Heat 95, Wolves 94: Many Mistakes Late in the Game Led to Loss

The Timberwolves had the lead much of the second half, but mistakes down the stretch of the game cost them the win

The best part of the NBA is that there is a game nearly every other night and the worst part is that there is a game nearly every other night. Tonight, the Minnesota Timberwolves took on the Miami Heat. It was the Wolves’ third game in four nights with another back-to-back coming on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Wolves have done well with the compact schedule so far, winning their previous three games by an average margin of over 20 points. All of those wins came against teams below .500. That trend would continue as the Heat have started the season 3-5 coming into the game tonight.

The Heat were not fully healthy coming into the game with Jimmy Butler spraining his ankle Friday night against the Denver Nuggets. Butler missing games at Target Center has become a bit of a pattern as he has not played against the Wolves in Minnesota since November 24, 2021.

Anthony Edwards would start the game off with another 3-pointer, adding to his league lead. After that, the Wolves would go cold, missing two of their 12 shots. The Heat would take advantage by pushing the ball on each of the Wolves’ misses, scoring nine early fast break points to jump out to a 23-15 lead.

Minnesota’s shooting struggles would continue the remainder of the first quarter, finishing 7-25 from the field including 2-12 from beyond the arc, putting them in a seven-point deficit heading into the second quarter.

In the second quarter, turnovers would begin to pile up for the Timberwolves. After only turning it over twice in the first quarter, the Wolves would commit five turnovers in the first six minutes of the second quarter, allowing Miami to build their lead to as high as 12.

With 5:41 left in the half, the Timberwolves would break out of their shooting slump with Edwards starting the run with a 3-pointer. A Julius Randle layup and Naz Reid 3-pointers would set up an and-1 for Ant to cut the lead to just one.

Minnesota would continue the half playing with great ball movement including this sequence, leading to an Edwards dunk.

After shooting poorly for much of the first half, the Wolves would only trail 52-51 heading into halftime. Ant and Randle combined for 25 points for the Timberwolves. Tyler Herro led the Heat in scoring with 12.

The Timberwolves turnover issues would pop up again to start the second half, turning it over turning it over five times in the first six minutes of the quarter. The offensive flow that was constant at the end of the first half disappeared, causing the Wolves to go down 63-56 with five minutes left in the third quarter.

That would be the moment when the game would turn for the Wolves as they would go on a 15-0 run, holding the Heat scoreless for six and a half minutes.

The Heat would score the last five points of the quarter to cut the Timberwolves lead to 71-68 heading into the final quarter of play. The game would remain close for the entirety of the fourth quarter with the Wolves taking an eight-point lead with under five minutes to go in the game.

The Heat would slowly chip away at the Timberwolves lead, cutting it down to two with under a minute left. After a Mike Conley turnover and Jaden McDaniels foul to stop an easy layup, Terry Rozier would hit two free throws to tie the game with 30 seconds left.

With the game on the line, McDaniels would go sky-high to grab a Conley missed 3-pointer and put back in to give the Wolves the lead with nine seconds left.

After an overturned foul taking a free throw away from McDaniels, the Heat would take the lead on a Nikola Jović with Rudy Gobert noticeably not on the court.

After Herro used the Heat’s foul to give and a missed 3-pointer from Conley, the Wolves fell to the Heat 95-94.

Edwards led the Wolves in scoring with 22 points, but struggled with his shot all night, going 8-24 from the floor including 4-14 from long-range. Randle, Nickeil-Alexander Walker, and Naz Reid were the other Timberwolves players with double-figure scoring.

Herro led the way for the Heat with 26 points on 9-15 shooting. Jović scored 15 points off the bench including the game-winning basket.

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Key Takeaways

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Late-Game Decision Making

The Wolves committed many plays down the stretch of the game that led to the loss at the hands of the Heat. Edwards committed a clear-path foul after a Gobert turnover that gave the Heat two free throws and the ball. McDaniels fouled Herro on a 3-point shot, not allowing him the space to land. Conley had a bad turnover that led to a Rozier run out and two free throws that tied the game.

All of that set up the last few possessions of the game where there were many errors by the Wolves players and coaches alike. After the McDaniels put-back that gave the Wolves a two-point lead, there was a miscommunication allowing Jović a wide-open lane to tie the game and take the lead.

NAW spoke in the locker room about what he saw from his perspective on that play.

“I know our talk was not to switch off the ball before the ball was inbound. So when I see them set the back screen, I was a little hesitant to just go. I think at that point, with the clock situation and everything, all bets are off, I guess. And you just kind of got to take it. So I read it late. And at that point, I probably should have just wrapped them up, but I to make a play for it.”

Gobert was also not on the floor for the final Heat possession, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch spoke after the game about what went into that choice.

“Yeah, cuz they had Love on the floor. We were trying to switch everything, take the three out of the game. And we got beat on the back screen, we didn’t switch it properly.

When the Wolves got the ball with a chance to take the lead back, there was another questionable decision. After the Herro take foul, the Wolves had the ball with 3.7 seconds left, but Edwards was the one inbounding the ball, which led to a pass to Conley who missed the final shot of the game.

Finch also touched on that final possession for the Wolves offense and what may have gone wrong from his point of view.

“Well, we were going to run one of our inbound spots, one of our inbounds plays. But we were trying to get a quick flair coming out. But then I changed it at the last second.”

While the last couple minutes of the game were costly for the Wolves, they were not the only led to the Wolves defeat. With just under five minutes left in the game, Edwards hit a 3-pointer from the corner to put the Wolves up by eight points. From that point forward, the Timberwolves would only score six points, four of which came as second-chance points.

Gobert spoke in the locker room about the last few possessions of the game were not the only area the Wolves need to improve.

“Everyone remembers the last play, but I think we as a team we remember the last few minutes when we’re up seven at some points, five. So, yeah. None of us is perfect. Gonna all learn to be better.”

The Wolves have played well down the stretch of games so far this season. Clutch-time decision-making has not been an issue up until tonight so the hope is that this was just a single bad game in the sea of games that is an NBA season, but the Wolves will need to pay better attention to detail against teams like Miami that are well-coached and playoff experienced.

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

Mike Conley’s Slow Start to the Season Continues

After being an incredibly valuable player for the Wolves last season on their march to the Western Conference Finals, Conley has not been nearly as effective to start this year’s campaign for the Timberwolves.

Tonight may have been his worst game on the season as he finished the game with just four points on 2-9 shooting from the field including missing all five of his 3-point attempts. Conley also had a brutal turnover with 33 seconds left, his fourth of the game, which allowed Miami to tie the game.

There has been some discussion among Wolves fans as to whether or not this poor stretch is a sign of Conley’s age or just a poor stretch of play. The Wolves point guard talked about trying to find some consistency so far in the offense.

“Yeah, I’m just trying to find it within the flow of who I’m on the court with. My minutes are different. I come in and out different times. Who I play with dictates where I’m at on the ball, off the ball. I’m just trying to find myself within that, and I will.”

In tonight’s game, Conley had a team-low plus-minus of -16. No other player on the Wolves was worse than -4. When asked why he was closing the game, Finch responded, “We’ve won a lot of games with Mike Conley down the stretch, so that’s why I went back to him.”

With DiVincenzo and NAW playing so well, this Timberwolves roster has the depth to cover up for when Conley is having a bad game, but without another true point guard on the roster, they will need Conley to find his game at some point this season. Conley is confident he can get there so it may be too early for Wolves fans to completely write him off.

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Up Next

The Timberwolves head out west for back-to-back matchups with the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday and Wednesday night, the first being a game for the Emirates NBA Cup. Each game tips off at 9:00 PM CT, airing on FanDuel Sports Network North.

After that, the Wolves continue their west-coast road trip against the Sacramento Kings, their second and final game at Golden 1 Center this season. It will also be their second game for the in-season tournament.

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Game Highlights