their normal level, they will have lapses where they let themselves get into a dog fight with a lesser-talented squad. On Friday, they did just that and ended up dropping a very winnable game against Utah.
In the final three possessions of the ballgame, Minnesota produced an airballed jumper from Mike Conley, a missed Jaden McDaniels three-pointer, and an unsuccessful layup attempt from Donte DiVincenzo that would have won them the game. In the end, they lost a fourth quarter lead for the 16th time this season - the most of any NBA team in 2024-25.
MIN has lost 16 games when they've had a 4th quarter lead -- most in NBA.
— Alan Horton (@WolvesRadio) March 1, 2025
The Timberwolves lost yet another clutch game
This remains far and away the biggest flaw for this group. There were things to like about how the Wolves played in that fourth quarter, especially after getting outscored by 13 in the previous frame. But the bottom line was that Minnesota needed to generate better offensive looks while in a close contest in a hostile environment. The fact that they did not means it should be no surprise that they left the Delta Center with a loss when they left the door open for their opponent.
Of course, it is easy to look at the injury report and say that the Timberwolves would have had no trouble closing this one out had Anthony Edwards been available. Perhaps that is true. But the reality is that Minnesota has to win with who they have available, and it is not like asking them to do that in this situation was anything resembling an unreasonable ask.
Clutch time has been the Timberwolves' biggest enemy all season long. They have obviously had their moments of success in these scenarios, like in the OKC game on Monday. So it is not like they cannot find ways to close this type of game going forward.