Maybe it would feel different if it was different. Maybe it would be harder to dissect the Minnesota Timberwolves’ slowly-rotting corpse if they weren’t so clearly punctured by the same blade in the very same spot every time things go awry. If that was the case, if there were different reasons for a loss, maybe this wouldn’t feel all so similar and all so vexing. Alas, the Wolves are felled by that same blade once more, with no new solutions and a little less hope that the corpse will ever stop decomposing.
The game ends 109-104. And potentially the last shreds of hope end with it. The Golden State Warriors — without Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green — waltzed into the Chase Center knowing Minnesota would lay an egg. It’s what they’ve done to should-be inferior opponents all season long.
And thus they did again. Of course, the Timberwolves got out to their obligatory big lead first. That’s always the first course of their never-ending buffet of buffoonery. Then they dish up their usual pile of steaming hot turnovers garnished with fouls on top of fouls. Then, like clockwork, they find themselves re-engaged and producing a sweet little run to put themselves in the driver’s seat once more, before rounding out the meal with inefficient and incomprehensibly bad late-game execution. All of it sprinkled with the ghoulish seasoning of missed free throws.
We’ve eaten those dishes before. We’ve swirled the same putrefied tastes around our palette. Yet we are forced to gorge on it once more. We are force-fed the same bland brand of basketball without a chance to take a breath or cleanse our tastebuds. At this point, it may be too strong a tang for this bumbling coaching staff or disappointing set of players to forget.
Mike Conley: 6/10
It’s so hard to judge him because he has to be viewed through his own prism. He isn’t what the team needs right now, he isn’t the scoring outlet that will lighten Anthony Edwards’ enormous burden, he hasn’t had the time or the pieces around him long enough to even be the leader he has been in Memphis or Utah. All of those things are true and, without Karl-Anthony Towns around, they fucking sting.
But those things were always going to be true. If you do view him through the prism of his own game, he was far from the Timberwolves’ biggest issue once again. His defense was really fantastic all night long — picking up full-court, switching relentlessly on the perimeter to stop Golden State’s intricate actions, and consistently being aware of backdoor cutters — and he nailed three treys while setting up a few handfuls of shots and taking care of the ball. That’s who he is. It’s unfair to expect more from him even if the Wolves are craving something with a little more pizzazz.
Finished with 9 points (64.3% TS), 3 rebounds and 7 assists in 34 minutes — -1.2 net rating.
Anthony Edwards: 2/10
We haven’t seen one of these for a long, long time. A night where he looked disinterested and dysfunctional. A night where everything was going wrong and he leaned into the famine. A night where every time he touched the ball it just reeked of bad decisions. Those nights were scattered through his first two seasons in the league, but he buried them on his way to becoming an All-Star this season.
This one was an ugly reminder of what it looks like when they slither back to the surface. A barrage of bad shot selection encased in a flurry of turnovers and underlined by consistently shitty defense. For all of Minnesota’s malpractice throughout the roster and coaching staff, they still would have stole away with this one if the usual brand of Anthony Edwards showed up.
Finished with 12 points (30.9% TS), 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in 39 minutes — +1.2 net rating.
Jaden McDaniels: 7/10
All of a sudden it feels like he needs to do so much more offensively for this team to win games consistently. D’Angelo Russell isn’t there anymore and with the removal of the icy-veined point guard’s warts there are also his scoring explosions missing. McDaniels hasn’t really ever had the reps to step into that role, and he seems to be stuck in his low-volume, high-efficiency game that makes him the perfect role player but an imperfect second or third option.
He did regain his defensive fuck-’em-uppery back. Good luck to any human on the fucking planet stifling Klay Thompson when he is in earthquake mode, but McDaniels did a very commendable job hustling through a cannonade of off-ball screens and getting a hand up to contest shots. The licking flames of his defensive inferno seemed to return after a few wet blanket games and that can only be a good thing moving forward.
Finished with 12 points (66.7% TS), 3 rebounds and 3 steals in 33 minutes — +0.1 net rating.
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