Nothing was normal about this one. The players and the fans got a swift reminder of the business side of the league, but this was anything but business as usual. While Tim Connelly and Danny Ainge were in the surgery theater, wrist-deep in their organization’s flesh, picking organs out of their respective teams and replacing them with new ones, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Utah Jazz needed to find a way to warp things back to some semblance of normality. The Timberwolves did.
The game ends 143-118. A bounce back. A beatdown. A booming blast of brilliance. Another wild wave in this season’s murky waters. Whenever you think this team is devoid of confidence, shorthanded and stunted, or just generally ready to fall into a heap, they pull off something wild like this. Something that punts normality into another stratosphere.
It was just one of those nights. Just like, in the opposite way, their last time out against Denver was one of those nights. Where everything went wrong in Denver’s altitude, everything went right in Utah’s. This game was a free-flowing fantasy from the first tip, the Wolves shot 57.1 percent from the field, 53.5 percent from deep on a whopping 43 hoists, and perfect from the free throw line (8-of-8). You don’t lose those games, you don’t even have to sweat in those games. It’s not normal. Nothing in the NBA is normal today. And, yet, lurking on the other side of all of the trade deadline mist, the Wolves need to keep snagging wins. Job done.
Jaylen Nowell: 10/10
This night around the association was the antithesis of normal and this night from Jaylen Nowell was, too. It was a have a little bit of that kind of evening. A kick the fucking bars of the prison he’s been shackled in this season kind of performance. With D’Angelo Russell on a one-way flight to La La Land and Jordan McLaughlin still manacled to his minute restriction, Nowell was the next man up. They needed him to be something more than the wilting rose he has been so far this season.
Nobody expected this, though. This was a couple of levels more than anybody assumed he’d give. Except him. He knows, mostly to a fault, that he’s a ruthless bucket-getter. Inhales buckets. Pisses buckets into a bucket catheter. A six-pack of treys, a bevy of finishes around the rim, a few of his famous mid-range feathers, and a blank in the turnover column.
There’s just as much of a chance that this was a long-awaited return to form as it was a flash in the pan on a night where abnormality reigned supreme. Either way, he was everything the shorthanded Wolves needed and a fuckload more.
Finished with 30 points (88.9% TS), 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals in 29 minutes — +62.9 net rating.
Anthony Edwards: 10/10
Just picked up the hapless Jazz and fucking launched them into the abyss. This wasn’t the most points he’s ever scored, nor was it one of the defensive masterclasses we’ve seen him produce, it wasn’t even one of the games where his efficiency skyrockets like a hot air balloon filled with meth smoke. But it was an all-timer. Another Ant classic. It was unfathomable play after unfathomable play. Everything he did he did with a flourish. A sizzle of flair. A superstar’s mindset.
Where do you even start? The flurry of pull-up triples that wrenched any last hope away from Utah? The slithering drives and contortionist-level finishes that were littered through the night? The lateral sliding as a point-of-attack bandit? The perfect acclimation to his forced playmaking burden?
It was just highlight-laden and dominant. He’s the undisputed leader, now. He may have always been.
Finished with 31 points (56.5% TS), 7 rebounds and 8 assists in 33 minutes — +28.7 net rating.
Jaden McDaniels: 10/10
His third quarter was a little glimpse of what this team is going to need him to do now that D’Angelo Russell’s usage will be requiring dispersion. Playing the tertiary tendril of death alongside Edwards and Nowell, he was a more empowered version of the gangly grim reaper we’re used to. A few swooping scores in both transition and the halfcourt and some sweet passing as an off-the-catch playmaker. All of it mingling with his defensive hounding and an increased rebounding hunger like the ingredients of some skinny, straight-faced stew.
Finished with 14 points (88.8% TS), 4 rebounds and 4 assists in 25 minutes — +39.8 net rating.
Taurean Prince: 10/10
It’s so nice to see him back in a rhythm. He’s cool as fuck. He’s your cool uncle. He’s the one who gives you a beer when your parents won’t yet let you. And he’s a sticky lump of glue for this team. And, as we saw in this one, he’s more than just a shooter. Sure, the shots were (finally) dropping again — he nailed two of his three long-range attempts — but it was the dime-dropping and the defensive nous that stood out. Particularly the former in the category of ‘things he’s role rarely allows him to show’.
The seven dimes weren’t the cheap kind. Not the pass to a player who does all the work kind. The driving drop-off to Josh Minott was fucking sick. The corner whip-cracks out of pick-and-roll were sewn from the finest of playmaking silks. The whole night was weird, and he stole his chance to flash his deep bag amongst the weirdness.
Finished with 12 points (100% TS), 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks in 29 minutes — +31.1 net rating.
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