Jeff Teague wasn’t the story of Wednesday night’s win over the Atlanta Hawks, but he became part of the story towards the end.
With 2:14 left, Karl-Anthony Towns already had his record-setting 56 points. But he got another opportunity to add to his total.
Suddenly, 60 points appeared to be on the table. But instead of firing up another 3-pointer, he dished it off to Teague.
As the pass was thrown, the Target Center filled with groans. While it followed with an eruption of momentum-induced applause after Teague hit the shot, the original opinion the fans had was brought up in the locker room after the game.
Teague had fun with it.
“Oh, I thought they said ‘Oooooh!’,” he joked in the locker room.
In a locker room with big personalities like Towns and Jimmy Butler at the helm, Teague’s frequent low-key, laid-back humor has become a welcome addition to the Timberwolves locker room this season.
In the weeks without Butler in the lineup, his voice has been more heard than ever. And until recently, those words had mostly been him and others defending outside criticism.
It started with his acquisition. He joined the Timberwolves as a replacement for an all-time fan favorite in Ricky Rubio. Teague had a proven track record as an efficient scorer and solid playmaker, but didn’t have the playmaking or the defensive reputation of Rubio.
Perhaps more importantly, his quiet demeanor made him less of an immediate fan favorite than Rubio — whose on-court flair and off-court charm made him an easy player for fans to fall in love with.
It might have just been the number of years fans got to spend watching him grow, but Rubio made it easy to root for him, despite apparent on-court flaws.
And Teague heard about it. Despite a clear upgrade in shooting and offensive fit with Butler, Towns and Andrew Wiggins, the change didn’t sit well with everyone.
As early as Timberwolves media day, Teague was talking about the fans bringing up their old point guard as soon as he arrived in Minneapolis.
“[Rubio] was a fan favorite; I hear that every day,” he said at media day in late September. “No, seriously. Every day.”
But as the season began, any memory of a past point guard was put to rest. Not because of any individual’s play, but because the team was winning.
But while Butler and Taj Gibson — fellow newcomers to Minnesota — were succeeding in a unified “Thibs” style, Teague seemed to be the odd man out.
His jumper was still solid, but offensive struggles kept him from having a positive impact on the floor. He had a bad habit of holding onto the ball at the top of the key for too long, and struggled with simple entry passes to Towns in the post. And while he’s played on good defensive teams in the past, it’s always been a glaring weakness to his game.
All of this got worse when he went down for two weeks with a knee injury, and Tyus Jones entered the starting lineup.
Jones’ time as a starter was good for the Wolves — Teague had led them to wins, but Jones helped propel them to a new level of success. Plus/minus numbers and the eye test were both kind to Jones, while only one was particularly great to Teague early on — the team was still strong statistically with him in the lineup, but the eye test was much more brutal, both in flow and playing style.
The surge Jones had didn’t help Teague’s case with the fans, either. He was already the guy that replaced Rubio, and had now become the guy that was starting over a homegrown success story.
But once again, Teague took it in stride.
“I love Tyus too!” Teague told The Athletic last week.“I’m a fan of Tyus, too. I’m probably his biggest fan.”
This type of support isn’t specific to Jones, either. Often times, Teague is seen as the first guy off the bench, congratulating his teammates for good work. This happened as recently as their loss to Philadelphia, when the end of the bench nearly erased a 27-point deficit in the fourth quarter that Teague and the starters helped build.
On the floor, however, his consistency hasn’t always been there. But the chance for a success story was on its way.
And after a pair of injuries — one ankle and one knee — Teague has been back for good. But even as he started to get healthy, his aggressiveness had yet to amount to his former All-Star form.
Before Butler got hurt, things were just a bit off. But when he went down, for whatever reason, Teague’s production — and his quickness to do so — picked up significantly.
His efficiency has dropped off a bit, but his usage in the offense has picked up with it. Without Butler in the lineup, Teague is the only guy in the starting five with the ball handling chops Thibodeau trusts.
Nemanja Bjelica has a history as a point forward, but he’s rarely — if ever — been used that way since joining the NBA. As a result, Teague is getting more touches and more time with the ball.
And while the numbers suggest his holding the ball could be bad for the Wolves, the eye test suggests his decision-making with the ball has been stronger.
His shooting is a bit down, but not to an alarming rate. With more shot attempts — up to 12.4 per game from 10.8 with Butler healthy — comes more opportunity to miss.
But he’s been taking the right shots and, and making decisions more quickly. The Timberwolves notched wins against Golden State and Washington — games they weren’t supposed to win without Butler — and Teague was a big part of that. He’s helped them steer clear of total meltdown by playing more like what most consider to be his former self.
Maybe it was Butler going down. Teague hasn’t always needed the ball in his hands to succeed — see: his time in Atlanta — but the only other time he played with someone as ball-dominant as Butler was last year in Indiana when he paired with Paul George.
But Teague suddenly looked more calm and comfortable with the ball in his hands. Was it possible that he was just healthy for the first time since the beginning of the year?
Start-of-the-year blues are a common thing, and for point guards that’s especially true. Is it possible that he held onto the ball too much early on — at least in part — because he didn’t know the traits and tendencies of his teammates?
Here’s Teague in an early game this season attacking the basket. This play was from a week after he got back from his knee injury.
For a guy that’s made a name for himself getting to the hoop with clever footwork and masterful speed, the lack of burst here is apparent.
Now look at him last week against Memphis. It was in a brutal loss, but Teague was a bright spot.
This play is especially pleasing because of how quickly it all happened. For a guy that developed a reputation for holding the ball too long, a quick bucket in transition is a welcome sight.
He went from the opposing backcourt to scoring in four seconds.
And don’t get it twisted, there have been some rough games for Teague over this stretch. He’s had some bad games over the last four weeks. Outside of that shot late in the fourth quarter, he struggled against Atlanta (again), and had a brutal 4-for-21 shooting weekend on the east coast last week.
And his defense has always been the weakest point of the Timberwolves starting five, no matter who’s been hurt for them.
Often times, teams have taken advantage of his inability — or perhaps unwillingness — to attack the screener on the pick and roll. This has made it easy for defenses to get easy looks at the rim, and has put the inconsistent (defensively) Towns in brutal positions back-pacing towards the basket.
He always had limitations, and Thibodeau knew that going in when he signed him to a three-year, $57 million deal over the summer.
Through those limitations, Teague has received backlash for a myriad of reasons — some more justified than others. Despite that, he’s looked progressively better as the season has progressed.
It’s unclear what version of Teague they’ll get if they, in fact, do make the playoffs, but they need the version they’ve had the past few weeks. They need the on-court production and the off-court leadership.
For a player known for his quiet and laid-back demeanor, he’s managed to find more comfort in Minnesota over recent weeks, and has done a good job having fun with it along the way.
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