Timberwolves

1/5 RECAP: Celtics Defense Stifles Late Fading Timberwolves, 91-84

The Minnesota Timberwolves have not waged many defensive battles this season. Friday night’s contest with the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Celtics, owners of the best defense in the NBA by defensive rating, seemed like it would tilt even more in Boston’s favor if defense ruled the night.

It took a long time to get there, and the Wolves defense had one of its better nights, but Boston pulled away in the fourth quarter after they finally made a couple of 3-pointers and finished off a 91-84 win on Friday night at TD Garden.

This was a very close, hard-fought game for the large portion of the evening.

Scores of 19-19 after the first quarter and 41-38 at halftime are some of the lowest of the season for the Timberwolves, and the teams were never separated by more than five points in the first half. While Boston was able to create open shots, it wasn’t able to make much of anything, and the Wolves’ formula of winning the turnover battle and getting to the free-throw line did enough to keep them close.

The stats that jump out on the box score are the same ones that jumped out at halftime.

Karl-Anthony Towns had a monster night, with 14 points and 13 rebounds at halftime. He benefited primarily from Boston’s poor shooting, with only two offensive rebounds on the night, but finished by setting a career-high with 23 rebounds, adding 25 points for his fourth career game above 20 in both categories.

The trouble with stat lines like that, however, is that they seem to often go with teammates going missing in those categories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-cO5Y-6hdA

Towns’ night was great.

However, on a night where your best rebounder sets a career-high in rebounds, to lose the overall battle on the glass by double digits (56-43) shifts the focus right back onto the players who did not rebound. Not a single member of the Timberwolves besides Towns had more than four rebounds (Gorgui Dieng). None of the starters had more than three (Andrew Wiggins and Taj Gibson).

The Celtics feasted on the offensive glass, with a back-breaking Terry Rozier 3-pointer coming on a third chance on a single possession in the fourth quarter. It would be ridiculous to pin that on Towns.

Towns is 0-4 in 20-20 games in his career. While the scores looked close and the Wolves did fight hard, they also really couldn’t do much against Boston’s defense. Towns was 9 for 16 from the field on Friday night; the rest of the starting lineup combined to shoot 12-39. Wiggins and Jimmy Butler were both able to get to the free-throw line, but the shots just weren’t falling.

A further wrench in the Wolves offense was Tyus Jones’ struggle with foul trouble.

Jones recorded his fourth foul less than three minutes into the third quarter, and while Aaron Brooks had arguably his best game this season — he was tied with Wiggins and Gibson at a team-high plus-2 on the night — the depth at point guard with Jeff Teague out remains a huge issue if anything ever goes wrong with Jones’ play, and defending Kyrie Irving was tonight’s problem.

One bright spot outside of Towns: Jamal Crawford finally hit some 3-pointers for the first time since Christmas Day, tying his season-high with four. Crawford was a combined 0 for 15 in the past five games combined, so perhaps this performance will spark future success.

The rest of the team needs the help too. Outside of Crawford’s 4 for 5 showing, the rest of the Wolves combined to shoot 3 for 18 from distance, with Towns’ one make coming after the game was decided.

Unlike Wednesday’s loss against Brooklyn, Minnesota was beaten by a conclusively better team on Friday. In order to beat most NBA teams, but especially the elite like Boston — and Cleveland, who comes to Target Center on Monday — the Wolves cannot only have one of their stars be effective.

Wiggins was once again a non-factor on offense with just 10 points, and he put a couple of terrible defensive possessions together late in the third quarter, which sparked Boston’s biggest run of the game — right when the Wolves had established their largest lead of the game.

Boston never trailed in the fourth quarter, and Minnesota travels home for a back-to-back game against New Orleans on Saturday with a disappointing loss to keep it company.


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