The NBA has an 82-game regular season. It’s unrealistic to expect a team to be at its best for all 82 outings.
That’s even more true when that team’s best player is out. The Minnesota Timberwolves have played awesome basketball even with Anthony Edwards out since the fifth game of the year. The team entered Saturday with a 6-2 record without him, with just one of those six victories coming by a single digit.
That is now 6-3 after falling to the Chicago Bulls, 117-106. Chicago's win improved their record to a still-dismal 3-9. While it’s fair for a Wolves fan to be disappointed in a game many considered a gimme, the panic meter should still be at zero.
Timberwolves' brutal loss to the Bulls is partly a product of a long season
Over an arduous regular season, games like this will happen. The Timberwolves built up way too much goodwill through their first 12 contests for one loss to take it all away, though.
Saturday mostly came down to the Bulls' shots falling and the Timberwolves' not. Realistically, this is the first time this season that someone could say Minnesota didn't perform well.
Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t leave this loss without concerns. Jaylen Clark left with right hamstring soreness, and the hope is that he misses little to no time. Rudy Gobert once again struggled on offense and had his fourth game of the season without making a single field goal, missing all seven attempts.
This loss won’t eliminate Minnesota's chance to win the title, though. Last season, the New York Knicks lost games to the Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, Dallas Mavericks, and Sacramento Kings. None of those teams came close to sniffing the playoffs, but it’s safe to say that the Knicks did alright for themselves.
The Timberwolves still have the league’s best defensive rating and third-best net rating. That doesn’t get stricken from their records just because they lost to a not-so-good team.
Now, of course, the performance was disappointing. Not only did the Bulls enter the game with a 2-9 record, but they were in the second leg of a back-to-back and played an extra five minutes as their game with the Atlanta Hawks went into overtime on Friday. Furthermore, star rookie Caleb Wilson was sidelined. Minnesota was a double-digit point favorite (and by well more than 10) in every major sportsbook.
At 9-4, the Timberwolves are still in a better spot than most thought possible after it was announced that Edwards could miss about two months.
We have seen how upbeat this club has been, so there should be no worries about them lacking the right mindset when they're back on the court Monday, when Minnesota takes on the Portland Trail Blazers.
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