It feels a little early to say that the Minnesota Timberwolves needed that, but they really needed that. They needed the energy of a feverishly roused Target Center to bolster their cause and fuel up the season’s engine. They needed a huge second-half run to awaken the spirit that seemed so dampened on opening night. They needed their fan favorites to turn up and show out. They needed Jimmy Butler to sheepishly avoid another embarrassment. They needed to kickstart their season. They needed that win.
The game ends 106-90. With Butler cowering under a veil of toughness and unable to play due to the weight of it all — and another former flame Kevin Love out injured — it was a game that should have been won. Those should-have-been nights had a way of hacking Minnesota off at the knees last season, though, so it never felt like a foregone conclusion.
In fact, for much of the night it felt like a familiar slog. That same wading through the swamp that plagued them in these kinds of games last season. Overcoming the devil on the shoulder feels more relieving than it probably should. It wasn’t until the final moments of the third period where the Wolves found some much-needed separation, but when they did the dam wall burst apart and the deluge swept the shorthanded Heat aside.
The fourth term was a mere procession. A parade of buckets for the Wolves, a clogged-up clusterfuck for Miami, and a raucous crowd berating Butler’s general scaredness. They needed that. We all needed that.
Mike Conley: 8/10
This was the metronomic Mike that the team missed in the season opener. The one you can set your watch to. The conductor and the coordinator and the controller. Whenever things divulged into a frenetic mess — and they often did — Conley grabbed the reins and kept the offense from bucking themselves into misery.
All six points first-quarter points that he scored from foraging toward the rim out of pick-and-roll play just felt like the perfect encapsulation of his understanding of the game’s zeitgeist. The Wolves needed someone to still the jangling nerves and he delivered with cool aplomb.
Then, he spent the night interjecting himself sparingly but in a timely fashion. A couple of triples, some of his empty corner playmaking brilliance, and a few patented floaters. All of it without the fucking scent of a turnover.
Finished with 15 points (70% TS), 4 rebounds and 5 assists in 29 minutes — +33.0 net rating.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker: 6/10
It’s hard to see past his first quarter. It was the stuff of nightmares. It was a many-eyed beast from the underworld gnawing at our collective basketball soul. Not only were the long-shots clanking — which is becoming a theme of his preseason and now regular season — but he was a sloppy mess in general. If he wasn’t loose with the ball offensively, he was being picked off by on and off-ball screens defensively and allow Tyler Herro to tear up Minnesota’s plans.
That happened. Those night-terrors happened. It’s best to note them and file them as a data point. But it’s important as well to acknowledge that his incessant hustle turned this from a hall of shame performance to something that is worthy of building upon.
Outside of a pretty banker and a corner 3-pointer, he never really got the offense to come around, but he was so menacingly spectacular defensively in the second half that it was hard to ignore or berate him. He was everywhere; poking at loose balls, skinnying himself through those screens, blocking shots, launching contests at shooters, and then digging around to help the rebounders.
He will need to be better offensively, but hustle takes you a long way and he’s got the bastard in boatloads.
Finished with 5 points (31.3% TS), 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in 23 minutes — +19.4 net rating.
Anthony Edwards: 7/10
We’re still yet to see the Anthony Edwards that captures our breath and drops our jaws. As a scorer, he seems more confused than confident, more worried that wow. Up until his final game-burying flurry of buckets, that feeling continued to permeate through this one.
What helped his case was his ability to make plays in other ways and do it when it mattered. When the fourth-quarter whips started cracking, he turned to his oft-maligned playmaking to get the job done. Instead of trying to hero-ball a win, he had a barrage of passes that found the open man in the corner or at the elbow while the game was still there to be won.
That’s the shit that should get the blood pumping of the fan base. We know he will rediscover his scoring powers. We all know he’s a superhuman bucket-getter. This tertiary stuff is what will help the team win games when the shot isn’t there.
Finished with 19 points (59.8% TS), 2 rebounds and 7 assists in 33 minutes — +35.6 net rating.
Karl-Anthony Towns: 5/10
Much like Edwards, he just feels like he is floating in an uncomfortable orbit offensively.
Every decision feels like it’s overthought and everything is pocked by the clammy breath of indecision. And, while he wasn’t poor by any means, he wasn’t able to find the same defensive ruggedness that buoyed him in Toronto.
He just seems unsure of himself on the court. Unsure of when to shoot a 3-pointer (when he is open would be a start) and when to drive. When to set screens. When to pass to Rudy Gobert. When to initiate two-man game with Edwards. When to do all the things that usually come so natural to his game.
This feels more like a concerning phase than a concerning new normal, but concerning is the concerning part.
In the end, Chris Finch has no option but to ride the hot hands to end the game and KAT’s hands were fucking freezing.
Finished with 12 points (46.6% TS), 10 rebounds and 2 assists in 36 minutes — +13.1 net rating.
Rudy Gobert: 10/10
There is a different air about him right now. No longer is it musky and damp, this is fresh and fragrant and fucking phenomenal.
His athletic return is obvious on offense, where he is running the floor like a thief and bursting out of pick-and-rolls like a fucking bull out of a chute. Compared to last year’s lukewarm lobotomy, it’s so striking to see him moving like that. Even his catching, finishing and offensive bag (he hit another push shot in this one) seemed to have taken a mini-step forward.
Where you really feel the new old Gobert is on the defensive end. That’s his hunting ground. He’s like a grizzled lion, back in his old savanna. To put it more simply, he’s fucking dominating defensively.
In his eight fourth-quarter minutes, the Heat scored one basket and two free throws. Let that stew for a second. He didn’t do it alone, of course, but Gobert anchored that defense. He put a lid on the rim. He rotated, he jumped at shooters, he cut off passing lanes, he forced misses and he prevented shots from even going up.
That’s the man who hoisted three shiny trophies for defensive excellence. That’s the man you can build an identity around.
Finished with 15 points (77.8% TS) and 14 rebounds in 31 minutes — +21.5 net rating.
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