With just under 10 minutes left in the third quarter in Washington, it didn’t look like the Timberwolves had enough left in the tank to pull out the comeback.
The Washington Wizards had built a 10-point lead, the first double-digit lead of the game for either team. Nemanja Bjelica was cold from the field, Andrew Wiggins was quiet on the offensive end, and Karl-Anthony Towns was entering foul trouble.
And considering the success the Wizards have had with Wall, the Wolves’ bottom-10 rank in fourth-quarter net rating and the lack of Jimmy Butler, things didn’t look good.
But maybe Sunday’s win over Golden State got to them.
Following Mike Scott’s bucket to put them up 10, Tyus Jones — who would nearly finish the game — hit on an and-one that provided some hope.
From there, the Wolves built a quick run. Towns — who continued his absurd pace with a 37-point night — would hit a corner 3-pointer, Bjelica would score seven straight points, and Wiggins would get going again.
Suddenly with just under four minutes to go, the Timberwolves had an eight-point lead and forced the Wizards to play catch-up. The Wizards came close, but weren’t able to pull it out.
The win puts the Wolves up to 40 on the season; that’s just the second time that’s happened since 2005. It briefly put them back in the fourth slot in the Western Conference, and will likely keep them in the top six in the meantime.
Past the obvious playoff implications, this win is huge for a number of reasons.
To start, it’s a good sign that Towns’ performance down the stretch over Golden State wasn’t a one-time thing. He only had six points in the fourth, but both were 3-pointers and huge for very different reasons.
The first one came immediately after the 3-point play Jones had moments prior. It was a shot that made the possibility of a comeback much more realistic.
The following one came after the Wolves had built a lead late. At the time, this 3-pointer gave the Wolves the assurance that the game was all but over.
But after a surprising Towns blunder that would have closed it, the same Towns deflected a pass in the final moments. This gave Jeff Teague a steal and a clear lane for the game-clinching dunk.
Even with Towns making his first All-Star appearance this year, he hadn’t yet shown an ability to win games as the team’s go-to guy.
Some of that has to do with the number of touches he’s gotten in the fourth, but his willingness to go get the ball in those situations has been equally as concerning.
Over these last two games, that concern has been eradicated.
But unlike the win over Golden State, Tuesday’s game felt much more like a team victory.
The initial successful fourth quarter stretch featured both Jones and Jamal Crawford, whom it appeared would finish the game. As the score drew closer down the stretch, Thibodeau still went with Teague over Jones, but not before the backup would get some clutch shots up.
And after a brutal first three quarters, Bjelica came back to life and continued on his impressive run as Butler’s replacement in the starting lineup. He dropped a team-leading 13 points in the third quarter, including a personally-done 7-0 run that brought the Wolves back even in a one-minute span.
And Wiggins, who also struggled through three quarters, had six points of his own. More importantly, though, was the defense he put on All-Star Bradley Beal down the stretch.
It’s great that Wiggins got those stops, that Bjelica stuffed the stat sheet and turned it on in the fourth, and that Towns had another MVP-caliber night. If the Wolves are going to keep winning games against formidable competition — like Golden State and Washington, to varying degrees — they need all of those things happening at once.
When Butler was on the floor, it was easier — or at least less surprising — to see one or many of these things not take place. Butler has shown the ability to take over games down the stretch by himself. Lately, Towns has shown he can do that too, but not to the same level of consistency.
Even after Butler gets back, this should be the model going forward for the Timberwolves, and has mostly been what Thibodeau has preached all year. They need contributions from several different players, strong defensive instincts and good ball movement down the stretch.
Tuesday’s fourth quarter in their win over Washington might be the best way to win without Butler, but it might just be what they need to strive for every night.
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