It just makes you squirm. Any one-point loss makes you squirm, but this one was especially avoidable for the squeamish. The clangor of an open look bouncing off the rim as time expires. A soft foul to give the Utah Jazz the lead. The leads that fluctuated from double-digits to gone entirely throughout the night. The Western Conference standings implications. The injury to Rudy Gobert that forced him to miss most of the evening. The kid who was traded for him having the best night of his young career. Ghastly stuff, all of it.
The game ends 126-125. The Timberwolves didn’t throw this one away and it certainly won’t show up on their season lowlights, but it was a painful one nonetheless. The Jazz are well coached and well drilled and even without their soon-to-be All-Star in Lauri Markkanen, they won’t beat themselves. Minnesota needed to beat them, Minnesota had chances to beat them, shit Minnesota probably should have beat them. But hypotheticals don’t show up in the win column.
And really it came down to one thing in this game. Defense. Starting defensive possessions well by scrambling through Utah’s off and on-ball actions, maintaining that intensity until the shot goes up, and finishing the possession with a defensive rebound. Sometimes the Wolves would do one or two of those things right, but they rarely did all three.
Even then, the Wolves had a shot. Their literal shot coming from a wide-open Jaden McDaniels corner trey as the clock sledgehammered to zero. Minnesota took and made more 3-pointers. They turned the Jazz over incessantly, creating points on the other end while wasting possession just six times themselves. They had more fast break points, assists and shot it better from the free throw line.
But, it was all about the defense and the rebounding. If they hadn’t allowed Utah to shoot 15-of-18 from the field in the final quarter, they win this game. If they hadn’t allowed two of those three misses to be hoovered up into putback points, they win the game. If they had just forced a tougher shot here or applied a better box-out there, they win this game.
And, when looking back at the scoreline and what it means for Minnesota’s playoff push, it really just makes you squirm.
D’Angelo Russell: 8/10
Bounced back from a stinking stinker to have some really nice moments in this one. A trio of triples started off his night with a sizzle and spark and he took care of the ball, moving it quickly and effectively all night long. He lulled a little in the middle two periods, but we know he has big fucking brass ones when it’s time to get a bucket late. Little ice-veined fucker, he is.
He pushes off a late Jordan Clarkson miss, rehashes some old memories by turning Malik Beasley into a gun-wielding traffic cone on the Target Center perimeter, and then floats in to tie up the game. Thanks to the result, it’ll be a bucket that fades into the annals of Wolves disappointment, but that shouldn’t take away from its importance at the time.
Of course, he had his usual smattering of shitty defense and non-existent box-outs, but he was a net positive overall.
Finished with 21 points (77% TS) and 7 assists in 31 minutes — +0.6 net rating.
Anthony Edwards: 9/10
Had a weird night. Rolled into the early tip-off in his usual early tip-off way. A matinee molasses that struggles to get things going while the sun is still up. Like a fucking vampire or some shit. You can imagine him hanging from the ceiling of his lair, dreaming about putting Gabe Vincent into a fucking sarcophagus.
But he got it going. In fact, while all seemed liable to tumble into a pile of dust in the third quarter, he was the great equalizer. As the rest of his teammates deigned to let the game wither, he dropped 17 points and doled out four assists, working from all three scoring levels and making the right reads when the defense collapsed on him.
Then, after sorta slipping back into sleepy mode to begin the fourth, he nailed two long-range haymakers as the game entered clutch time and kept throwing lifelines to Minnesota’s shoddy defense (of which he was a part). He ends the game with a bullet drive and a perfect read to the corner shooter — a play that deserves props for the execution rather than the result.
Again, another night that was seven shades of sick that scarcely felt close to his best.
Finished with 29 points (53.3% TS), 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals in 36 minutes — -4.4 net rating.
Jaden McDaniels: 3/10
Scratch the final miss out of the mind and launch that fucker into the abyss. Not every shot goes in. Not every game-winning attempt bounces your way. He’s a young kid star and that shot is but a building block on that journey.
However, he didn’t have a good night even before that final groin kick. He needs to stop fouling. It’s true, the referees don’t understand him. They fucking hate him. But he doesn’t help himself. A lazy reach-in or a frustrated push and all of a sudden he is spending far too long with splinters up his bum whilst his team needs him. Without him — and without Rudy Gobert — they just didn’t have the defensive punch they needed to stop dribble penetration or protect the rim.
Throw in a quiet scoring night and you have 48 minutes he would change in many a way.
Finished with 5 points (31.3% TS), 5 rebounds and 2 steals in 21 minutes — +23.8 net rating.
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