Hawks 117, Timberwolves 104: Another Late Game Failure Raises Questions

Another game that went true to script has many rightfully asking if the starting five should be staying together

It’s the time of the season where a career game from a solid, but pretty average NBA movement shooter in Garrison Mathews began another official losing streak for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It’s not like Mathews’ field goals were out of the ordinary. They were actually one of the easier shots for an NBA player to make; a wide open corner three.

Failures to closeout and rotate will make Mathews look like prime Kyle Korver. On Monday, that happened.

Despite yet another good Naz Reid game and finding offense as the game went on, a pitiful first quarter and lackadaisical offensive fourth quarter added up to equal the third three-game losing streak of the season.

The 2023-24 Wolves never had a three-game losing streak during the regular season.

You could tell early on that it was a Minnesota team that had to travel after a backbreaking two game homestand.

The game started out just as they all have. Disorganized offensive basketball, pathetic transition defense, and an overall clear lack of communication when the defense was set, which led to Mathews getting going early and easier runs to the basket.

The Hawks started things out on a 27-9 run. Naz Reid’s bucket with 1:50 to go in the first was the Wolves’ first basket in nearly six minutes.

It parlayed into a nice second quarter for the Wolves in which they got back into the game and miraculously took a halftime lead. They shot 53 percent from the field in the period and 57 percent from three.

The spurts of offense from this team, mostly with the bench unit in is palpable. There’s a rhythm that gets injected into the ball and shots fall. A lot of it was spurred by a 23 point night from Naz Reid and excellent two-way play from Nickeil Alexander-Walker (none of this is new, it’s just worth being repeated).

But it can only take you so far. A 38 percent fourth quarter from the field and 12 percent from three with the same defensive script of soft closeouts and soft nature at the rim ended up being the kiss of death in a third straight double-digit loss for the Timberwolves.

The vast difference between the play of the bench unit and starting five is sizable. With another game that slipped away because of the same bad habits, it’s fair to ask if it’s time to shake things up and make an adjustment to find better combos both in the game, and to start it.

“Everything is always on the table for sure,” Head Coach Chris Finch said afterwards.

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Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Time For a Shakeup?

There comes a point in time where changes could be made to the starting lineup. It may not come next game, it may not even come next week. It certainly needs to be considered at this point given the holes that the Wolves find themselves in early in games while Reid and Alexander-Walker are expected to throw on the cape.

Randle has a natural fit with the bench unit and the shooters he’s surrounded by, and Reid’s ability to relocate and be a catalyst for ball movement is something that could behoove the starters and possibly get things back on the right foot.

Finch alluded to the fact that Randle and Donte DiVincenzo already have some chemistry in knowing where each other are on the floor perhaps a bit better than the others who work with Randle on a heavier basis.

DDV and Randle have played 369 minutes together this year. It’s the fifth highest player DiVincenzo plays next to in terms of minutes; they have a -0.9 net rating, compared to a player the former Villanova standout plays with more in Rudy Gobert, whom he has a -4.2 net rating next to.

Inject Randle into a three-man group with DDV and Nickeil Alexander-Walker? a 5.4 net rating.

It’s now been two games in a row where the Wolves have had to dig themselves out of near 20-point first quarter deficits, and that cannot be sustainable moving forward if you’re looking to right the ship. It just can’t.

It’s not like they’ve passed the eye test with flying colors in other games either. When there’s not much of a leg up at this point that they provide you early in games, it becomes a problem worth taking a closer look at

Finch could very easily do the thing where he sticks with his guys and it ends up working out in the long run, but as someone who watches games from the media area and his couch, my unprofessional opinion and less educated one than the coaching staff’s says some shifting should start to take place.

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Photo by Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images

Emptying the Notebook

• Josh Minott gave some really good minutes, to the point where the Wolves have a problem on their hands of who their ninth man in the rotation is going to be on a night to night basis between Minott and Rob Dillingham. He finished +8, the only player on the team to finish positive alongside Alexander-Walker.

• Another really bad Rudy Gobert game. He’s starting to stack them. He got pulled in the fourth quarter and didn’t close the game after allowing a crucial tip in to Clint Capela while being in good rebounding position. A lot of blame is currently going on Julius Randle right now, but Gobert’s rebounding has also dove this season. Any hope of getting back on track has to come with him playing closer to himself last year.
• The officials weren’t great. The Wolves didn’t shoot a single free throw in the first quarter and had some questionable touch fouls called in the second half down the stretch. I think it’s fair to call Monday a bit unbalanced. You have to wonder if it had anything to do with Anthony Edwards’ comments after last game.

• Outside of the first quarter, I actually didn’t mind this game from Julius Randle. It started out 0-5 from the field with his first field goal coming at 10:20 in the second quarter, but the defensive effort was much better. Spacing continued to be more of an issue tonight than overall effort. The Wolves can win with that performance.

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Up Next

What would you rather currently do? Talk to your family or watch this current iteration of the Wolves?

You’ll find out on Christmas day, as the they head to Dallas for a date with Luka Doncic and a hot Mavericks team, who have won back to back games by double digits. Tipoff is at 1:30 CST.

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Highlights