The question of this game was bound to come down to one thing and one thing only: could the Minnesota Timberwolves survive the loss of not just their starting point guard but also the superstar leader of their team? The answer: a resounding no.
Unfortunately for Wolves fans, it got even worse. There are now even more questions that have been hammered into bright red Xs, screaming unfortunate nos.
Can Julius Randle lead the Wolves to one singular playoff win as the team’s leading offensive option? Doesn’t
look like it. Can Jaden McDaniels upscale his scoring load with far fewer mouths to feed, especially after the amount of trash he has talked? Early returns are not conclusive, but also not encouraging.
What makes it even worse is a potential injury to Naz Reid, who collapsed at center court halfway through the third quarter after what seemed to be an inadvertent collision with Tim Hardaway Jr. We still don’t have any information on the injury, but I’m sure that update will hurt.
UPDATE: He came back out in the fourth quarter and continued to play with some clearly belabored movements, but nothing as bad as initial prognoses.
As if all of that wasn’t enough, there’s so much more to obsess about.
Let’s rapid-fire this:
- The Wolves were defeated by a Spencer Jones run straight out of the half, in which they bled threes and lacked any real playable options to challenge an opposing team’s run. Bones Hyland had moments, but there is clearly no option for explosive runs.
- Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokić played up to their regular standards. As noted by assistant coach Micah Nori, the Nuggets pushed Jokić to roll more often, leading to foul trouble for McDaniels as a helpside blocker, which in turn opened up Murray.
- Minnesota failed to find any easy shots for quick offense. They got outrun in transition, largely due to their nearly doubled number of turnovers.
- The forwards continued to struggle with foul trouble, just as they did in Game Two. This time it came in the form of Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle. Additionally, Ayo Dosumnu had a technical after trying to support Jaden after another scrum with Jonas Valančiūnas.
- An avalanche occurred in the third quarter, and everyone on the Wolves just kind of broke. Emotionally, competitively, basketball-y. They just fell apart. This does not look like a team that could even conceive of winning a fourth and final game this series.
It was certainly bleak. Truly, nothing seemed to fall into place. As I write this, there are still technically ten whole minutes remaining in this game, but that clearly does not matter. Even when the game was stuck teetering on close, the Wolves could not find a way to shrink the lead beyond a non-threatening five points.
There’s no real way to detail it. It was a simple answer. The Wolves did not have the juice tonight. The question is whether that continues to last for the rest of the series.
There was no hero tonight. Ayo Dosumnu was decent, but clearly not his 40-point self. TJ Shannon and Jaylen Clark were injected into the rotation with hopes of adding any energy, a call to action they failed to respond to. Bones Hyland made some shots but failed to mitigate the problems he was causing as a defender.
Unfortunately, no one played well. No one inspired enough confidence to bring some positivity to this conversation.
The most disappointing Wolf, however, has to be Julius Randle. While the question of him as the quote-unquote “best player” is disingenuous, the supposed number two was outplayed by Spencer Jones, had some less-than-ideal defensive effort, and had five turnovers.
When the Wolves managed to pull the deficit back down to single digits with just around four minutes left in the fourth quarter, it was a Randle live-ball turnover that led Denver back to a 15-point cushion.
The most infuriating losses are often like this. The second you start feeling hopeless, hope finds a way. Whenever that whispering voice of hope returns, the game finds a way to crush it to dust once again.
Excited that the game is close at intermission? Have fun with the aforementioned Spencer Jones. Getting fired up at a series of Julius Randle bully ball? Here’s a Christian Braun 3-pointer and a series of bad turnovers to put the game back out of reach.
Tonight was, in that way, a combination of bad luck, bad situation, and bad performance.
For Minnesota to avoid an embarrassing but understandable collapse, they need to do a lot of simple things better. Before garbage time, the Wolves had a baffling 24 turnovers. That is, apparently, the highest rate of giveaways the Wolves have had all season.
To follow that up, there needs to be a better emphasis on attacking the rim the way they did all series. Nikola Jokić is not a decent enough defender to prevent that level of targeting. As part of that, the more uncomfortable Jokič is on defense, the less flow the entire team has on offense.
Lastly, someone needs to step up. This is the least substantive of the thoughts. It’s just gotta be someone. Something has to happen.
Asking anything of this team feels like a lot, though. So much of the last two deep playoff runs have been defined by the magic of Anthony Edwards. Even before Minnesota had won a playoff series for the first time since Kevin Garnett, it was Ant that put that fear into these same Nuggets in the playoffs.
This time, it can’t be him. The last time there was a huge playoff hero that wasn’t Ant was Karl-Anthony Towns taking down — guess who — the Denver Nuggets in Game 7. It clearly won’t be him either.
If you’re wondering who can step up for the Wolves, the options really come down to Ayo Dosumnu and Julius Randle. It will likely have to be both of them to give the Wolves a puncher’s chance on a night like tonight.
Goodnight Wolves fans. I wish I had better news.
Up Next
The series heads back to Target Center for a pivotal Game 6 on Thursday. With a win, the Timberwolves will secure a first-round playoff series victory in their third consecutive season. If they lose, a dreaded Game 7 back in Denver.
The time and TV network for the game will depend on the outcome of Tuesday’s game between the Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs. If the Spurs win and finish out the series, the Wolves-Nuggets game will begin at 8:30 PM CT. If the Trail Blazers force a Game 6, then the game will be at 8:00 PM CT.
