The Minnesota Timberwolves have struggled a bit of bit this season, only one yr after making a run to the Western Convention Finals. The strain to again up these expectations mixed with a bit of little bit of roster turnover has compelled the Timberwolves to battle via numerous adversity this season, and now they’re caught attempting to climb up the standings.
In fact, that deep playoff run was ended by the Dallas Mavericks within the convention finals earlier than the Mavericks ultimately fell to the Boston Celtics within the NBA Finals. On Wednesday evening, the Timberwolves and the Mavericks will reunite in a rematch of that sequence, and the sport feels just a bit bit extra necessary because of this.
Earlier than the sport, Timberwolves stars Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert talked about what it means to get some revenge on the Mavericks.
“It is gonna be poetic justice,” Edwards mentioned. “It is gonna be lovely.”
“I believe they are a actually, actually good group,” Gobert mentioned. “They beat us within the playoffs final yr. They earned it, they performed rather well in opposition to us. I believe this yr once we’re gonna face this group, we’re gonna have the recollections of them beating us, celebrating. Hopefully there’s a bit of additional motivation.”
Timberwolves attempting to get out of play-in vary in Western Convention
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The Timberwolves have been one of the crucial inconsistent groups within the NBA this season as they’ve struggled to search out their id on offense and regain their ferocity on protection since flipping Karl-Anthony Cities for Julius Randle. Because of this, Minnesota is simply 22-20 and is at present in ninth place within the Western Convention.
The late-game execution has arguably been the most important downside for the Timberwolves. This has been a problem for this group even when Cities was on the roster and it has continued to plague it this yr. Time and time once more, the Timberwolves’ offense stalls out within the remaining minutes of shut video games they usually surrender leads on the finish of video games.
Monday’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies is an ideal instance. The Timberwolves held a lead for many of the fourth quarter, however they scored simply six factors over the ultimate 4:30 of sport time because the Grizzlies stormed again for a 108-106 victory.
The spacing on the offensive finish has been an issue for the Timberwolves on this scenario. When Gobert and Randle share the ground, it’s rather more tough for Edwards to get downhill and have an effect on the sport on the inside, forcing him into numerous contested perimeter pictures. The shortage of circulate mixed with the shortage of spacing results in numerous unhealthy possessions late in video games when the protection tightens up.
This is probably not a fixable downside for the Timberwolves, however they is also proficient sufficient to beat that on Wednesday evening in opposition to the Mavericks.