Timberwolves Week in Review: February 24 — March 2
February 24 — Dallas Mavericks (97–84)
The Timberwolves came out after the All-Star break against the Dallas Mavericks who were fresh off of their huge deal acquiring Nerlens Noel from the Sixers. Unfortunately for the Mavericks, Noel was unable to join them in time for the game and Minnesota outscored them 48–30 in the paint. Karl Anthony-Towns recorded 26 points and 18 rebounds while Ricky Rubio, who dealt with constant trade rumors during the week, had 13 points and 14 assists.
The wolves declined to trade the veteran point guard to the Knicks for former Thibodeau product Derrick Rose. While Rose has had more experience with Thibs’ gameplan, Rubio gives the Wolves a greater chance of making a playoff push.
For the Mavericks, Seth Curry scored a career-high 31 points going 13/17 from the field and 3/6 from deep. He didn’t have much help from his teammates, however, with Dirk Nowitzki finishing with only 8 points on 4/14 shooting. It was hard watching the 13-time All-Star miss wide-open 3’s including an air ball in the fourth quarter. It appears either his age is starting to catch-up with him or that all of his talent was mustered from his formerly luscious flowing hair. Dirk is recording his lowest PPG, 13.6, since his rookie year.
February 25 — Houston Rockets (130–142)
While the Wolves could beat one Texas team on Thursday, it had troubles with another the next night. Scoring 130 points any other night is a huge accomplishment, but giving up 142 points is downright horrible. This game had more combined points(272) than the 2009 All-Star game(265). For a coach that is supposedly defense-oriented, giving up this many points is pretty embarrassing. In addition, the wolves committed 25 turnovers leading to 38 Rockets points.
Towns continues to show signs that he is an elite player in the NBA, both physically and mentally. Shortly after posting 37 points and 22 rebounds in the loss on Saturday, Towns headed to the weight room to lift his frustrations away and get some extra work in.
February 27 — Sacramento Kings (102–88)
The wolves got back on track recording an easy W against the Boogey-less Kings. KAT and Andrew Wiggins combined for 56 points and Nemanja Bjelica came off of the bench to record 10 points and 12 rebounds. This was the 18th game in a row that Wiggins has scored 20+ points, a franchise-best over Kevin Garnett’s 16 games in a row. The Timberwolves had won three of their last four games as they try to make a playoff push and get the 8th seed. A win against the Kings was crucial since they led the Wolves by a game in the standings.
Buddy Hield, now in his third game with his new team, was only able to record 8 points in 27 minutes of action. With the Demarcus Cousins trade that happened last Thursday, the Kings have been left with not much size available to them with only Willie Cauley-Stein and Kosta Koufos that can contribute any meaningful minutes. The Kings went guard-heavy with their starting five and Andrew Wiggins was able to exploit the size-advantage early and often.
March 1 — Utah Jazz (107–80)
Defense was the story of the game as the Wolves were able to force 14 turnovers and hold the Jazz to 38.9% shooting. The Timberwolves led by as many as 30 points, taking a lead with a Shabazz Muhammed dunk with 4:24 remaining in the game. After a disappointing defensive performance against the Rockets, it’s good to know that Tom Thibodeau hasn’t forgotten his roots. He has turned the Wolves into a scarier team than their record indicates and it sounds like players are buying-in to his methods.
“I feel like we want it more,” Minnesota forward Andrew Wiggins said. “We want to play defense more. We’ve been doing a lot in practice (and) shootaround, going through it. I think it’s muscle memory now, starting to kick in.”
Andrew Wiggins and Karl Anthony-Towns both extended their 20+ point streaks to 19 and 16 respectively.
