The first quarter was a harbinger of things to come for the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. In the opening 12 minutes, they took 12 3-pointers. Only one of those attempts gave Minnesota three points.
In their 120-106 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Timberwolves connected on just 10 of their 40 3-point tries (25 percent). As has been the case much of the season, they just aren’t able to win often when the deep ball isn’t accurate.
The Wolves struggle when 3-pointers aren't going in frequently
On the season, the Wolves have been one of the more accurate teams from beyond the arc. They are fourth in the league with their 37.4 percent 3-point accuracy while ranking 12th in 3-point attempts.
Tuesday marked their third-worst 3-point percentage in a game this season. Unsurprisingly, Minnesota has now taken the L in their five least accurate performances from deep on the year. They now own a record of 3-8 in outings where they shoot less than 30% from 3-point range.
The problem is that the Wolves' offense is centered around isolation plays. They need to find ways to get their role players more involved when they aren't hitting 3-pointers instead of reverting to heavy isolation and drive-and-kick plays.
Against the Lakers, the Timberwolves looked like they would have their worst outside shooting night of the year. They made just six of their 32 3-point attempts through the first three quarters. Minnesota went 4-for-8 in the final stanza, including 2-for-2 over the last four minutes after they emptied the bench, making their accuracy look better than it actually was for much of the game.
Anthony Edwards isn’t often going to shoot 1-for-10 on 3s like he did on Tuesday. He’s over 40 percent from deep on the season on extremely high volume. Another player over 40 percent on the year is Jaden McDaniels, but he is now in the midst of a slump. He went 0-for-5 from beyond the arc on Tuesday and is now just 1-17 over the last six contests.
With the 3-ball becoming so prevalent in the NBA, many teams have the issue that the Wolves do. As bad as they shot from beyond the arc on Tuesday, Minnesota was even worse (9-for-40) in their previous game on Saturday against the Orlando Magic. Losing two games where you go a combined 19-for-80 from 3-point range is expected. That’s a large reason why their previous five-game winning streak has now turned into a two-game losing streak.
Minnesota will look to turn around their 3-point woes, and not extend their losing streak to three games, on Wednesday night when they take on the Los Angeles Clippers.