All indicators pointed towards Wednesday night being smooth sailing.
The Washington Wizards came in with a lowly 1-12 record, and it was shaping up to be 1-13 at halftime with the Minnesota Timberwolves
up by 25. Pack it up and head home, it’s a school night, right?
Not so fast!
In case you got in a fight in the stands and got knocked out at halftime, somehow waking up with 3:52 left in the fourth quarter, you would notice that the 25 point lead evaporated to five, and were likely just as confused as the thousands of other people around you.
Nothing at the start would have indicated incoming problems. Anthony Edwards started out hot with 12 first quarter points, Julius Randle was getting to his spots and getting to the free throw line, and Naz Reid kept his run of hot games rolling with 23 points in the first half, on pace for his career high.
All without Jaden McDaniels, it the midst of a career year, and snapping his iron man streak of 157 straight games played.
But Washington made an adjustment at halftime to trap more in the paint. What became easy spots to get to in the first half for Randle and Edwards in the first half quickly became harder to come by. It forced pass outs to the perimeter and a Wolves team that was already struggling to shoot the basketball to let it fly from deep. Towards the end of the first, the Wolves were shooting 33 percent from the field, and finished the game on a similar note from deep (34 percent).
The Wizards plan was simple. We will do everything to keep you from bleeding us dry in the paint with your two best players.
While it rattled a cold-shooting Wolves team that was stagnant from a ball movement perspective in the third quarter (the Wolves hot 35 percent from the field and 12 percent from three in the quarter), they would go on to find solutions in the fourth in attacking the glass and putting more energy into the ball.
As he’s been doing all season, Julius Randle was the prime suspect later in the game in carrying the Wolves through to the finish. Randle went 4-6 from the field in the final period and was able to get to the line and use the Wizards aggressive approach in the paint to his advantage.
Randle finished with a 32 point double-double.
While ghosts of two seasons ago looked to be upon Target Center on Wednesday night in letting the rope go against a bad Wizards team down Alex Sarr, they ultimately fended them off and continued their run of beating who they should.
Now, for the latter challenge: beating a team at or above their level.
Up Next
The Wolves will end their homestand and head south to take on the Phoenix Suns for their third NBA Cup group stage game of the season. It poses to be a tougher test than the Wizards, with Phoenix looking to have true play-in team potential, sitting at seventh in the Western Conference.
The Wolves set up well to advance from group play in the cup, but the real challenge in their group stage schedule lies in the two finale games, both in the desert and in Oklahoma City.
Tipoff on Friday is at 8:00 PM CST.
