Wizards 105, Timberwolves 103: Injuries Abound Lead to Brutal Home Loss

With the Wolves’ top four scorers being ruled out before or during the game, the Wolves couldn’t find enough offense as the Wizards snapped their 16-game losing streak.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have won their last five games, their longest winning streak of the season. On Saturday, they looked to extend that to six games in a matchup against the team with the longest leasing streak and the worst record in the NBA, the Washington Wizards.

The Wizards entered the game having lost their previous 16 games, their second such streak this season and their third in the last 12 months. Their last win came on January 1 against the Chicago Bulls. Their last road win was on October 28 against the Atlanta Hawks, their lone road victory this season.

The Wolves were without two of their best players with both Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle missing the game. Edwards was out with an illness and is unlikely to miss any extended time. Randle on the other will be out “for the near future” according to Timberwolves coach Chris Finch after sustaining a groin injury on Thursday against the Utah Jazz. When asked to give a timetable on how long Randle will be out Finch said it will be, “more than a few days.”

The start of the game was ugly for the Wolves as the Wizards jumped out to an early 27-17 lead. Jordan Poole started the game absolutely on fire, making four of his first five 3-pointers.

The Wolves were able to go on a 9-0 run to close the first quarter, sparked by Rob Dillingham who scored four points and dished out two assists to cut the deficit to just one.

The second quarter saw another Wizards player put on a shooting display as Kyle Kuzma, who has shot 27 percent from beyond the arc on the season, made four 3-pointers in the span of four minutes to build the Washington lead back to seven points.

The Timberwolves again fought back, finishing the half on a 14-8 run including a Jaden McDaniels pull-up jumper off of a Jaylen Clark steal that briefly gave the Wolves the lead.

After a pair of Wizards free throws, the Wolves would trail 58-57 at the half. The story of the first half was the shooting disparity between the two teams. While the Wolves shot only 6-18 from deep, the Wizards went 12-22 including 8-13 from Poole and Kuzma.

Not much would change to start the third quarter as Kyshawn George, who is shooting 28 percent on 3-pointers this season, knocked down two shots from beyond the arc to push the Washington lead back to seven.

Midway through the third quarter, Naz Reid would exit the game with a right finger sprain, adding to the list of Timberwolves players not available to play down the stretch of the game.

Without their four highest-scoring players the Wolves offense sputtered late in the third quarter, missing nine out of ten shots along with four turnovers over a five-minute stretch as the Wizards lead ballooned to 11. A Joe Ingles 3-pointer and two free throws from McDaniels would cut the deficit to 83-77 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Timberwolves would again storm back at the start of the fourth quarter, going on a 16-5 run capped off by a Rudy Gobert slam to take a three-point lead, their largest of the game.

As they did all night, the Wizards immediately responded with a 9-0 to take a six-point lead as the Wolves went without a single point for nearly four minutes of play. The Wolves would get back into it with a Mike Conley 3-pointer and a Gobert layup, leaving the deficit at one point with a minute and a half left.

Down the stretch, Kuzma continued torching the Wolves making two tough shots that both pushed the Washington lead back to three. After a Jonas Valančiūnas put-back layup and three free throws from Mike Conley, the Wolves got a steal down by two with a chance to tie or win the game, but a game-winning attempt from Nickeil Alexander-Walker didn’t fall.

The Wolves fell to the Wizards 105-103, snapping the Wizards 16-game losing streak and the Wolves 5-game winning streak. McDaniels led the Timberwolves with 23 points on 8-16 shooting including 3-5 from beyond the arc to go along with 12 rebounds and four assists. Kuzma led Washington in scoring with 31 points, his season-high.

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Key Takeaways

Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Injuries and Shot Variance

Any way you look at it, a loss to the league-worst Wizards at home is a bitter pill to swallow. Losing to a team that hasn’t won a road game since October or any game in a month is a brutal way to lose regardless of context given almost every other team found a way to get a win against the Wizards.

When you dig deeper into what happened in the game, this type of loss should not raise many alarm bells for what the ceiling of these Wolves can be.

Coming into the game, the Wolves were without their first, second, and fourth-highest scorers with their third-highest scorer, Naz Reid, leaving the game in the second half with a finger injury. There are very few teams, if any, that wouldn’t struggle down the stretch of a game where their top four scorers were out.

In the locker room after the game, Conley talked about the difficulty of playing without so many of the team’s top guys as well as losing another player to injury in the middle of the game.

“We all have a role. I’m used to playing a certain way for how ever many minutes I play. All the guys are used to playing roles and then all of a sudden we look around and have to change.”

The other aspect of the game working against the Wolves was the Wizards’ shot-making and the lack of it for themselves. The Wizards finished the game going 15-33 (45.5 percent) on 3-pointers including 5-8 from Kuzma who came into the game shooting 27 percent from beyond the arc.

Compare that to the Wolves going 12-40 on 3-pointers and it becomes a bit more clear why the Wolves lost this game. Coming into the night the Wolves were ranked second in 3-point percentage, while the Wizards are second to last. On a different night, the shooting variance goes the other way, and the Wolves, despite their injuries, win this one easily.

Finch talked on the podium after the game about how he felt the game went overall.

“We fought. We could never really get over the hump. A game like this you need a cushion and we were never really able to establish that. Guys fought and played hard. We missed a bunch of shots, a lot of shots actually.”

All of that to say, this loss highlights the missed opportunity the Wolves had when their roster was fully healthy. Before their first major injury, the loss of Donte DiVincenzo to a toe sprain on January 15, the Wolves were only 21-19.

While it’s certainly fair to point to injuries as to why the Wolves lost tonight’s game, those excuses ring a bit hollow when they failed to stack up wins at the beginning of the year when they were the healthiest team in the NBA.

Joe Ingles Nearly Drags Them to Victory

Coming into the game, Inlges had not scored a single point in a Timberwolves uniform, leading the NBA in minutes among players who have zero points. Tonight was a very different story.

With the Wolves missing their four highest-scoring players, Minnesota needed offense from wherever they could get it and Ingles was there to nearly save the day. Ingles talked in the locker room after the game about how he felt re-joining the rotation tonight.

“Not too bad. I just kind of caught that second wind a little bit. Some of it is kind of natural, especially Rudy and Mike out there, obviously makes it little bit more natural. Yeah, I felt good with how I played.”

Ingles signed with the Wolves this last offseason before the Wolves traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks. Many other players may have gotten frustrated with their lowered role, possibly due to a trade they could not have foreseen. Ingles has never caused any issues in the locker room and has always been willing to take another player under his wing.

The 37-year-old veteran spoke about the role he’s had this season, and it has stacked up with the expectations he had when signing in Minnesota.

“Obviously when I signed it was a different team. Obviously when the trade happened, these guys are great with the communication. I’ve been around enough to understand what kind of happened. Maybe [my role] would have been bigger with KAT here, maybe not. Like I said, I’m never going to, at this point in my career, f*** up the vibe of the team because of me.”

Tonight, Ingles scored ten points and dished out three assists, all of which were desperately needed for an offense that was missing most of their shot-creators. It is still up in the air whether Ingles will find himself in the rotation moving forward, but if the Wolves’ injury issues continue, it is clear Finch feels he can lean on the veteran for quality minutes when necessary.

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Up Next

The Timberwolves continue their streak of five consecutive games at Target Center as they take on the Sacramento Kings for the fourth and final time this season. The Wolves were victorious in two of the previous three matchups. The game tips off this Monday at 7:00 PM CT airing on FanDuel Sports Network North.

After that, the Wolves will close the homestand with games against the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, and Portland Trail Blazers.

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Game Highlights