The Minnesota Timberwolves’ win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday marked the end of their longest homestand of the season. The Wolves played seven games in a row at Target Center coming out of the NBA All-Star break and went 4-3. At first glance, the record may feel slightly disappointing because it’s rare to get homecourt advantage for seven games in a row. And if the Wolves want to hold onto first place in the Western Conference, they must capitalize on any advantages they can get.
However, Minnesota’s jam-packed schedule mitigated some of the homestand’s advantages, including three back-to-backs in those seven games. The Wolves started the series of games with the first back-to-back, playing the Milwaukee Bucks on Feb. 23. It was a game that they could have won if they had scored more than 13 points in the third quarter. But anytime you play against Giannis Antetokounmpo, it will be a tough game, and the Bucks are currently second in the Eastern Conference.
Brooklyn Nets came to town a day later, and Minnesota’s defense returned to form, allowing only 86 points. The offense was unsteady again, and the Timberwolves went into halftime down 45-42. However, Anthony Edwards hit his stride in the second half, scoring 21 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the field. Ant and Karl-Anthony Towns combined for 57 of the team’s 101 points, buoying the offense on a night where the Wolves bench struggled to score, shooting a combined 4 of 20.
But the Wolves had to play five games in seven days after 48 hours of rest, bookended by two more back-to-backs. Even with the advantage of playing at home, that had to be an exhausting run for the players, especially when the starters averaged above 28.8 minutes per game, peaking with Ant’s 34.9 minutes.
However, the second back-to-back in the seven-game homestand was against the Memphis Grizzlies and the San Antonio Spurs, who have been at the bottom of the Western Conference for most of the season. Although the Wolves won both games by a nine-point margin, they handled their business. Neither game felt like it would get away from them as they did so often last season. The Timberwolves trailed the Grizzlies by three going into the second half, because Jaren Jackson Jr. effectively put the Grizz on his back scoring 19 points in the first half. But after JJJ scored another 10 points in the third quarter, Edwards asked to guard him in the fourth and did a good job of slowing him down.
Jackson tried to post up Edwards on one play. After being unable to knock Ant off his spot, JJJ tried a spinning hook shot, which Edwards blocked — and Jackson has about half a foot of height and at least 20 pounds on Ant. When asked why he wanted to guard JJJ, Ant responded, “S—, he was cookin’. That’s pretty much it. We couldn’t guard him. I said, s—, I might as well try.”
That mentality is something we see from Edwards all the time on offense. But as Ant has gotten older, the Wolves have asked him to take on more challenging defensive assignments, especially in the second half of games. He’s succeeded, which is a sign of Ant’s defensive skill and confidence increasing. It’s also a sign of maturity. Edwards knew the team could win if they slowed Jackson down. Ant’s ability to step up and ask for that assignment when they needed him may have been just as impactful as the 34 points he scored.
It would have been nice to see the Wolves win the Sacramento Kings game. However, Edwards left at halftime for personal reasons, which reportedly was to attend the birth of his child. Therefore, it’s hard to draw any major conclusions from the game. Sometimes life is more important than work, and I’m glad Ant got to be with his girlfriend and newborn baby.
Still, it’s a game where the rest of the team showed maturity. Despite losing their best player and getting down big in the third quarter, the Wolves came back in the fourth and sent the game into overtime. Jaden McDaniels scored a career-high 26 points on an efficient 9 of 11 from the field, hitting 5 of 7 threes. McDaniels scored 15 of his points in the second half after Ant left. He had a couple of improvised cuts and drives to the rim throughout the game that were equally as impressive as his three-point shooting.
The Wolves played the Los Angeles Clippers and Trail Blazers on their third and final back-to-back. The Clippers game might have been the most frustrating loss of the seven-game series because Minnesota only scored 88 points. That overshadowed how well their defense played. The Timberwolves held the star-studded Clippers to only 89 points, and James Harden was 0 of 10 shooting from the field.
To add insult to injury, the league fined Clippers center Daniel Theis after the game for flopping on a play that would have netted the Wolves two points had they not called Rudy Gobert for a foul. Still, the Wolves had plenty of opportunities to win, and their shots just didn’t fall. Bad shooting nights happen to every team. But it happened to both teams simultaneously, creating a game where they scored under 90 points, which is rare in the modern NBA. Minnesota’s defensive performance and effort throughout the game showed its ability to stay focused despite players missing shots.
Finally, the Wolves played Portland in their last game of the homestand. Although the Timberwolves only won by 5 points, they led most of the game and were up 115-101 with 1:22 remaining. Anfernee Simons started hitting many difficult shots in that last minute and a half. However, the Wolves had built a big enough lead that it didn’t matter, and the clock ran out before the Trail Blazers could make a serious comeback.
Despite being tired, the Wolves powered through a trap game against a team at the bottom of the West that they likely wouldn’t have taken seriously last year. Simons played well all night, scoring 34 points, and Duop Reath scored a career-high 26 points while shooting 5 of 6 from three-point range. This is a game that the Timberwolves likely would have lost had they not given full effort. Gobert drove winning and loaded up the box score. Rudy scored 25 points on 9 of 10 shooting, grabbed 16 rebounds, including 5 offensive rebounds, had 3 blocks, and one steal to round everything out. Without Deandre Ayton in the game, the Blazers had no one who could match Gobert’s size and strength, and the Wolves fed the big man with great success.
Ultimately, Minnesota’s biggest sign of maturity throughout this homestand was its ability to play every team tough. They give full effort in every game despite having three back-to-backs in seven games and five games during a seven-game stretch at the end. It would have been nice to see them get an extra game from one of the good teams they played, but they were able to win four games while having a challenging schedule with a serious rest disadvantage. Last season, the Wolves lost many games to teams at the bottom of the standings, partly because it seemed like they didn’t take them seriously. Because of how talented the entire NBA is these days, most of the bad teams can catch you sleeping and get a win.
The Timberwolves have had bad losses this year. They dropped games to the Charlotte Hornets and San Antonio on big nights from rookies Brandon Miller and Victor Wembanyama. But they have made good on their preseason promise to take every game seriously. Last year, the Wolves went 17-18 in games against teams below .500 and 5-7 against the four worst teams in the league. But they have turned that around this season, going 20-5 against teams below .500. They have only lost one game to a bottom-four team when they lost in San Antonio.
Minnesota must continue to make good on that promise of playing consistently if they want to retain first place in a loaded Western Conference. The 10th-seeded Golden State Warriors are 4 games above .500 and only 3.5 games back from the 5th-seeded New Orleans Pelicans. Given that the Wolves were stuck in the slog of teams trying to avoid the Play-In Tournament last year, they’ve come a long way and should be prepared for the playoffs no matter who they face in the first round.
