The Emirates NBA Cup (known as the In-Season Tournament in its first year) is in its third year of existence. The first two years saw the Timberwolves fall short of getting through group play to reach the quarterfinals.
This year looked like it might be different. Minnesota won its first two NBA Cup games by a combined 54 points. Unfortunately, they lost their last two Cup outings, officially eliminating them during group play once again.
Eliminated in the group stage for the third straight year
With point differential being the second tiebreaker after head-to-head, the Timberwolves looked to be in great shape. There was a strong chance that they could lose one of their final two NBA Cup games (as long as it wasn’t in blowout fashion) and still advance to the quarterfinals.
Instead, they lost both. It started last Friday with their late-game collapse against the Suns. That put the Wolves in a very difficult situation, knowing they would need to win their last group play game against the one-loss Thunder.
Missed free throws and turnovers were large culprits as to why Minnesota was defeated by OKC by the score of 113-105. The Timberwolves missed 15 of their 37 free-throw attempts and turned the ball over 14 times (eight coming in the second half).
It's a disappointing outcome since the Timberwolves dominated their first two NBA Cup games. Once again, though, they will not reach the quarterfinals. Minnesota went 3-1 in group play in the inaugural tournament, but missed out on being the Western Conference wild card because they had an even point differential, while the Suns' 3-1 record also came with a +34 point differential.
After Wednesday, the Wolves still remain winless against over .500 teams
With the NBA Cup now out of the picture, the Timberwolves will look to rebound from their current 3-game losing streak. Not only did they have a meltdown in their game Friday against the Suns, but they did likewise on Monday against the Kings. Those two losses caused Mike Conley to set up a mandatory team dinner on Tuesday in Oklahoma City.
The loss to OKC drops the Timberwolves’ record to 0-7 against teams with winning records. Overall, they are 10-8, good for seventh in the West.
Their next outing comes on Saturday when they attempt to win their first game against a team over .500 as they will go on the road against a 10-8 Celtics squad.