Bones Hyland flared off a Rudy Gobert screen. He hoisted a 27-foot pull-up three that hit nothing but net, then pointed his skelly celly at the Ball Arena crowd.
That celebration is new to Hyland’s game — developing it during a career regular season with the Minnesota Timberwolves — but that type of three-point make isn’t. Denver Nuggets fans have seen it many times before, as have Wolves fans.
They’ve seen Hyland’s electric shot-making spark big scoring nights for him and wins for his team. But early on in Game 5 Saturday, Hyland’s three didn’t seem to prelude that sort of performance. Hyland’s three-point hoist was emblematic of an unsustainable offensive start for the Timberwolves.
The type of offense that led to Denver’s 125-113 win. The type of offense that the undermanned Timberwolves must avoid on their quest to advance out of the first round.
“Just kind of silly,” Chris Finch said postgame regarding Minnesota’s offense. “Playing into the crowd, not handling the physicality well, and just kind of trying to blow through it. Just a lot of silly, forced plays by guys trying to make something out of nothing.”
The Timberwolves began Game 5 with an inverse-looking offense. They were averaging more assists per game (26) than any other team in the playoffs. However, they were loose with their ball movement early in Game 5, committing 7 turnovers.
Minnesota was also settling for jump shots rather than attacking the rim. Even though they shot 7 of 12 (58%) from three in the first quarter, their offense was concerning because they were deviating from their successful style of play — the style that built them a 3-1 series lead — while playing for the first time without their starting backcourt.
Donte DiVincenzo suffered a season-ending Achilles rupture minutes into Game 4 on Saturday. Late in the first half, Anthony Edwards fell awkwardly on his left leg, hyperextending his knee and suffering a bone bruise that has him on a “week-to-week” timetable for a return.
The first question that popped into the minds of many when Edwards went down was: How would Minnesota generate offense? However, entering Game 5, the Wolves were going to miss DiVincenzo’s defensive energy more than his shot-making. They were also missing Edwards’ gravity more than his production, which has been subpar for most of this series.
Despite being 11.5-point underdogs, Minnesota still had many of its most vital tools in Game 5. They still had Rudy Gobert to slow down Nikola Jokić. Jaden McDaniels was there to chase Jamal Murray off screens. Ayo Dosunmu, fresh off a 43-point performance in Game 4, was there to lead the on-ball offense. Hyland could push the pace and hit loud buckets. The Wolves still had the mental advantage.
But Minnesota’s offense was tentative at the start of the game. The Timberwolves were far less intentional in attacking the rim. The ball occasionally stuck. And when it did move, the Wolves did so carelessly. They had already racked up 13 turnovers at halftime.
Luckily, the bailout shots were falling. The Wolves trailed by nine at halftime. However, they can’t build their offense around luck. Especially not right now.
“We started the game wanting to make all the home run plays,” Finch said, “instead of making all the plays that help us get into the ball game and make the rhythm plays.”
Denver dominated the paint battle in the first half, outscoring Minnesota 32-14 by shooting 9 of 11 at the rim. The Wolves were 3-for-4 at the rim but 9-for-19 on threes.
The improbable shots were falling. Naz Reid, who shot 27% on threes over the final 27 games of the regular season because of a shoulder injury, connected on a heavily contested corner triple — the type of shot that was once synonymous with his game. However, it’s the type of shot that has abandoned him for months.
Minnesota would obviously have greatly benefited from the Reid of old emerging with another big-scoring game, featuring efficient shooting splits and improbable triples, or from Hyland emulating his 18-point performance against the Nuggets in February.
But Minnesota couldn’t bank on that happening. Not because they aren’t capable, but because the Wolves don’t have the margin for error to lean into heroic shot-making.
They don’t have Edwards or DiVincenzo to help maintain the hot shooting and eventually convert that into downhill offense. The Wolves trailed by nine at halftime. But it felt like their carelessness and shot selection would catch up to them.
And as Denver outscored them 37-24 in the third quarter, it certainly did.
Denver is elite at capitalizing on missed shots. Jokić gobbles up rebounds and hits his teammates in transition. The Timberwolves did a great job mitigating that in games two through four by getting to the rim. But on Monday, Minnesota’s three-point-centric offense — accompanied by 25 turnovers — triggered Denver’s offense because the Wolves lacked focus defensively.
“They had 23 fastbreak points, a lot of them were just turnover-led,” Finch said. “I thought, defensively, [we made] a lot of game plan mistakes early. I think we were very sharp with the game plan. But it was turnovers, more than anything else, that hurt us.”
The third quarter was symbolic of this Wolves team at its lowest point this season, when their offense and defense simultaneously shut down. As that happened on Monday, Denver’s win became imminent — building as much as a 25-point lead — and the Ball Arena crowd was jolted with energy, chanting at McDaniels, who they booed all night, and claiming the Nuggets will win in seven games.
Even without Edwards and DiVincenzo, the Wolves still have the tools to execute the style of offense that can end Denver’s season in Game 6 Thursday night in Minneapolis. However, they deviated too far from that style in Game 5. As poetic as it would have been for Hyland to end the team that drafted him’s season with deep three pointers, that was never the type of offense that would have led the Wolves to such an outcome.
They needed that downhill, pressurizing offense more than ever in Game 5. Instead, the Wolves settled in the first half and struggled to get easy buckets, a trend that ultimately collapsed after halftime and forced a Game 6.
