Timberwolves

2/15 RECAP: Wolves Head into Badly-Needed All-Star Break After Win Over Lakers

(photo credit: Jim Faklis)

Karl-Anthony Towns might have best exemplified the Timberwolves’ need for a break after their Thursday night win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

As he speedily laced up his shoes, he began answering his own questions, as if it would speed up the process so he could start his All-Star break sooner.

On an emotional night dedicated to the late Flip Saunders, the Timberwolves came through in their last game before a badly-needed break.

But through the first two-and-a-half quarters, the Wolves looked like they needed that break to start a week ago.

“The urgency probably more than anything,” Tom Thibodeau said, trying to explain his team’s early struggles. “I thought some hustle plays; that was probably the biggest thing.”

Despite the win putting the Wolves in the third spot in the Western Conference heading into the break, the last few games haven’t given fans the feeling of top-level team comfort.

Over the past month, the Timberwolves have the second-worst defensive rating in the league, and were on their worst stretch of the year.

Through three quarters on Thursday, the Lakers – fresh off a new look thanks to last week’s trade deadline, and looking good since – were up seven and appeared to have a chance to continue the Wolves’ recent misery.

But as the third quarter closed, Jamal Crawford started to get hot.

“He’s a wildcard; any time he can get going,” Thibodeau said. “And when he gets going, you just let it run.”

“It looked like we had no life,” Crawford said. “We had to inject some life into the game, inject some energy. Me and Tyus talked about it, Gorgui as well, the bench guys.”

When Crawford is feeling it, it’s both fun and terrifying to watch. He scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half, and every point was a major factor. He helped build momentum on a pair of specific plays.

The first came off a series of dribbles that earned him the ‘JCrossover’ nickname, and a pull-up bucket he’s become famous for hitting.

https://gyazo.com/4a01e97892455b2658fe19b5a9a6a5b0The biggest play of the night, though, may have come off Crawford’s third and final assist of the night. This alley-oop pass to Jimmy Butler – who took over the game after this play – was completed.

https://gyazo.com/94c02694032929037289c98a422a9a3d“Man, Jimmy’s a receiver,” Crawford said. “I threw it, I said ‘oh no, you threw it too far.’ He caught it and did this Jordan-esque thing.”

The lead would go back and forth for a short while after that play, but the Wolves eventually put the game away for good.

After that play, Butler got going — and so did his defense.

In a recent home win, Towns and Andrew Wiggins had a pair of consecutive blocks that helped the Wolves seal a victory late in the game. On a night where Towns shot 2 of 9 and Wiggins didn’t even play in the closing minutes, Butler had to go block both shots for them.

And, oh man, the call by Kevin Harlan.

This all happened at a pivotal time, when the Wolves were up just six points and the Lakers still had a chance to play spoilers. This block led to a series of good defensive plays from a team that hasn’t played consistently good defense in nearly a month.

With an eight-day break on the way, that stretch is just about the best thing Butler could have asked for from his team.

“I know how good we can be when we decide to play hard,” Butler said. “But we think that we’re so good on paper, that we can just go through the motions.”

With 21 games left in the season, the Wolves have put themselves in a position to finish with homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. But the race is close enough where they can finish as far down as ninth.

Yes, they can still mathematically miss the postseason.

Friday marks the first of an eight-day break, but they start back up next Friday on the road against a Houston team that’s wiped the floor with them twice already. The follow with a back-to-back matchup with a Chicago team that beat them just last week.

But the tail end of Thursday’s win can be a blueprint for how to get back on track.

The last 10 minutes of Thursday’s game brought back the energy the Wolves had when they were playing at their best this season. The last three minutes brought back the defense.

In order for them to hold down their spot, they’ll need to find both on a consistent basis again.

Maybe the rest will be all they need.


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