Tuesday’s loss to the Orlando Magic was a stinger for the fans, and the Wolves players themselves, in part because they’ve experienced games like these before.
Through 46 regular-season games, the Timberwolves have some notably “bad losses” to teams like Phoenix, Brooklyn, a John Wall-less Washington, a Marc Gasol-less Memphis and now Orlando.
The loss on Tuesday might have stung worst of all because of their recent play to that point: leading the league in net rating over the previous 15 games with wins over some formidable competition.
At a time when it seemed like the Wolves had “figured it out,” a game against a last-place team seemed like a gimme.
To some, it felt like a reminder of late November and early December. But to the players – the ones able to change that – it wasn’t.
It was a chance to prove how legitimate they really are.
“We need to humble our damn selves,” Jimmy Butler told the Star Tribune’s Jerry Zgoda after Tuesday’s loss in Orlando. “I’m glad we lost. Came in here on our high horse, thinking we’re a really good team and we haven’t done anything yet. Good for us, man.”
Words like these – from the team’s vocal leader and alpha contributor – shows the difference between now and the time when the Wolves were losing to inferior opponents.
This isn’t to suggest Butler hasn’t been outwardly frustrated in the past – he’s been quite prolific, in fact. The difference between his frustration then and now is the several weeks of good basketball that came in between.
As has been mentioned a slew of times, the Timberwolves have played statistically – and via the eye test – elite basketball since mid-December. Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins have learned to play two-way basketball, and the team as a whole seems to have caught up to speed with what Butler and Taj Gibson brought to the defense Tom Thibodeau made famous in Chicago.
They’ve already clinched the best in-division record in the Northwest, have the second-best in-conference record in the West, and have a real shot at finishing in the top three in the conference – especially with the recent unfortunate injury news regarding San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard.
In the past, that quote from Butler would have been a voice of frustration for what could be. Now, it’s a voice of frustration for what he’s already been a part of.
And even despite all that frustration, the fact of the matter is all good teams – yes, even the Golden State Warriors – have those same “bad losses” that the Wolves have obtained.
Any rational fan would be frustrated with their favorite team – especially one as good as the Wolves – losing games like the one on Tuesday.
Earlier in January, I tried to put that frustration into perspective.
None of the teams listed above have any losses in the “bad” category since this tweet, but all of them – with the possible exception of Golden State – will almost certainly experience it again.
More than once.
The other good news is how good they’ve been against good teams. Their record against teams seeded 5-10 in the Western Conference is 13-1. When factoring in the — Kawhi-less on both occasions — No. 3 seed Spurs into the conversation, they’re 14-2.
When the season began, they were considered to be part of that tier of teams currently sitting 5-10. With the separation they’ve made for themselves, it’s reasonable to consider them as potentially part of the tier above.
When they started the new year, focus shifted to their strength of schedule. There were legitimate concerns about how they’d do on their recent homestand; the one they went 5-0 on.
But the schedule isn’t going to get any easier, especially in the immediate future.
They play the Houston Rockets Thursday night — the current No. 2 seed in the West who are expected to have James Harden back in action from a hamstring injury that kept him sidelined the last seven games, according to ESPN.
If he does play, ESPN reports he’ll be on a 25-minute restriction. This should somewhat impact his ability to put his footprint on the game, but if he’s even at 85 percent of his normal self, that instantly turns the Rockets into the best opponent Minnesota has seen since their January loss to Boston, or perhaps even their November loss to Golden State.
In the 755 minutes the Rockets have had Harden on the floor this season, Houston has an offensive rating of 115.2, which would be good enough for best in the NBA. Under Mike D’Antoni’s famous high-speed offense, they’re barely behind Golden State for first in the league overall.
And even with alternating injuries to Harden and Chris Paul, the Rockets have never fallen out to the point where their status as Golden State’s biggest playoff rival has been brought into question.
Even if the Timberwolves can take advantage of Harden’s injury, and the suspensions to Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green, the schedule doesn’t slow down after that.
Toronto is playing the best basketball their current crop has ever played, the Clippers remain in playoff contention, Portland is regaining full health, and the Warriors are the Warriors.
As good as the Wolves have proven to be, easy wins will be hard to come by as they close out the first month of the new year.
But they have a track record of success now. For every bad schedule loss, they’ve doubled up on impressive wins against some of the better teams in the West.
As they ready themselves for Houston on Thursday that should be the mindset. It shouldn’t be surrounding their most recent loss – a game they should have had. It should be about the recent wins, and winning streaks. The confidence shouldn’t – and likely won’t – be gone.
They know how to win and how to get back on track. They’ve proven it already.
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