The ESPN primetime matchup between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Lakers perhaps wasn’t what it was billed to be before the season, versus what it ended up being on the floor.
Still down Anthony Edwards and Jaylen Clark, the Wolves faced a Laker squad that could only physically dress eight players for Wednesday night’s game.
Unfortunately for the Wolves, the unfortunate injury narrative that everyone has become used to over the last week was mirrored by the on-court product.
Uninspired and downright asleep at times, the Wolves refused to box out a Laker team that consistently crashed the glass, getting out-rebounded 23-16 in the first half.
Heavy underdogs heading into the evening, LA was able to get into a rhythm by generating second chance points and finding success in the paint with Rudy Gobert off the floor by way of Austin Reaves (18 first half points) and DeAndre Ayton (12 first half points), go on to shoot 60 percent from the field, and be up 11 to 4 in second chance points.
Much of it was due to Rudy Gobert being rendered completely ineffective. With just five rebounds through three and a half quarters, Gobert was having a challenging time boxing out and getting beaten to his spot by a player in Ayton who frequently catches criticisms for leaving meat on the bone night in and night out.
Not on Wednesday.
With 102 points two minutes into the fourth quarter, it was another porous effort from the Wolves on that end of the ball, and matched with an offensive stinker as well.
Jake LaRavia would go on to finish 10-11 from the field (yes, you read that right), with most of his production completely unguarded. LA would go on to finish with a similar halftime mark of 53 percent from the field and match it with a 35 percent night from three.
Though it all was shaping up to be a blowout, it wasn’t all bad and wasted for Julius Randle and company, who continue to look like an all-star and use space effectively to playmake and get to the basket on mismatches.
Down 15 points with six minutes left, the Wolves would finally find some fight and make a run back. All of the things that were problems in the first three and a half quarters were completely inverted. Team rebounding became important, swift offense became important, all culminating in what looked like a Randle game-winner.
The bugaboos just came back for one last possession; a missed blitz from Rudy Gobert on a screen, finding himself in no man’s land, and giving a clear runway to Austin Reaves for a game-winning floater that he would make in his sleep.
An exclamation point on a night that should have never happened, against a team that the Wolves should have put away in the first half. How do I know this? They showed it in six minutes in the fourth quarter.
“When it’s winning time, you start to see people hitting people a little earlier in box outs, people are jumping above the rim with two hands to grab the rebound and not with your hands down…we’re all in a whole ‘nother state, and that just can’t be our way of life around here,” Mike Conley said after the game, reflecting on a switch that needed to be flipped earlier.
Does all of this sound familiar?
While coach Chris Finch made a couple of defensive adjustments at halftime in how they play off of screens in switching a little bit more and attempting to blitz, none of it really mattered. The current consistent competitive level of this team to contain the ball before penetrating the paint does not exist. Typically, they find it eventually, and everything ends up evened out by the time the snow hits the ground.
But massive issues remain with this team, and getting on the same page fast should be a priority for a team whose theme heading into the season was continuity. Or else, we’ll be writing the exact same story night after night.
Up Next
The Wolves will hit the road and take on LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets, kicking off a quick three-game road trip. Charlotte poses another tough defensive test for Minnesota, as they currently post a 120 offensive rating as a team, good for fourth in the league.
Tipoff is at 5:00 PM CT on Saturday.
