As we conclude the end of the first week of this new calendar year, many people continue to be on their recent, motivated journeys to fulfill their New Year’s resolutions in an attempt to better themselves from the previous year. This time of year, however, also serves well as an opportunity for NBA teams to look back on their performance since the beginning of the season and see where they could improve or continue to build off of. Now entering the halfway mark of the season, it’s now or never for struggling teams to correct some of their wrongs and go on a run to get into playoff contention by April.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have not been the world-beaters that many expected them to be this season. Through 38 games, they are in 11th place in the Western Conference standings with an 18-21 record. For most of the year, the Wolves have been battling injuries, primarily to Karl-Anthony Towns and many vital rotational players. Minnesota also has continuously struggled with several team performance issues. From their shooting woes to their turnover troubles and, most disappointingly, their lack of heart on the court at times, the Wolves have left their fans with a lot to be desired for most of the season.
However, as the saying goes, ‘new year, new me.’ That should essentially be the message the Wolves carry throughout their January schedule.
The Timberwolves were in a similar position at this point in the season last year. After a hard-fought 108-103 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on January 2nd last year, the Wolves found themselves with a 16-20 record and struggling to find consistent offense. Due to the Western Conference being a little bit weaker last year, Minnesota was still the 9th seed in the West.
However, fans knew the team still had another level they could potentially reach. And under the leadership of crucial role players like Patrick Beverley and Jarred Vanderbilt and the blossoming of their young core players like Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, the Wolves did just that.
After that loss to the Lakers, the Wolves would go on to win 9 of their 14 games during January last year, bringing them back to .500 (25-25) to close out the month. While this only brought them up to the 7th seed in the conference standings, it marked a significant turning point in the season for the Wolves than the record alone indicated.
During January, the Wolves and fans were shown a glimmer of hope for their season through their play. Minnesota averaged 119.7 points per game during that month-stretch. It was a big improvement from their offensive output during the previous month of December when they averaged just 108.2 points per game. Towns and Anthony Edwards also had some of their biggest scoring nights of the season during that month of January for the Wolves. Towns recorded his season-high during that time, with a 40 point-night during a 141-123 win over the Houston Rockets on January 9th. Ant also had one of his bigger nights of the season, with a 40-point outing in a 109-107 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Overall, the Timberwolves began playing with a level of chippiness that had been missing up to that point in the season. They battled well on the glass, with KAT and the hard-nosed Vando each averaging 10.2 rebounds per game in January. They did an adequate job spreading the floor and moving the ball, averaging 26.5 assists per game as a team during the month. And they also made great strides in ramping up their communication on the defensive end.
After January, the Wolves finished the season with a 21-11 record. They finished as the seventh seed in the West and made the playoffs before losing in a memorable six-game round series against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Now, the Wolves should aim to replicate the turnaround they had last year in January. Austin Rivers believes the Wolves can use this new calendar year as a spark plug for their resurgence.
Earlier this week, Rivers shared his thoughts on the possibility of this team still being able to have a dynamic shift, even though they were on a 6-game losing streak. “We gotta go get wins,” he said at shootaround before Minnesota beat the Denver Nuggets on Monday. “Then the energy will turn, I promise you. If we win three or four in a row, the whole dynamic will change. I promise you. Just gotta stay with us, man.”
Rivers’ sentiments must have spread profoundly through the locker room; the Timberwolves have kicked off this month on just the right note. The Wolves beat Denver, the 1-seed in the West, on Monday night, 124-111. It was arguably Minnesota’s most impressive win of the season so far. The Wolves followed that up with another impressive 113-106 win against the Portland Trail Blazers, a team that beat Minnesota in back-to-back games last month.
After the win against Denver, Rivers doubled down on his previous message to fans by saying, “Just stay with us, man, just stay with us, bro. Best team in the league we played tonight, that shows us what we’re capable of, stay with us, bro.”
While this team still has ways to go, fans should take Rivers at his word in an attempt to provide some good new year fortune. Yes, the Timberwolves still have much to prove to themselves and the fans, but they have historically been a pretty good second-half-of-the-season team. Hopefully, they will get some of their key players back from injuries. For now, the Wolves just have to live up to Rivers’ words and use this month of January to come together as a team. If they do, it will create the type of turnaround they had last year that propelled an underdog team to the playoffs.
