And, just like that, the Minnesota Timberwolves sink deeper into their hole. Make no mistake, they dug that hole. They seemed to gleefully whip shovelfuls of dirt out of it and climb right on into it. There was hope that they had moved past their seemingly ever-present urge to dwell in a crater after their five-game win streak, but that seems like a long-lost memory. Now, they’re hole-bound again. Dark and damp and deep. Once again, they will need to find a way to escape.
The game ends 142-127. It felt like they couldn’t possibly give up more points than the 137 they shipped against the Golden State Warriors less than 24 hours prior to tip-off in Washington, but here we are. From the opening tip, the Wizards traipsed through, around and over Minnesota’s shorthanded and listless defense.
It was a minute-one punch to the fucking throat. And the Wolves never really swung back. They swiped a few torpid jabs back at the end of the first quarter and at the start of the third, but they were so beaten and bruised from Washington’s opening flurry that none of them drew any blood. This was nothing but a back-alley beatdown. Men against boys.
This iteration of the Timberwolves shouldn’t be so spiritless. They shouldn’t be the recipient of the beatdown or the boys getting ousted by the men. But until the effort becomes a consistent barrage and not a flash in the pan, the defense can cope without Jaden McDaniels, and the offense finds more structure and less stodgy flow, this is the reality we live in.
D’Angelo Russell: 5/10
His first quarter was the kind of thing that has seemed so abnormal lately. Not just from him, but from the team as a whole. He sprinted around off-ball screens with the intention to score, he made quick decisions with the ball in his hands in both isolation and pick-and-roll, and he sucked in rebounds and spat out dimes.
Not sure what happened to him after that. More ghostly than great. More invisible than impactful. More fucking fruitless than fucking fun. Like his team, there has been too much of that this season. Too many dry spells. Too many empty quarters. Too many minutes spent floundering.
Finished with 17 points (50.7% TS), 4 rebounds and 5 assists in 33 minutes — -23.0 net rating.
Austin Rivers: 2/10
There is a big Jaden McDaniels-shaped question in the starting lineup and he probably isn’t the answer. He tries hard, which is a low bar that many on this team fail to consistently clear, but he is also just kind of meh. His rabid defensive running creates more fouls and unpaid gambles than it does actual stops, and his offense is a flaming pile of ball-stopping brown stuff. He doesn’t have to be McDaniels or Jordan McLaughlin, but he needs to be better than this.
Finished with 4 points (40% TS) and 2 assists in 29 minutes — -37.1 net rating.
Anthony Edwards: 8/10
He deserves props for continuing to slam his foot on the gas pedal for the majority of the evening. He vroomed lithely around corners while many others went head-first into a fucking tree. He wasn’t the answer to Minnesota’s defensive disaster — although he also wasn’t the one getting the shit kicked out of him by Kristaps Porzingis — but he kept the Wolves afloat on offense and even revved their idling engine and with a few rim-crushers. For the second game in a row, he also got to the charity stripe 11 times.
This wasn’t the quintessential Ant-Man game. The one where he just stuffs the opposition in a locker and locks the door. But this was the kind of rugged leadership that every struggling team needs to foster. When the tide turns, these games will matter.
Finished with 29 points (60.8% TS), 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in 37 minutes — -33.6 net rating.
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