Inch by inch, little by little, things are braiding together. Soft schedule or no, the Minnesota Timberwolves are pilgrimaging toward perfect chemistry and 48-minute brilliance. They aren’t there yet, and it’s anybody’s guess when or if they will get there, but this was another step toward that lofty goal and another win to stuff in their back pocket for the journey.
The game ends 116-106. A scoreline that somehow doesn’t do the win justice and overstates it at the same time. At times, it was déjà vu all over again and, at others, it was a newfound sense of overcoming adversity with aplomb. A big old contradiction of an evening. In the end, it’s a pretty comfortable win, and one more shuffle toward on-court comradery.
Once again, by the end of the first period, things weren’t only clicking, they were fucking thriving. The ball-movement was a thing of wondrous beauty, the defense was stout and connected, and they were living a high-percentage life at the rim. Once again, they waned a dash in the second quarter, allowing the Thunder to start getting easier looks and finding life sloppier with the ball in their own hands. And, once again, their footing failed and all of that sloppiness and shot-quality and togetherness drifted away in the opening minutes of what is becoming the dreaded period after halftime.
However, that’s when things finally shifted. The same old story was rewritten and emboldened in a new light. They shook off the third-quarter blues by the midway point of the period, and started doling out some blues of their own. In the end, a lineup consisting mostly of bench guys put Oklahoma City in an unshakable bind, and the good guys finally skipped comfortably to a win.
D’Angelo Russell: 4/10
We’ve come to expect these low-energy nights to intertwine with the highs that he can produce. In games one and two, he strode confidently through the 48 minutes like a jaguar patrolling its kill zone, but that always meant that this game was around the corner.
He wasn’t necessarily bad. There were some slick pick-and-roll linkups with that big French fucker and he never tried to hijack the game with his own shot. He just wasn’t necessarily good, either. He was often just unsighted, popping up for a turnover here or a play-initiation there. Now, with another mouth for this offense to feed, these nights are probably easier to swallow.
Finished with 6 points (51% TS), 3 rebounds and 6 assists in 26 minutes — +2.1 net rating.
Anthony Edwards: 10/10
At some point, we’re going to have to host an inquisition into where the fuck this dude came from. Is he a deity? Should we be making alters in his name? Did he spawn out of the earth’s core? Was he a straggler that fell off the back of a spaceship?
He isn’t human, that much we can be certain of.
Wherever he came from, whatever lab he was created in, he spends this night proving his intergalactic powers to us all once again. He bulldozes and bulldogs and is all the way back on his bullshit at the rim, the jumper is silky inside and outside the arc, and he chips in with a hearty helping of rebounds and defensive toughness. In short, we was unstoppable.
To cap things off, it’s his presence alongside a plucky-yet-productive bench unit that wraps the game up in a neat little package and stuffs it down the fucking throat of the hapless Thunder.
Otherworldly.
Finished with 30 points (73.8% TS), 11 rebounds and 3 assists in 34 minutes — +30.0 net rating.
Jaden McDaniels: 9/10
He wasn’t active as a rebounder and his 3-point improvements haven’t carried over from the preseason, but he ticked every other box in a big fat marker.
The way he is now able to freeze his defender and then bound past them with long and awkward strides, matching it with an equally awkward-but-effective finish from the rim or short mid-range area is the most pleasant surprise of the young season. But his defense is no surprise. We know he creates havoc as a defensive playmaker and he spent this game just gobbling up anything loose like a gangly fucking hippo.
So important. So good.
Finished with 11 points (55.7% TS) and 4 steals in 27 minutes — +8.8 net rating.
Karl-Anthony Towns: 9/10
Choked some of those pesky demons out that have been harassing him. It wasn’t the quintessential KAT bonanza game — there was no 3-point barrage or scoring burst — but he was so precise, so measured, so calm, and so impactful. Instead of trying to throw hail Mary dimes, he simply chose the simplest pass and executed it to perfection. Even then, some of those dimes were the stuff of wet dreams.
He didn’t look to force his own offense — finishing with just nine field goal attempts — but everything was in the flow of the game and everything felt like it was going to drop because of that mantra. He just played within himself, took what the defense gave him, and dominated in a way that greased the wheels of the entire offense.
Sometimes, that’s all his team needs.
Finished with 15 points (69.7% TS), 8 rebounds and 5 assists in 30 minutes — +25.3 net rating.
Rudy Gobert: 8/10
His baseline performance is so fucking high. A giraffe’s dick of a baseline. Even without ever feeling like he was dominating, he hoovers up rebounds on both ends, cleans up missed jumpers with easy putbacks, and deters would-be scorers like he has a fucking forcefield around him.
He can get caught trotting in porridge when asked to defend in space and his hands can masquerade as big goofy frypans at times, but that baseline is so high that every time he steps his big baguettes on the court he is making a positive impact.
Finished with 15 points (72.7% TS) and 15 rebounds in 25 minutes — +0.1 net rating.
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