The recap from the last game against the Golden State Warriors was titled “Ant’s 42 Stops the Skid.” Well, folks, the skid isn’t over. In fact, your Minnesota Timberwolves are driving on black ice while acting like they’re cruising down Rodeo Drive.
You can see where everything went wrong during this ill-fated matinee (like every other one this season), as Anthony Edwards missed from everywhere, including the free throw line, and Rudy Gobert was — and I say this with as much objectivity as possible — abysmally terrible. Four combined points for Gobert and the supposed third option, Jaden McDaniels, are not ever going to be enough to take down the defending champs.
It’s hard not to feel bad for Julius Randle, who has heard so much slander over the past few weeks, only to put up his best performance since the All-Star break in a lackluster game that fell apart in the second half.
To that end, a game like today’s shows how hard it is for Minnesota to win when Edwards is not succeeding. While Shai Gilgeous-Alexander struggled to find his typical efficiency on his way to barely keeping his 20-point scoring streak alive, it was Jared McCain taking over the fourth quarter and Isaiah Joe hitting crucial threes down the stretch.
Games like today cause doubts about whether the Wolves can ever really overcome the hump. They have had near-ideal injury luck this whole season. Their opponents today were missing the number two option from a championship team last year. Both superstars were pedestrian, and the Wolves even had the edge in the Robin category.
Instead, it’s another loss in a stretch of many of them.
I can already hear the counterpoints: that you can’t really blame them for today, that OKC is formidable no matter who they have, that these Wolves have always been able to flip a switch. To those optimists, I ask how they will overcome the turnovers, miserable defensive effort, and self-inflicted wounds.
With all that being said, let’s get down to it.
A Micro-Luka
Let’s take a break from yelling at the Wolves to make fun of a team that Minnesota has history with, even if everyone from that past is gone.
How the *hell* did the Thunder get Jared McCain from the Sixers? For a mediocre first-round pick and a handful of seconds? In an era where live ball handlers and motion shooters have been *the* swing factor of multiple playoff series over the past few years?
I understand that the answer is largely financial. I understand that Josh Harris is cheap and that Daryl Morey has continuously ducked the tax. I understand that they just took VJ Edgecombe and have Tyrese Maxey in place as the franchise centerpiece.
But how did that end up here?
McCain would’ve been the ultimate injury insurance policy for either of those guards. He would’ve been an ideal Sixth Man of the Year candidate for a bench that has been exceptionally weak over the past decade. He’s younger, better, and under longer team control than Quentin Grimes.
Instead, he is providing that for the title favorite and is quite literally everything the Thunder could’ve ever hoped for. With Lu Dort likely on his way out of town, Alex Caruso will probably be the next man up in the starting lineup. With that move on the horizon, McCain will become the face of this bench unit.
What a moment for him, though.
Few stories are more fun in the NBA than a comeback story. From late first-round pick to rookie of the year frontrunner to season-ending injury to slow return to midseason trade to key playmaker on the best team in basketball, all in two years.
It’s hard not to love basketball and the stories within it. It’s easier to hate those stories when they cause such a low point on what was otherwise a decent Sunday.
Bench Spark Gone Dark
Remember that week after the deadline, when it felt like the complaints of a lack of depth felt overblown? Where Ayo Dosumnu looked like exactly the boost this team needed? Where did Kyle Anderson come back to become the de facto backup point guard?
I remember that moment dearly. And, well, at least one of those things is still true. Ayo Dosumnu was great today. He looks to be every bit of the Nickeil Alexander-Walker replacement he was supposed to be.
The other two bits? Well, Naz Reid couldn’t get anything going, and the Slow Mo gimmick has been exposed as exactly that: a gimmick. The Wolves have never really had the identity of having a “bench mob,” but in a game like today’s, where two bench players won the game for OKC, the problem shone brighter than ever.
Outside of Ayo, the entire Wolves bench had 14 points across 61 total minutes on 17 shots. That’s not good, no matter how you look at it.
It’s also worth noting that Kyle Anderson has re-infected Chris Finch’s subconscious in the exact way everyone was expecting for Mike Conley. A huge story of the 2023 season was quietly how bad Anderson and Gobert paired after a year where they excelled alongside each other. Remember the punches thrown on the bench? Maybe there should be more of those in the locker room tonight.
Final Thoughts
Part of all of us just want to call this the curse of the matinee and go on with our afternoons.
And you know what, I think that’s the right approach.
Today was bad, but then again, there have been so many worse moments that have ended with the two runs to the Western Conference Finals that I’m sure no one wants to hear about right now.
Maybe this is yet another era of wasted superstars in Minnesota. Maybe it’s the third or fourth of those, a reliving of the same nightmare all over again. Maybe it’s a stumble that can bear fruit down the line.
All I can promise you is that a random March game that ruined an unspecified weekend is not going to be the moment that decides that. There’s so much more to worry about when the games actually matter. Don’t waste your stress here.
Save it for when you need to bite your nails late in an April fourth quarter.
Have a nice day, Wolves fans.
Up Next
The Timberwolves head back home for a much-needed homestand as they try to get their season back on track. The first of three straight games at Target Center begins on Tuesday against the Phoenix Suns. Tip-off is at 7:00 PM CT, with fans able to watch the game on FanDuel Sports Network.
