The season was scarcely dangling over the precipice. There was no real jeopardy being crushed upon the Minnesota Timberwolves in the grand scheme of a meanderingly long season. But feelings are often different from realities and it felt like everything hung precariously on this game. The mood music around the team was beginning to hit some menacing low notes and a loss against the floundering Washington Wizards would have sent it into a truly terrifying tenor.
The game ends 118-107. Disaster averted. It wasn’t the kind of deodorizer that completely wiped the stink away from Minnesota’s recent failings, but it was a necessary win on a night that demanded nothing but a necessary win. There was no room for another calamitous performance against another one of the league’s worst teams and, despite far too many nervy moments, the Wolves leave this one with their pride restitched.
Nothing came easy. It’s often that way during a slump-breaker. The Timberwolves aren’t in the sort of form that lends itself to a blowout win. They needed to scrap their way through some of their trademark sludgy offense, they needed to claw their way through Washington’s meager defenses, and they needed to survive.
Survival was all that mattered.
It certainly wasn’t pretty, but it was survival. The Wolves missed uncountable shots at the rim, they never found consistency with their long-range shooting, and they couldn’t defend well enough for long enough to build a big lead without a reliable offense. All of that resulted in a crawl to the finish line. Right now, though, the finish line feels glorious no matter how they arrive there.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker: 6/10
Hovered somewhere between quiet and understated. He wasn’t quite the swashbuckling scorer we’ve often seen when he draws the starting gig, but he wasn’t muted to the point of being a negative.
He plays the right way and that always makes him a viable option even when he doesn’t have his scoring boots strapped on. He still got Minnesota into their offense with basic efficacy, hassled Tyus Jones and Jordan Poole defensively, and continuously completed box-outs and chased down loose balls.
That’s just kind of who he is. He has a foundation of hunger and fundamentals that make him valuable even on a night when he can’t find the bottom of the twine.
Finished with 6 points (61.5% TS), 5 rebounds and 5 assists in 31 minutes — +12.1 net rating.
Anthony Edwards: 8/10
He makes this whole condensing an entire game into one number thing really fucking hard. He’s an enigma, he transcends single numbers. He is both the storm that rages on and the rainbow that comes after it. He’s jazz and heavy metal and every genre in between.
Right now, though, he’s struggling mightily to put together full games of brilliance in the way he was earlier in the season. There’s no denying that. Not only is his off-ball defense and playmaking displaying their usual spottiness, his shot-making has been playing hide-and-seek and he spends this game seeking that elusive rhythm.
Eventually, after some funky choices and three quarters of toing and froing, he finds the bastard. And when he finds it the Wizards crumble under its unfathomable weight. He buries them under an avalanche of jumpers, torpedoing drives, and hard-nosed finishes around the rim in a fourth-quarter outburst.
Eventually the weight of his scoring punch drags the Wolves over the line, but it didn’t come without its obstacles.
Finished with 38 points (55.6% TS), 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 turnovers in 34 minutes — +10.7 net rating.
Jaden McDaniels: 8/10
Jordan Poole doesn’t need to be stuffed into a locker. He stuffs himself in one every night. Jaden McDaniels can wedgie the best scorers the league has to offer, so it’s almost sad watching him stand in Poole’s general vicinity while he wedgies himself. This might be the league’s worst player, you know, just horrendous in every imaginable facet.
Anyway. McDaniels shadowed him even if he didn’t really need to, and on the other end he continued to grow into the season. He’s looking really comfortable as a groovy finisher around the rim with his flicks and flourishes while also providing a consistent source of catch-and-shoot jumpers. He still has a tendency to dribble into a crowd or force up a bad shot, but they need him to burgeon into a third option scorer and he’s shown inch by inch that he can do that.
Keep the ‘fro. Keep it. It’s easily the coolest thing on the fucking planet.
Finished with 13 points (54.7% TS), 5 rebounds and 2 steals in 30 minutes — +13.7 net rating.
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