10,000-Foot Game Overview
With Anthony Edwards sidelined for an extended period of time, everyone was curious how the rest of the Wolves would respond. And well, it did not get off to the best start.
The hope was maybe that just a slow start as the team was adjusting to their new normal, but then Steph Curry Steph Curried. At one point, he scored 11 straight points in the second quarter and for the rest of the first half, you could hear a pin drop in Target Center as the Wolves went into the locker room down 64-48.
Thankfully,
basketball games notoriously feature two halves which would give the Wolves starting group some time to find themselves after a halftime tongue lashing. Unfortunately, things somehow got worse. The Warriors ballooned the lead to 24 before the Wolves’ bench unit, featuring Joan Beringer, TJ Shannon, Jaylen Clark, Bones Hyland and Trey Lyles, brought some needed energy and scoring to help cut the lead down to 12 by the end of the third quarter.
The final quarter turned into a perfect encapsulation of the game: The Wolves missed open looks, got frustrated and fouled (the Warriors were in the bonus by the 8:45 mark). Despite this, the Wolves lingered around. After a furious comeback to get it within four points and 32 seconds remaining, Jaden McDaniels missed back-to-back wide open 3-point looks that proved to be the final dagger as Minnesota dropped to 3-2 on the season.
Two Stats That Defined the Game
1. 44 – Points scored by Steph Curry
The shortest summation of the game is this: The Warriors had their superstar and the Wolves didn’t. It was a throwback performance for Curry who was brilliant on the offensive end, pulling the Wolves defense off-balance like it was on a string. Going a perfect 16 for 16 from the line in a game that ended up in the clutch is why he’s one of the best to ever do it.
2. +11 – Warriors advantage at the free throw line
The Timberwolves committed 29 fouls which led to 37 free throw attempts for Golden State. The fouls were a hallmark of the sloppiness that plagued the game for our favorite team. While the foul trouble plagued the whole game, it was after Steph’s second quarter heater that the team felt especially frenetic trying to chase the future hall-of-famer around screens.
Award Ceremony
Big Ticket Award: Joan Beringer and Jaylen Clark
The Big Ticket award goes to Minnesota’s MVP of the game, which meant tonight it had to go to someone in the group that pulled them out of blowout territory in the third quarter. Effort is a skill, and in a game where the Wolves lacked any kind of juice, Beringer and Clark’s shared minutes finally a heartbeat to an otherwise lifeless building.
Beringer outplays Rudy Gobert for the second straight game on his way to seven points on three for three shooting, along with nine boards. The rebounding is not only already an NBA-level skill, but a potential budding elite skill for the young Frenchman.
Jaylen Clark was let off the leash long enough to do Jaylen Clark things, finishing the game with a team high +8. Almost more importantly, he hit one of his two looks from deep. He was Minnesota’s best defender on Curry tonight in his very brief assignment, but he was the only other player (with Jonathan Kuminga) strong enough to slow rookie Yaxel Lendeborg. Would have loved to see Finch give him a longer leash as a reward for the game flipping during his minutes and influx of energy.
“Superstar Lacking” Award: LaMelo Ball
Woof.
Two bad games in a row for the Wolves prized off-season acquisition. From the get-go, Ball was pressing for his offense by hoisting three-pointers on his way to an zero for five start from perimeter. The overall plus/minus (-2) was salvaged a bit by the Wolves’ late run, but his final counting stats leave a lot to be desired. He finished with eight points, four rebounds, eight assists, and six turnovers on a putrid three for 11 shooting mark, including two of eight from deep. In the first game where the Wolves needed him to step up in Ant’s absence, he wasn’t just “not good enough,” he was bad.
Ball is the new head of an offense that just lost its center of gravity, so he deserves time to continue to grow accustomed to his new role and teammates. However, the Western Conference is not going to wait for him to get up to speed, and if he (and the Wolves) take too long, they may find themselves buried much further in the standings than they’d like.
“Kurt Rambis” Award: Chris Finch
This award (an honor bestowed upon less than stellar coaching) is always a hard one to give because a few facts need to precede it:
- Chris Finch has forgotten more about basketball than I’ll ever know.
- Was it just gameplan discipline for the players? There have been so many games where players have come out afterwards and said something equivalent to “We should have followed what the coaching staff was saying”.
That being said, the levers that Finch was pulling on rotations and matchups felt off all night. Jaden McDaniels had one of his worst defensive performances we might see all season, but part of that was because chasing a smaller and quicker player around screens all night has never been an elite skill for him. Curry used constant screens, tired McDaniels out, and then took advantage of mismatches all night.
A great counter to Curry going on a heater? Hunt him relentlessly on the defensive end. If that was part of the game plan, it was not emphasized.
The only other player that could generate offense for Golden State during the non-Curry minutes was Landeborg. For the majority of those minutes, the Wolves put Trey Lyles on him who was no match for the his strength and athleticism. Matching Kuminga to Landeborg’s minutes, or pulling the Jaylen Clark lever earlier, could have been a great way to force some tougher looks and take advantage of the non-Curry lineups.
Also, Draymond Green is done as a scorer in this league. Would have loved for the Wolves to bring earlier double-teams off him and force him to shoot all night. He botched easy layups all night.
We are only five games in so roles and rotations are all new (especially after losing your superstar), but the Wolves group on the floor felt out of sync all night as Finch scrambled for (mostly) unsuccessful answers.
Empty The Notebook
- Gobert didn’t hit a shot for the second straight game and Finchy even called an immediate timeout after Gobert failed to run back in transition to an open shooter. As the 20 minutes played indicates, he was bad tonight.
- TJ Shannon was our most reliable player at creating his own offense, but tonight it involved a lot of straight-line drives without much ball movement.
- Jonathan Kuminga played… pretty good? He hit three of six shots from beyond the arc on his way to leading the team with 20 points, but his game tonight lacked any huge impact moments that you would have hoped for in this matchup with his former team.
- Even after he beats your team, still got to respect the future HOFer
Game Highlights
Up Next
The moment we’ve all been waiting: The start of group play for the NBA Cup! On Friday, October 30th, the Minnesota Timberwolves will aspire to get a victory against the new-look Los Angeles Clippers in Minneapolis. The game tips off at 7:00 PM CT on DAZN-MIN and KARE 11.
