After the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Denver Nuggets 119-114 on the road in Game 2, Chris Finch said that the players told the coaching staff they’d turn it on in the playoffs. The Wolves didn’t in their Game 1 loss. However, they stole home-court advantage in Game 2 and knocked the Nuggets out in six games despite playing shorthanded.
The Timberwolves flipped the script in Round 2. Anthony Edwards unexpectedly returned and led the Wolves to a 104-102 victory in San Antonio. However, Edwards lamented that Minnesota came out “too cool” in Game 2, and the Spurs beat them 133-95.
Suddenly, after losing Game 3 115-108 on Friday night, the Wolves are in jeopardy of failing to advance to the Western Conference Finals after reaching them in the past two years.
“It’s how you respond,” Naz Reid said after the game. “We’ve never been a team to just roll over, though. I know that for a fact.”
The Timberwolves made Game 3 hard on themselves. They started 0-for-12, and Jaden McDaniels (5-for-22) and Julius Randle (3-for-12) never found a rhythm. The Wolves overcame a 15-point hole in the first half, but San Antonio outscored them 35-28 in the third quarter.
That put pressure on the Wolves in the fourth quarter. Chris Finch waited until two minutes left in the game to remove Rudy Gobert and go to five-out against Wembanyama. Minnesota got better offensive looks with its five-out lineup for most of the night. It removed Wembanyama from the middle of the court and fostered better ball movement.
Minnesota couldn’t mount a comeback and lost 115-108.
There are caveats to consider. Teams routinely overcome slow starts, even in the playoffs. Julius Randle ran into foul trouble, and he’s Minnesota’s best Wembanyama defender outside of Gobert. He also had a slow night, scoring 12 points in 31 minutes.
Still, Game 3 on Friday is a microcosm of Minnesota’s season. They admittedly played lackadaisically in the regular season, finishing with 49 wins and the sixth seed. As a result, they are playing the Spurs in the second round. In another scenario, they may not have had to play them until the Western Conference Finals, or at all.
The Wolves also ceded home-court advantage throughout the playoffs because they are the lowest seed outside of the play-in teams. Therefore, they can win on Sunday and still have to play a pivotal Game 5 in San Antonio. Teams tied 2-2 that win Game 5 advance 80% of the time. Lose, and they must stave off elimination twice on the road.
“Punch back,” Naz Reid said when a reporter asked about how the team would approach Game 4. “It’s how you respond that determines what type of team you are, what type of person you are. … Everybody can throw blows, it’s how you respond. We do well in that aspect, and I think that’s kind of just who we are.”
That’s the thing about this Timberwolves team, they respond. They drew the Nuggets, an unfavorable matchup, in the first round. They won that series despite losing Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo in Game 4. Now, they must take Game 4 at home and pull off a Game 5 win on the road to take hold of the series.
The Wolves are capable of doing it. They eliminated Denver, whom the oddsmakers favored, and already have beaten the Spurs at home. Minnesota advanced to the Western Conference Finals as a six-seed last year. Still, they haven’t made things easy on themselves. It just seems to be the way they go about things.
