Did someone say another inferior opponent on paper descending into Target Center to play the Minnesota Timberwolves? Just me?
While playing great basketball so far this season and well above expectations,
the Phoenix Suns came into Monday night playing two games in eight days. 1.75 of those games were without Devin Booker, and their obligation in Minneapolis would be no different without their star player.
It posed a worthwhile challenge for the Wolves; an adequate team that plays hard without the worry of the elite-scoring Booker on the offensive end, and a team they were able to put 113 points up on last time they faced each other in Phoenix in a now-infamous 50-second fourth quarter collapse.
A good time to right the wrongs from ghosts of collapsed games past, the Wolves came out intentional offensively. Ironically, it was Rudy Gobert setting the tone on the offensive end. Phoenix ignored the Wolves’ big man in the dunker’s area, and three different players in the starting five found him for points off of screens, as well as being able to draw soft traps off of ball handler gravity and make the right play.
Gobert had 12 points at the half, which was crucial for a Wolves team that was struggling to shoot the basketball (27 percent from three at half), and drew a critical flagrant foul on Mark Williams at the beginning of the second half, who was having a stellar game.
But the thing about the Suns? They aren’t a team that rolls over. Any team that has Dillon Brooks on the floor is going to play hard and bring an edge to the game. After leading at the half, and with 7:59 left in the third quarter, they did just that.
In retaliation for the slap across the face just a couple of minutes earlier, he took on the other end, Gobert abandoned his responsibility of rising up and defending the rim to give a hard jab to Williams’ ribcage as he was going up for a layup. Williams hit the deck, and a soft clearing of the benches took place. Not only did it accelerate the chippines of a game that was already starting to percolate with unnecessary content, but the Wolves’ center would one-up Williams and pick up a flagrant two, ejecting him from the game.
The Timberwolves’ Frenchman is a prideful player. There are plenty of instances in which that’s gotten him in trouble before (just ask Kyle Anderson’s chest). This was one of those times. In a game where he was getting all of what he wanted on the offensive end and picking up slack that other players were leaving him, it was an inexcusable play from him that forced Anthony Edwards to throw the cape on more than he already had at the point (Edwards had 32 points with three minutes left in the third).
To pile on, the minutes without Rudy Gobert on the floor haven’t necessarily been stellar. The frontcourt of Naz Reid and Julius Randle has a hard time defending and rebounding. If there was ever a time for the tandem to reverse course, and for the young wing combo of Jaylen Clark and Edwards to help out in both aforementioned facets, it was then.
Simply put, Gobert’s ejection would either signal a jolt of energy or prove to be a careless mental error for a team that’s committed plenty of them in costly games.
It ended up being the latter.
Lackluster offense, poor ball contain, and the inability to keep Phoenix out of the paint are what ultimately did them in
On the cusp of grinding out a gritty win that would have been an impressive one given the team they were playing and the player they were playing without, the Wolves put up just 21 points in the fourth quarter, getting outscored by three.
The margin of defeat? You guessed it.
Welcome to the Rotation, Bones Hyland
It’s no secret that the Wolves have struggled to score the ball off the bench this season. Outside of Naz Reid, look up and down the bench, you might end up shrugging your shoulders.
Chris Finch essentially did just that on Monday night. Informing Bones Hyland during the afternoon that he would be playing that evening, the rotation change paid off with Hyland leading the Wolves in points off the bench with 14 (4-6 from three).
“He’s been patient, playing really well, and in practice doing everything that we’ve asked him to do,” Finch said, noting that 24 games into the season, it was time to try something new. “We need a spark there.”
The new thing needed was moving away from second-year guard Rob Dillingham, perhaps the hottest button topic in Wolves kingdom as of late. Thought to have a clear runway to the backup point guard role with strong play, Dillingham has disappointed.
For a while, it was warranted to keep giving the young player run in hopes he finds his way. But 24 games in, what’s the definition of insanity?
A byproduct of his three turnovers, Hyland picked up the offensive pace and knocked the Suns onto their heels with how he pushed the ball in transition. A team-high plus seven, he was crucial in mitigating some of the points off turnover damage from the Suns early on by fighting fire with fire.
“As a player, you have to just sit back and enjoy your journey, enjoy the process,” Hyland said after the game, reflecting on his unconventional path to his night on Monday. “And most important, just be a good person…things come back to you when you’re a good person.”
One of those things that might come back around his way? A rotation spot to lose.
Emptying the Notebook
1.) If you’re into moral victories, the Wolves almost put a gritty win together by playing good defense without Rudy Gobert. If you’re not into that stuff, it just wasn’t a good enough offensive effort down the stretch. Gobert posted a near team-worst 136 defensive rating. The defense, especially in the first half, was pretty putrid. Ironically, it got a little better after Gobert’s ejection. Call it effort, scheme, whatever it may be. But this version of the Naz-Randle frontcourt has proven that, at a minimum, it can be serviceable. Now we wait for all of it to come together with that unit.
2.) Anthony Edwards should be able to win games on off nights. He kind of did on Saturday, but the Clippers are bad. He just needs a little bit more help from his teammates, and a combined 4-26 from the field from Naz Reid, Jaden McDaniels, and Donte DiVincenzo just isn’t going to do it. Especially on a night when Gobert was essentially the second biggest offensive factor while he was in the game and Julius Randle was able to pick up a little bit of the slack, this team continually finds itself short of answers against these good teams when they desperately need one. The regular season is a long one, and that needs to be an answer that has to be consistently found.
Up Next
A few days to figure things out and perhaps for Rudy Gobert to take a couple of deep breaths, the Wolves won’t play again until Friday night, heading out west to play the Golden State Warriors.
Winners of back-to-back games, a familiar face in Jimmy Butler will await Minnesota at the Chase Center. Tipoff is set for 9:00 PM CST.
