The Minnesota Timberwolves were defeated by the Miami Heat 115-113 on Monday night.
Despite a last-minute rally that pulled them within two and in position to potentially win or tie the game, the Wolves could not overcome yet another abysmal defensive performance against a blistering hot Miami club that left Target Center with its 11th consecutive victory.
Andrew Wiggins missed a shot that would have tied the game at 115. He could have attempted a 3-pointer that would have likely given the Wolves a win, but instead pulled up for a long-two.
President-coach Tom Thibodeau was less than satisfied about his club giving up 25 second chance points.
“The rebounding crushed us,” Thibodeau said. “25 points, I believe it was, off of second chance opportunities — we have to straighten that out.”
“We’re scoring the ball plenty,” he added, before stressing the need for defensive consistency for what felt like the 100th time this season.
“i think there’s an understanding of what we’re trying to do, because there’s times when it’s done well. There’s not a consistency to it, there’s not an urgency to it. So, there’s some things that we’re trying to concentrate on; we’re not recognizing or reading the ball correctly, we don’t see the play. And so, the anticipation, what the responsibilities are when you’re away from the ball, how you control the ball, all that stuff is critical.”
Karl-Anthony Towns echoed Thibodeau’s thoughts regarding defense — team defense, in particular.
“We gotta do this as a unit,” Towns said.
“I think that we just need to regroup. We stumbled a little bit, we gotta find a way to get back”
Asked whether he thought about launching a shot from beyond the arc on the game’s final possession, Wiggins said he thought about it, but instead opted to be safe, and go for the tie: