Coach Chris Finch noted Tuesday that the Wolves have been “average” the last few weeks
Minnesota may have found the team it’d least like to play in a playoff series come April or May: the New Orleans Pelicans.
For the second straight meeting between the two teams, New Orleans wiped the floor with the Timberwolves. And unlike last time, Minnesota was at full strength for Wednesday’s 117-106 defeat.
Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram got whatever they wanted Wednesday at Target Center, while Minnesota struggled to knock down shots.
That combination resulted in a contest that was essentially over midway through the third frame. For the first time all season, the Timberwolves have dropped back-to-back games. They were the last NBA team yet to do so. And they did so while in full health and with the Pelicans playing on a second consecutive night.
“We’ve got to figure it out,” Anthony Edwards said. “We suck right now.”
The Timberwolves simply don’t have a matchup for Williamson. The 6-foot-8 bulldozer makes Jaden McDaniels and Edwards, who best matched up with Williamson, look too small, and Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert appear too slow. The former No. 1 overall pick scored 36 points on 13-for-17 shooting in a 14-point win over Minnesota in mid-December and followed that up by scoring 27 points on 11-for-15 shooting Wednesday to go with six assists and four rebounds in just 29 minutes.
Williamson did not play in Minnesota’s two early-season victories over the Pelicans. Even without Williamson, Minnesota had to escape an Ingram barrage to beat the Pelicans by one in New Orleans in November. On Wednesday, Ingram had 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting.
“Give those guys credit—Zion is a tough cover, BI is a tough cover—but a lot of it was our lack of attention to our game plan. I think we were trying to send guys certain ways, and we just didn’t accomplish it out there. And that’s on us,” Mike Conley said. “That’s stuff that we can change individually while we’re in the game. We don’t need Coach or anybody to tell us. We know what we’re supposed to do and we didn’t execute that game plan. They just drove the paint, put too much pressure on us, and controlled the game from there.”
Frankly, any Pelicans player got whatever he wanted. CJ McCollum had his way with Conley en route to 24 points. Herb Jones went 4 for 4 from a distance. As a team, the Pelicans shot 56 percent from the field and 46 percent from 3-point range.
Then again, New Orleans (21-14) caught Minnesota (24-9) opportunely. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch noted Tuesday that the Wolves have been “average” the last few weeks. Even when they’ve won games, it’s been in a less-than-impressive fashion. Minnesota is turning the ball over frequently while lacking any kind of offensive rhythm.
Minnesota tallied 13 giveaways Wednesday while shooting just 32 percent from long range. The good news for Minnesota was that 26 of its 37 buckets were assisted as the Timberwolves made a concerted effort to move the ball. But the good shots that were generated simply weren’t knocked down. Still, it’s a step in the right direction.
“Guys were really looking to pass, I think at times maybe they passed up some shots or some drive opportunities I thought were there,” Finch said. “But all credit to them for trying to get everybody involved.”
Edwards scored 35 points, and Towns scored 22. Both scored double-digit points in the fourth quarter, when the game was long over.
New Orleans handed Minnesota just its second home loss of the season and did so in dominant fashion. This marks the final of four regular-season meetings between the two clubs this season, meaning any future contests would take place in the playoffs. At this point, there’s no guarantee that would work out well for the Wolves.
“Yeah, they’ve been playing very well. Last six weeks, top 10 team in the league,” Finch said. “But we gotta be better, we gotta be way better. If we wanna do anything in the Western Conference, we’re gonna have to go through all these teams that are playing really well.”
Be the first to comment