Player Ratings: Game 68 | San Antonio Spurs
Wolves survive some nervy moments to grab another win.
These games are a whetstone. They don’t have the same swashbuckling feel as the swordplay itself and they’re not going to glue us to the edge of our collective seats, but the weapons that those nights require aren’t as sharp without these whetstone games. While there are certainly bigger nights coming up on the schedule as we ramp up into the most exciting run-in and postseason that the Minnesota Timberwolves franchise has experienced in over two decades, there aren’t any off nights. This is all about sharpening the weapons and mastering the wielding of them.
The game ends 114-105. In the spirit of grinding their blade over that whetstone in every way possible, the Wolves gave us every inch of their spectrum. Every morsel of their majesty. They dazzled and they charmed and they stuffed the night with highlights. But, because they are who they are, they also teetered and lurched and stammered their way to the finish line.
Through slow starts and terrifying injury scares all the way to blistering stretches of dominance and seam-splitting crowd participation, this game had all of the hits. All of the things we’ve come to expect from the Wolves. It was as if you punched the season’s story into a AI generator. And, like an aura surrounding it all, Minnesota’s defense was atmospheric. It always is.
Aside from some scintillating shot-making by the barnstorming-but-late Spurs, the Wolves snuffed so many flames. It’s what they do. They plug gaps, pre-rotate and rotate and post-rotate, block shots, force turnovers, make every shot a hard one. Those mantras have infected the psyche of many a team this season, so it was no surprise to see them put the youthful Spurs in an unescapable chokehold.
Consider the sword sufficiently sharpened.
Mike Conley: 9/10
It’s funny how he’s just become one of the most deadly shooters on the planet since donning the Timberwolves colors. He didn’t need reinventing, he was perfectly perfect already, but since arriving he’s morphed into a deadeye killer with a flair for the dramatic and the timely. We often muse on his importance as a leader and an organizer, but there’s a fair argument to say his most impactful quality is how great he shoots the thing.
There weren’t too many theatrics needed in this one, but his reliability was welcomed with open arms and a melting heart. He didn’t have his usual dollop of playmaking possessions, but he always felt involved because he shoots the piss out of the ball. He knocks down a prayer to begin the game, opens the second quarter speeding out of a flex action to bury a triple, and then nails what ended up being two crucial threes in the infancy of the fourth quarter.
And yet, it wasn’t the shooting that headlined his highlight reel. There was nothing that ignited the building and injected momentum into the team quite like him picking the pocket of two Spurs in the backcourt and then scooping a contested layup into the twine all in one motion.
What a player.
Finished with 16 points (80% TS) in 20 minutes — +23.4 net rating.
Anthony Edwards: 10/10
If he could stop suffering career-ending injuries before returning to the game minutes later that would be fucking brilliant. My heart can’t take it and my post-traumatic Wolves disorder kicks into overdrive every time it happens.
Fortunately, that was the only palpitation in an otherwise free-flowing evening.
God, he’s good. Sometimes it’s worth just admiring how good he is. We don’t get superstars like him. Since Kevin Garnett it seems like the universe has consistently conspired against us to prevent his ilk from blessing us on a nightly basis. Some have teased, others have put forth valiant attempts, some have outright bellyflopped. None have given us everything we craved and doused us with even more like he does.
So, even on a cold March evening against a bottom-feeding San Antonio squad, he makes the price of admission worth it. Whether it’s walking into pull-up threes, dancing through the lane to challenge and ultimately defeat that gawky alien at the rim, or flying around to cause carnage as an off-ball defensive tank, he combines the substance with the showmanship.
Just stop limping off the court. Please.
Finished with 34 points (55.3% TS), 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and 4 turnovers in 33 minutes — +4.0 net rating.
Jaden McDaniels: 5/10
The offensive funk continues and shows no signs of remedying itself anytime soon. If anything, the bastard seems to be getting even worse. It’s a disease, infecting every quadrant of his offensive organs, spreading to the deepest cavities of his usually budding potential.
Not only is every shot clanging off the rim, but every dribble is like his hands have been replaced with porcelain plates and every pass is like he’s lobbing around a medicine ball. This isn’t an aberration for young players with tricky roles and heavily interrupted preseasons, but that doesn’t make it any less sigh-inducing as we watch it unfold.
Thankfully, he’s still a menace defensively. He might have the offensive capabilities of a used crayon right now, but he will lock your shit up on the other end. When he wasn’t sitting in gaps and essentially manning two players 10 feet apart, he was swatting shots and poking balls away and generally just being a 7-foot disruptor.
That needs to remain. The offense will turn a corner eventually, but he can’t lose his defensive DNA.
Finished with 2 points (20% TS), 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks and 3 turnovers in 26 minutes — -0.1 net rating.
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