Another Anthony Edwards poster dunk propelled the Timberwolves to their third straight victory
It’s not an exaggeration to say this season has been trying for the Minnesota Timberwolves and their fans. In a season that started only a few weeks after trading a beloved franchise star, a season that reached its boiling point after multiple losses to the lowly Portland Trail Blazers, and had its young face of the franchise complaining about the way they were playing, it was so easy to get overtaken by a feeling of malaise.
In the face of that terrible feeling and general discontent, it’s safe to say two things. One, this three-game winning streak has felt incredible. Two, the Minnesota Timberwolves may just be back.
The Wolves took an admittedly injured Orlando Magic team, saw their second overall-rated defense, and absolutely shredded it. The story of this game came down to two double-digit runs going in the Wolves’ favor; there was a 15-2 run to end the first half and a 19-6 run that spanned between the third and fourth quarters.
Beyond those two stretches, the two teams basically played each other evenly. It was a generally uninteresting game, only punctuated by a few Anthony Edwards heaters and exciting dunks, and shocking Trevelin Queen takeover attempts.
Anthony Edwards poster dunk WOW pic.twitter.com/4VOyrBGfLh
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) January 10, 2025
Let’s get down to the details!
Ant’s Hot Streak
Anthony Edwards started this scoring tear after complaining that even in good team stretches, he didn’t enjoy the way he was playing in the Timberwolves’ system.
Since that point, Ant scored 53 against the Pistons (in a loss, we can admit that), then 37 against the Clippers to start the win streak, and then another 32 against the Pelicans. Tonight was less explosive with a pedestrian 21 points, but Ant started the game 3/3 for 9 points in another demonstration of his explosive scoring potential and vastly improved three-point shot-making.
In the same thought though, Ant struggled after that hot start, going 2/16 and just 1/8 from deep for the rest of this game. The Wolves didn’t need much else from him, and the above-linked dunk is surely enough for people to move on from a lackluster performance, but there is a silver lining here.
PUT THAT MAN ON A MF POSTER‼️ pic.twitter.com/A9VQ8IdS6N
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) January 10, 2025
The Timberwolves dominated a decent opponent despite an off-game from Ant. In fact, they kept them under 90 points and under 80 before garbage time saw their lead bleed a little. That brings us back to the title. The Wolves defense, the thing that defined them through all of last season, yeah, it might be back.
Checking In On the Young Guys
There’s an awesome clip I saw recently of Miles McBride of the New York Knicks explaining to a garbage time player how important those minutes are in proving that you belong. McBride was an unheralded second-rounder who played so well that he moved up in the rotation and eventually allowed the Knicks to trade away Immanuel Quickley for OG Anunoby as they were confident McBride could take his spot.
Like it or not, these “garbage-time” minutes matter to Thibs. It’s a proving ground to him.
We got to hear Deuce tell Huk exactly that earlier this season.
So you hate to see it go that badly. https://t.co/9YM7zznk6G pic.twitter.com/OcYNg9woy9
— Rit Holtzman (@BenRitholtzNBA) January 9, 2025
With the rising involvement of Josh Minott in the rotation, tonight’s garbage time was supposed to be a hopeful moment for those of us who are way too invested in a 10th-15th man on the roster. These are the clips that we can repost and talk about for months.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get any clips from those guys tonight.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker had two fun assists to Luka Garza, who produced as he always does. Leonard Miller had an offensive rebound. Jaylen Clarke got his first NBA minutes. That is a summary of the last four minutes of tonight’s game. While Terrance Shannon Jr. was playing in the G-League, these guys were struggling to produce anything against Orlando.
That’s a difficult reality to face. The young guys some of us have convinced ourselves that something special soon may never become anything. Leonard Miller is seen as a future piece for the Wolves and he looked functionally unusable.
It’s difficult not to overreact to these minutes when we see these players so rarely, but if tonight is an accurate indication of those three players, it’s not a good time to believe in them.
Mike Conley’s Resurgence
Three games ago, when this winning streak started, Mike Conley was benched.
Since then, he has been absolutely, unapologetically phenomenal. Conley spent the month of December shooting 37% from the field. Since that benching, he has been shooting 50% from deep alone.
Mike Conley off-screen PnR pull-up 3 pic.twitter.com/Q0Du8xHX8E
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) January 10, 2025
Conley’s defensive work rate has also increased. He uses his intelligence to mitigate the step slower he’s become. Against bench competition, in shorter bursts, that has been working. He’s working so much better off the bench than he had been as a starter. The whole bench has continued to function with Mike replacing Donte, and the starters have been far better with Donte replacing Mike.
All in all, it feels like things are falling into space. It feels like it may just be a decent time to be a Wolves fan. Knowing this team, and how closely they have imitated the 2022-23 Timberwolves, there will now be a four-game stretch of awful vibes coming.
No matter whether that happens though, this team has a reason for people to be excited at least. That’s something to celebrate.
Up Next
The Timberwolves return home return home to Target Center on Saturday for a big matchup against Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies. It will be Morant’s second game back after missing five games with a shoulder injury.
The game will begin at 7:00 PM CT, airing on FanDuel Sports Network North.