On October 5th, the Minnesota Timberwolves played a preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks in which the Wolves won by 19, behind a perfect 5/5 shooting night from Antonio Reeves, who is unfortunately no longer a member of the team.
Now, just under a month later, the Wolves will look to bounce back from a Halloween night loss to the San Antonio Spurs by looking to take out what is expected to be one of the worst teams in the East. Even if Minnesota is without Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert, they
have more than enough talent to keep themselves above the 500 mark.
Let’s get straight into some things to look out for, and some predictions, for Monday night’s game.
Game Info
- Who: Minnesota Timberwolves (4-3) vs Milwaukee Bucks (1-5)
- When: Monday, November 1st at 7:00 PM CT
- Where: Target Center – Minneapolis, MN
- Local TV: DAZN-MN, DAZN-SAS
- Radio: 830 WCCO
Fouling (and Finding) Out
If you missed the Timberwolves Halloween hosing by the refs on October 31st, I don’t blame you! You would’ve been better off enjoying some candy or horror movies – not my thing, but certainly someone’s – than spending the evening watching as the officiating simply moved further and further in San Antonio’s favor in a night in which LaMelo Ball fouled out.
However, to act like fouling hasn’t been a concern for this Wolves team so far would be simply disingenuous and wrong.
Of all the Wolves’ issues, from the injuries to the offensive inconsistency and the fit issues between Ball and Gobert, the biggest one fully in this team’s control is the positions they put themselves in with the referees. Part of the blame can be on the zebras (in Ant’s words), most of it must be on the players.
Especially on LaMelo Ball and Jaden McDaniels.
The Wolves have six different players (Ball, Gobert, Edwards, McDaniels, Ayo Dosunmu, Jonathan Kuminga) averaging over two fouls a game through only seven contests. While that pace will surely balance out as the season goes along, it’s still quite a lot of fouls to be committing.
Beyond the 24 points-per-game in free throws those penalties could allow (not an exact science), foul trouble has kept many of the Wolves’ most important players out of the game when the team needs help.
Even if the Bucks look like a bad team on paper, the Wolves aren’t much better than them without two of their top three players and even more valuable pieces warming the bench because they antagonized the refs. Avoiding fouling will be paramount to getting back on track this season.
Exhaustion looms large
The Wolves have now played five games in seven days, including an overtime game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second game of that stretch.
Safe to say they are exhausted and in need of rest they are not going to get. Despite that, Minnesota is scheduled for this match against the Bucks just two days after their second back-to-back in five days. This is just a brutal set of games for any team to go through, and the Wolves being forced to do so without their two most floor-raising players means bad things for fans hoping for 50 wins.
Exhaustion is often underemphasized in the NBA. Stamina in games is properly accounted for, but stamina in seasons is not.
With how many star players have gotten hurt lately, maybe that’s bound to change.
The NBA season is a marathon, not a sprint, but the Wolves have started their season with an obstacle course and ankle weights. To survive this stretch, maybe playing some deeper bench options in the hopes that they can simply eat innings, let alone help win games, could be a smart choice for head coach Chris Finch.
Either way, with only three games in the next weeklong span, the Wolves should slowly be able to catch their breath.
Good Melo or Bad Melo
So far this season, Wolves fans have experienced the highs and lows of what LaMelo Ball can be.
To start the year, his fit with Anthony Edwards created gaudy scoring numbers and exciting highlights as the roster purred in sync, along with truly glorious crowd pops that only Target Center and maybe a handful of other arenas can produce.
However, over the past handful of games, LaMelo has been far less consistent and far more deserving of criticism. Last game, his fouling, although it was certainly exaggerated and embellished by the Spurs, left the Wolves without their offensive engine as San Antonio ran away with the win.
The highs have always been there for Ball. It’s why he won Rookie of the Year over Ant in a year in which LaMelo was more exciting off the jump, while Edwards proved to be more consistent over a long season.
Stability, though, is what the Wolves need from him now. Without Ant present, Ball needs to be the offensive fulcrum he was for the Charlotte Hornets last year, in place of the organiser and maestro he’s been to date in Minnesota.
Against the Bucks, who lack any particularly amazing defensive players, LaMelo should be dominating the ball and the opponents en route to a Wolves win.
Predictions
If the Wolves do not win this game, I will be hiding in a bunker as Wolves Twitter proceeds to light the world on fire with takes about the recently benched Naz Reid and the worries of that 2033 first-round pick, which might not even matter if an asteroid hits the Earth or sports betting continues to burn at the fabric of league optics and fan interest.
Either way, Minnesota should take this one comfortably.
