The Minnesota Timberwolves had hoped to improve to .500 with a win on Thursday night, but would come up short, falling to the Denver Nuggets, 102-99.
Kris Dunn made his second consecutive start in lieu of the injured Ricky Rubio alongside Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins, Gorgui Dieng, and Karl-Anthony Towns. The fifth player selected in the 2016 NBA Draft played all 12 minutes of the opening frame, and made his presence felt at both ends of the floor. Dunn tallied two points, two rebounds and two steals to go with his seven assists — the type of statline Wolves fans have seen Rubio put forth time-and-time again over the years, although that is neither here nor there.
The Wolves shot 56.5 percent from the field during the first, connecting on each of their three 3-point attempts while also knocking down 8-of-8 from the free throw line, and headed into the second quarter with a 12 point lead. While some might consider this a solid start, president-coach Tom Thibodeau referred to his club’s performance early in the game as fool’s gold.
“[At] the end of the first quarter, I sensed that we were just trading baskets with them,” Thibodeau said postgame. “It was fool’s gold. We gave them a lot of confidence early in the game.”
Denver recorded eight assists and 10 made baskets throughout the first quarter.
The Wolves went into the locker room at halftime leading by the score of 61-55, thanks in large part to Towns, Wiggins and LaVine, who combined for 51 points.
The Wolves fell out of rhythm during the third quarter. When they made mistakes, Denver capitalized, while continuing to execute effectively at both ends of the floor.
The Nuggets logged eight assists on 11 made field goals, shot 8-of-13 from the charity stripe, and knock down three of their five 3-point attempts.
Thibodeau expressed disappointment in how his team responded once things had went awry.
“When things aren’t going well the intentions are good, to try to get us out of the whole, but they’re misguided,” Thibodeau said.
“We can’t do it individually; it has to be done collectively. We got bogged down, guys were trying to get us out of the hole by themselves, and you can’t do that. What that leads to is tough shots, poor floor balance, and easy buckets.”
Here’s a possession that may or may not have bothered Thibodeau, who called timeout immediately after the Denver score.
Thibodeau deployed an all-bench lineup of Tyus Jones, Brandon Rush, Shabazz Muhammad, Nemanja Bjelica and Cole Aldrich to start the final frame. This five-man unit outscored Denver by all of one point (12-11) over a six minute stretch. Leading the way was Bjelica, who scored 10 points (3-of-10 FG), grabbed six rebounds and dished out an assist. He played all 12 minutes of the fourth, and logged a plus-minus of positive-10.
The Wolves rallied and put themselves in position to steal a victory, but Bjelica — minutes after turning down an open 3-point opportunity — missed a shot as time expired that would have sent the game to overtime.
“They gave us life,” Thibodeau said of his second unit.
“They cut into the lead. They were doin’ it together; moving the ball a little bit, playing good team defense. And that’s my point. When it wasn’t going well, to still remain as a group, and a unit, and work together. You get into stuff together, you get out of stuff together. If you get hit, you have to be able to take a punch, and then you gotta get up and deliver one. But we have to do it as a team.”
