Timberwolves

The First Half Of the Schedule Will Tell Us Everything About the Wolves

Photo Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

The NBA released its full 2022-23 regular season schedule Wednesday afternoon. With the blockbuster move to bring in Rudy Gobert, one of the biggest off-seasons in Minnesota Timberwolves history, many are excited to see how this regular season pans out. With that, many questions about the team’s makeup have arisen, and fans long to see this team on the court.

When looking at the first half of the season, I see a unique mix of challenges for the Wolves. However, there are also some stretches of easier games that should be viewed as “must-wins.” It will be tough to gauge how good this team can be because we haven’t seen them play. Still, let’s break down the first 41 games of the season and see where the Wolves may be sitting 42 games in.

The Wolves are kicking off the season with five straight games against teams who are projected to finish with under 31.5 wins: the Oklahoma City Thunder twice, the Utah Jazz, and the San Antonio Spurs a few times. Out of those five games, they will play four at home. It will be very crucial for everyone to get on a similar page before the loaded Western Conference schedule picks up.

Not only are those teams projected to finish under .500, but none of them match up well with the Wolves.

The Thunder will likely be running Chet Holmgren, who’ll be making his NBA debut in his home state, and Aleksej Pokusevski at the 4 and 5. They stand at 7 feet or taller but weigh under 200 lbs. Therefore, Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert will be a nightmare matchup for them.

While the Jazz may be a rebuilding team, they still have an excellent squad. With new head coach Will Hardy at the helm, this may be Minnesota’s first challenge of the season. It won’t be near the biggest one they face, but it will be a challenge nonetheless.

The Jazz are not the team they once were, they had the most regular-season wins in the past four years, but they still have threats. Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson, Bojan Bogdanović, and, oh yeah, Donovan Mitchell are all still in Utah.

While Mitchell’s future in Utah may be uncertain, one thing will always remain the same. He lights up whoever his opponent may be – especially the Timberwolves.

Through 15 career games against Minnesota, Mitchell is averaging 25 points per game, 4.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds on 37% from three and 45% from the floor.

However, the Spurs are a different tale.

Last March, Towns scored 60-points against the San Antonio Spurs on the road, notching his career-high and a franchise record.

Anthony Edwards also put up 49-points on the Spurs in the April 7th matchup at Target Center.

The Wolves had San Antonio’s number last season, which is no surprise judging where these teams are in stature. However, they have Jakob Poeltl, one of the premier shot blockers in the NBA, rejecting 1.7 shots per game last season. I don’t see Poeltl being a “game-changer” when the Spurs visit the Wolves on the 24th and 26th of October, but he’ll still be a thorn in Minnesota’s side.

Minnesota’s first major challenge will start in Game 6 of the regular season with a matchup against the Lakers on Oct. 28th. They will be tested for the first time in the 14 games that follow. Below are the marquee matchups during that stretch.

  • vs. Milwaukee, Nov. 2nd
  • at Cleveland, Nov. 13th
  • at Philadelphia, Nov. 19th
  • vs. Miami, Nov. 21st
  • at Charlotte, Nov. 25th
  • vs. Golden State, Nov, 27th

However, they will get some reprieve during that stretch with matchups that include the following:

  • vs. Houston, Nov. 5th
  • vs. New York, Nov. 7th
  • at Orlando, Nov. 16th
  • at Indiana, Nov. 23rd
  • at Washington, Nov. 28th

Regardless, Minnesota would need to go around 10-5 to really prove just how posing of a threat they are.

Following that stretch, Minnesota’s opposition becomes much easier with games against the Thunder, Jazz, Pacers, and Blazers. However, the Wolves will need to keep the pedal down. As we’ve seen years prior, bad things happen when this Wolves team underestimates their opponent.

For instance, the Wolves took on the Orlando Magic early last season. Minnesota had as much as a 12-point lead in the 3rd, but Cole Anthony’s 31-point outburst powered the Magic to beat the Wolves 115-97, a game Minnesota was favored in and should have won.

We just got too comfortable. I think that when we get comfortable, too, is just a perfect storm,” Towns said following the game. “It’s kind of one of those things when we let our offense go because of the shots just not falling and how good the looks were kind of beat the confidence out of us defensively and just made some mistakes. Even when they were tough, they made some shots.”

Even More recent than that, and still fresh in Wolves fans’ minds, was the infamous game three letdowns vs. Memphis last post-season. Minnesota gave up two 20-point leads in that game and ultimately lost 104-95.

Holding leads down and winning the games they are expected to will be yet another test for this team to see if they made the jump from a good team to a great one.

The first half of the season wraps up with the largest and most challenging stretch the Wolves will endure up until that point in the season.

  • vs. Chicago, Dec. 18th
  • vs. Dallas, Dec. 19th & 21st
  • at Boston, Dec. 23rd
  • at Miami, Dec. 26th
  • at New Orleans, Dec. 28th
  • at Milwaukee, Dec. 30th
  • vs. Denver, Jan. 2nd
  • vs. Clippers, Jan. 6th

Minnesota’s size with Towns and Gobert in the paint will make this team more competitive when they match up with teams like the Bucks, Nuggets, and Clippers. However, in matchups against teams like the Mavericks and Celtics, that lineup may come back to hurt them. No matter what, not giving up 15+ rebounds to one player a night will be very refreshing.

Next season is the first year in quite some time that there aren’t many scheduled losses. That being said, there is still so much we’ve yet to learn about this Wolves squad. What is their ceiling? How will they fit together? All of those questions and more will be answered in the first 41 games of the season, making this year’s first half just that much more crucial than years prior.

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