It's time for the Minnesota Timberwolves to wake up.
In the first two months of the season, the Timberwolves built an overwhelming lead in the Western Conference thanks to tenacious defense and tense execution in key moments.
By mid-January, they had a 30-11 record and looked like a real competitor. They have had a tough time with their schedule and are ready to make a substantial break against a series of less tough opponents.
However, instead of becoming a pedal for them to leap, this phase became a trap. In last Saturday night at San Antonio, the Timberwolves have a 2-3 record in their last five games, including a narrow win over the Brooklyn Nets and a home loss to the Charlotte Hornets.
The numbers are obvious. In their last five games, they have conceded a combined 47 points in the fourth quarter, including 22-33 against San Antonio. The Timberwolves lost an 11-point lead against the Oklahoma City Thunder, a 15-point lead against the Hornets and a 10-point lead against the miserable Spurs. During that period, their offensive efficiency in the fourth quarter was 83 per 100 possessions6 points, and the defensive effect is even more miserable, conceding 128 per 100 possessions1 point. That's the second-worst net score in the league in the last five games, at minus 44.
The most worrying part of this is that only the Thunder have a positive record among these five opponents. The Wizards and Spurs are both among the worst teams in the league, while the Nets are a team without superstars. The Timberwolves won the games they deserved to win at the start of the season with a mature performance and built themselves as a strong team as a result.
Recently, there has been some slippage in that maturity, and the Spurs game is just the latest heavy defeat.
Minnesota led San Antonio 90-80 at the end of the third quarter. The Timberwolves shot 60 percent from the field and 53 percent from three-point range, but failed to build a bigger lead due to poor defensive performance.
Coach Chris Finch started the game early in the fourth quarter with a lineup of Jordan McLaughlin, Sheikh Milton, Kyle Anderson, Naz Reed and Rudy Gobert. With Mike Conley sidelined with a hamstring injury, Finch's options have been somewhat limited, a lineup that doesn't give the Timberwolves much of a chance. Reid was the only scorer on this team, and for a team that struggled so the offensive end, they just needed more firepower.
In less than three minutes, the Spurs went 10-2 in this lineup, forcing Finch to replace Karl Anthony Towns and Nikkiel Alexander-Walker for Milton and Gobert.
It hasn't been a positive time for Milton throughout the season, and he has shown little sign of being able to turn things around. Finch has been impressed with Milton's defense lately, and he may be more interested in prompting a trade through a show. But on a team hungry to score off the bench, his attacking level isn't enough. Troy Brown JrHe hasn't been in the rotation since mid-December, and his three-point shooting is able to give the team some space that they're missing.
Anderson is such an important member of the team as a defender and playmaker, but his shooting weaknesses seem to have gotten worse this season as the season progresses.
Despite the lineup's poor performance at the start of the fourth quarter, the Timberwolves still had a two-point lead over the nine-winning Spurs with nine minutes left in the game, with Towns and Anthony Edwards both on the court. The pair combined for 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting, but both made two costly turnovers in the closing stages. Defensively, both of them weren't good enough.
Towns grabbed just two rebounds in the fourth quarter, and Edwards sent Jeremy Sochan straight to the basket.
In the final 10 seconds of the game, Jaden McDaniels fouled with 1The 1-second shot led to a one-point victory for the Spurs.
Edwards forced an ill-advised back-to-back jumper at the free-throw line and then inexplicably stopped the dribble to throw the final offense into chaos. Towns ultimately missed a jumper that could have earned the Timberwolves the game.
Edwards had 32 points, 12 assists and six rebounds, while Towns contributed 19 points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Both of them are full of individual talent and must do a better job at the combination of skills to benefit the whole team.
Finch needs to rotate more effectively and, as he often says, provide more tactical arrangements in the late stages of the game. When Conley isn't on the field, this team can get a little messy. Unfortunately, it was during this terrible period of play that he missed three games with Conley and was limited due to illness against Brooklyn.
As the deal deadline approaches, General Manager Tim Connery's top priorities should be clear. The Timberwolves need another playmaker, another player who can stabilize the situation and plan the offense when Conley is resting or out of the court for the entire game.
Losses like this are to blame on everyone. Finch has to coach better, the team's stars have to lead better, and the whole team has to understand that everything they've built up in the first two months is now a bit wobbly.
It must also be taken into account that this is just a bad week that can happen during the six-month regular season. The Timberwolves had an 8-7 record in January. Three of those losses came to the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics and Thunder, and there's nothing to be ashamed of. They also scored victories against the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers and Orlando Magic.
Last season, the Denver Nuggets finished the regular season with a 9-10 record before winning the championship. The Los Angeles Lakers were 29-34 before the trade deadline and then reached the Western Conference Finals. This season, the Clippers have lost all of their first five games in James Harden's debut, but they are out of trouble and now look like a real threat in the West.
That's not to say that the Timberwolves should expect to bounce back and win a championship easily, as the Nuggets did, but every good team has a tough time during the season. Finch is the second coach with the most wins in the team's history. He made the Timberwolves playoff for the third straight season and built the best defense in the league to date.
To a large extent, their problems are solvable. They have a record of 32 wins and 14 losses, which is second in the West. The lead they built up at the start of the season is now helping them through this slump. Reduce turnovers, optimize decision-making, and get the ball flowing. These are necessary and achievable improvements.
Now, the Timberwolves do have some real issues that need to be addressed. We've seen them play better, we've seen Finch coach better, we've seen defence overwhelm opponents, and we've seen Edwards and Downs excel in their technical stats.
The schedule is now tighter, starting with Monday's final game of this road trip in Oklahoma City. Perhaps that's exactly what the Timberwolves need right now. They look like a team that has turned a blind eye to their opponents and underperformed against Washington, Brooklyn and San Antonio. If they do the same in Oklahoma City, they get hit hard.
After a week of terrible basketball, it's time to wake up the team that had been at the top of the league for two months.