Last year, the Minnesota Timberwolves were 24-22 in games where they held a double-digit lead. The average NBA team that held a double-digit lead won 79 percent of the time; if the Wolves had been league-average in games where they were up by 10 or more at some point, they would have finished with 12 more wins, 43 in all.
Instead, they finished 31-51 and missed the playoffs for the 13th straight season.
This team should have been in the playoffs last year, but a combination of youth and a new head coach with a complicated defensive system. Now that Tom Thibodeau has his guys, and Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins have the same head coach for consecutive seasons for the first time in their careers, the Wolves are starting to finish off opponents late in games.
“Last year, with so many games lost so close, you learn different ways to lose and different ways to win,” said Towns after practice on Friday. “We have a great experienced team now with experienced vets like Jamal [Crawford], and Jimmy [Butler], and Taj [Gibson]. We have a lot of things in our toolbox we can use.”
Those wins over Oklahoma City? Wiggins hit a buzzer-beater, and Carmelo Anthony missed one.
What about that 100-97 nail-biter against the Utah Jazz? Jamal Crawford did Jamal Crawford things, scoring all 17 of his points that night in the fourth quarter, including a 3 with less than 30 seconds to go to stave off Ricky Rubio and the pesky Jazz.
How about the OT game against Miami and a six-point win in New Orleans? Wiggins and Butler made sure Minnesota didn’t fall to inferior opponents.
There have been three losses this year, to be fair, but none of them were particularly close, and all were outliers. The opening night loss in San Antonio can be easily explained — the Spurs have been together for years and have a culture of winning — and Butler was out in the losses to Detroit and Indiana.
The absence of Butler cannot be the only explanation for losing to the Pistons and the Pacers, two Eastern Conference teams that came into the year with low expectations, but his presence matters. Not only does he guard and get guarded by the best offensive wing every night, putting added burden on Wiggins when he’s out, but he’s won in Chicago and is working to establish a winning culture here in Minnesota.
“We just all want to win. It is about leadership, but it’s not, because it’s all about executing,” said Butler on Friday. “It’s hard because you really do have to execute. It’s kind of like the playoffs for five minutes — everybody knows who’s going to get the ball where and what move they’re going to go to.”
It is about leadership, but it’s not. That seems perplexing at first, but really it’s pretty straightforward: It’s probably more about what’s said than what’s done on the court in the moment, but teams with a winning culture know how to close out the final five minutes of a game. And teams with a winning culture have strong leaders.
For the Wolves, the major issue was if Wiggins would be willing to defer to Butler, or vice-versa, in the waning seconds of a game. Somehow, Wiggins has been able to live up to his $148 million extension and Butler has been able to deliver on astronomical expectations after his trade simultaneously. The laid-back Wiggins and hard-core Butler are coexisting early on this season. Maybe it’s the trip they took to China. Maybe it’s what they’ve done in practice before the season. Maybe they did learn from last year. The bottom line is it’s worked out so far.
“It just takes being in the moment to figure it out,” said Wiggins. “I felt comfortable in those moments.
“Thibs might call a play for somebody, but it’s not specifically for him — it’s for them to make the right play.”
Comfortable seems to work both ways for Wiggins, as in he’s both comfortable making the big shot and passing it up. He appears blessed with a desire to win, and the mental clarity to do so. But what happens the first time he takes a shot, misses it, and Butler is open?
That’s what happened to the Thunder in the second game they lost. Anthony looked at Russell Westbrook, took a 3 that would have tied the game and missed it. Like the Wolves, the Thunder are a talented team that was hastily assembled before the season started. In fact, much of Minnesota’s competition in the West is.
Houston added Chris Paul, a ball-dominant point guard who is used to playing at a slower pace, to a team with James Harden — a player that wants the ball in his hands and is used to playing fast. Rubio is probably adjusting to his teammates’ tendencies in Utah, just as Teague is doing here. Denver added Paul Millsap. Oklahoma City has to find a way for Westbrook, Carmelo and Paul George to coexist. Only Golden State and San Antonio have remained virtually the same.
So far the Wolves seem to be handling the overhauled roster well. Eventually they may blow out inferior opponents like the Heat and Pelicans, but for now, they are grinding out wins against them. And they’ve done so without creating conflict among new teammates.
“There’s certain things you have to guard against,” Thibodeau admitted. “Human nature is, you exhale. And you can’t. Not in this league. You have to bring it every day.
“That’s the best part about the league is that the challenge is every night you’re gonna get challenged, knowing that they don’t care where you’ve been or what you’ve done.”
Eventually, the Wolves will lose a close game. Maybe Wiggins, Towns or Butler will miss a last-second shot. Maybe someone commits a bad turnover. Maybe it’s bad defense. Whatever it is, it will be interesting to see how this group handles adversity. So far, so good, though, which is a welcome change for a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2004.
“There’s a lot of value in having Jimmy next to Wig, and having Taj next to Karl,” said Thibodeau. “The vets, they understand there’s a lot of tricks to the trade, and it’s helpful to have those guys, so they can see — this is how you prepare, this is what you have to be looking for.
“If you let up at all, the results aren’t gonna be the same. So that has to be done every day.”
So far, they haven’t. And if they don’t let up all season long, they will make the playoffs this year.
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