Grizzlies 108, Timberwolves 106: Silver Linings Only Feel Good for So Long

Anthony Edwards and Naz Reid combine for 61 points, but they still come up short in crunch time despite another breakout performance by Rob Dillingham.

Twice in the past two weeks, the Minnesota Timberwolves have shown they are better than their record implies and have battled against a top-two team in the West and a consensus contender in the Memphis Grizzlies. Both times, they have held double-digit leads at some point in the game and have stifled a league-leading Grizzlies offense.

That should be cause for celebration. And yet, due to team-wide fourth-quarter inadequacies, an inability to keep pace in shoot-outs, and three-way off Anthony Edwards game-winning attempts, the Timberwolves are 0-2 in those games.

A huge part of the Minnesota experience is weathering the storm. When the bad is bad, it’s really bad. When Kevin Love breaks his hand doing knuckle pushups, it’s bad. When Jimmy Butler creates the most media attention the Wolves have ever had for all the wrong reasons, it’s really bad. When Wolves ownership is currently a toss-up between a crotchety, obnoxious billionaire, and two absolute question marks, it feels like the world is falling.

All of that is to say that is not nearly as bad as it could be. And yet, there comes a point where all those moral victories stop being exciting at all. Instead, they start to become irritating reminders of where we could be.

The Timberwolves, after last season’s breakout, are now 11th in the West at 22-21. The trade deadline is two weeks away. With roster construction problems and the second apron looming above their head, this team may not have any real shakeup until the offseason.

We’re stuck with this.

And while this iteration of the 2024-25 Timberwolves is certainly more watchable than the version that lost to the Portland Trail Blazers twice, we have reached the point where those silver linings that insisted that this team was still capable of their theoretical contender ceiling are no longer valid.

The Timberwolves, once again, have tons of problems to fix before they can hope to contend.

Let’s look at a few of them.

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Problem 1: Rudy Gobert

Look, either Rudy is hurt or he is starting what may be a rapid descent into the world of the “not all that good” territory. He is wearing a brace on his right ankle to support what may be a sprain. The brace is not helping his play whatsoever.

Gobert was never a player that passed the box score watching test. His numbers always understated his general impact. Now, he seems to have toned down his impact to match his stats.

The other unfortunate truth about this roster’s construction is that the Wolves can not survive an extended Rudy absence. There is no other center on this roster that can play consistent NBA minutes as a full-time five. Even if you consider Naz to be a five, there is no way he can be both the starting and backup center all at once.

To give Gobert the time to heal, the Wolves would have to fully commit to small ball, just one year after their supersized identity brought them to the Western Conference Finals.

This is a shortcoming of Wolves General Manager Tim Connelly, who failed to bring in even a playable center after trading Karl-Anthony Towns, who had been the other five on the roster last year. However, this does not excuse Gobert’s poor play.

He is rebounding at a career-low rate. His shooting splits around the rim are at league average, which for big men who can only score around the rim, is usually a terrible sign. His defense has not declined massively, but his offensive presence regularly outweighs the good he has been able to bring recently.

For the Wolves to win games like this, Rudy Gobert needs to be more than a league-average center who just sets really good screens. No one is asking for him to be anything special on offense, but he cannot keep playing as badly as he has been.

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Problem 2: Chris Finch

I want to preface this by saying that I am not a part of the group of Wolves fans who believe that firing a coach mid-season will fix anything. I especially do not agree with firing the coach who has now overseen the best stretch of team success in Wolves history without any real disastrous occurrence.

It’s really easy to scapegoat a coach when the team isn’t playing well enough to perform to heightened expectations. The Timberwolves have not played like a top-six seed this year after being one of the final two Western teams standing. That is placed at the feet of Finch for the same reason that Mike Brown is no longer the coach of the Sacramento Kings.

That being said, the Wolves have now played the most clutch time games in the NBA this year with 28. They are an extremely disappointing 12-16. In clutch-time situations (score within five in the last five minutes), the Timberwolves shot an atrocious 40% from the field and 26% from deep.

Part of that performance is that the actual players on the court have come up short time and time again. When the coach is responsible for preparation though, it is a hard case to make that this is not at least partially his fault.

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Problem 3: Anthony Edwards

Here’s the difficulty with writing this: Ant has been excellent since he spoke about how he wanted to play outside of facing constant ball pressure. He has regularly played well enough to earn what will likely be his third of many all-star trips. And yet, he leads the league in technical fouls and hijacks late-game scenarios without a plan to make that worth it.

Since hitting a game-winner against the Houston Rockets, it feels like Ant hasn’t made a shot late in the fourth quarter that mattered. (Fair warning, that may be a bit of recency bias). Tonight, however, when the game again came down to one shot at the buzzer, Ant airballed.

He is not above criticism. You take the good with the bad, but tonight, that bad stood out quite a bit.

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Honorable Mention: Julius Randle

I’m willing to write this off as a bad game from Randle that didn’t contain his usual pouting theatrics, but it’s worth noting that he was pretty awful tonight as well.

I tend to push back on the guarantee that he’ll be gone at the deadline when the Wolves priority is and should be freeing up money to keep Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, but it could very well be a possibility that he is no longer a Wolf in ten or so games.

But the guarantee I can give is that trading Julius Randle will not fix this team overnight. The issues run deeper.

PS. Rob Dillingham (15 p, 6/8 fg, +16) was really good tonight, which is super exciting to see.

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Up Next

The Timberwolves continue on their two-game road trip with a matchup against Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks. The game begins at 6:30 PM CT, airing nationally on ESPN.

After that, the Wolves return home for two home games against the Denver Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks. It will be their first time playing two consecutive games at home since December 19 and 21.

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