Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) drives to the basket as Miami Heat guard Kyle Lowry (7) and center Bam Adebayo (13) defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, March 12, 2022, in Miami . (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Minnesota was still showing a negative balance in mid-January, when the Wolves suddenly raised their voices in order to pass a new milestone in terms of consistency and regularity.
Since their convincing success with the air of a click won against the Warriors on January 16, the teammates of Karl-Anthony Towns have indeed chained 19 victories in 27 games to find themselves today at the gates of the Top 6 in the West (39v -30d), to the point of putting pressure on Denver. Barring disaster, they will end the season with a positive balance sheet, and that has only happened to them once in 17 years!
From the shadow to the light
Symbol of the metamorphosis of Wolves, the victory on the floor of the Heat, the 7th in eight games, gleaned despite a difficult first half. In “back-to-back”, after their setback in Orlando, Minnesota was indeed up to 17 points behind in the second quarter, with a Karl-Anthony Towns in difficulty because of faults. In previous years, these Wolves would have probably lost this game.
This time, Chris Finch took advantage of half-time to shake up his team, and the desired effect occurred.
“I said to the guys on the bench, let’s wait for half-time when we can get back on track, because I think we have the solutions to get out of it”said coach Chris Finch.
Upon arrival, Miami only scored 37 points in the second half, and Minnesota, although deprived of Jarred Vanderbilt and Patrick Beverley, made up for its 12-point deficit to win 113-104 on the floor of one of the toughest teams in the league, quite a symbol.
“We have shown resilience when we have experienced poor performance. I’m really proud of my players. We put them to the test on Saturday morning. They reacted. They wanted to do better and they knew they had to after the loss in Orlando the day before.Coach Finch continued.
An ideal scenario to gain confidence
Around the Russell-Edwards-Towns trio, everyone has found their role in which they thrive, as evidenced by Malik Beasley’s recent big 3-point blow against OKC. The dynamic has completely changed compared to previous years and the players manage to surpass themselves to garner a maximum of victories.
“Last season was difficult. When we lost, it turned into a losing streak. Now we are better. We wanted to make sure to follow up with a new series of victories., he remembered.
Saturday in Miami, it was Jaylen Nowell who was able to compensate for Karl-Anthony Towns’ foul concerns, to finish with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
“He was huge. He kept us in the game. We ended up with a big gap but in the first half especially he kept us in the game when we were just trying to finish the half.”added Chris Finch.
Another symbol of the current dynamic within the group, the determination of Anthony Edwards to find his teammates despite pain in his left knee. In the absence of Jimmy Butler on the Miami side, the rear was able to make a non-negligible contribution (15 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 assists) to achieve what he considered to be one of the his team’s best games this season.
“I just think this win is really important. For us, coming off of a terrible loss, trailing by 12 points at halftime, regaining the lead and taking the lead in the last quarter, I think it was just perfect.”he concluded.
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Karl Anthony Towns | 62 | 33.6 | 52.7 | 40.0 | 81.4 | 2.7 | 7.1 | 9.8 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 3.5 | 24.3 |
| Anthony Edwards | 59 | 34.4 | 43.3 | 34.6 | 77.4 | 0.9 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 3.7 | 2.7 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 21.2 |
| D’angelo Russell | 54 | 32.3 | 41.4 | 34.7 | 83.2 | 0.4 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 7.2 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 18.8 |
| Malik Beasley | 68 | 25.4 | 39.1 | 37.6 | 76.6 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 12.5 |
| Jaden Mcdaniels | 66 | 26.0 | 45.8 | 31.3 | 79.4 | 1.2 | 3.1 | 4.3 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 3.3 | 9.4 |
| Patrick Beverly | 47 | 25.6 | 40.2 | 34.3 | 70.7 | 1.1 | 3.2 | 4.2 | 4.8 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 9.1 |
| Naz Reid | 66 | 16.0 | 48.9 | 34.8 | 76.3 | 1.4 | 2.7 | 4.0 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 8.4 |
| Jaylen Nowell | 50 | 15.1 | 48.3 | 38.7 | 76.9 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 8.1 |
| Jarred Vanderbilt | 62 | 25.8 | 58.7 | 16.7 | 64.8 | 3.0 | 5.8 | 8.7 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 6.9 |
| Greg Monroe | 3 | 21.0 | 64.3 | 0.0 | 40.0 | 1.7 | 5.3 | 7.0 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 6.7 |
| Taurean Prince | 57 | 16.1 | 45.2 | 37.8 | 74.6 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 6.5 |
| Nathan Knight | 31 | 6.9 | 47.5 | 25.0 | 72.7 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 3.2 |
| Jordan McLaughlin | 50 | 13.6 | 38.1 | 23.0 | 74.3 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 3.2 |
| Josh Okogie | 39 | 11.6 | 36.8 | 28.6 | 65.9 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 2.6 |
| Jake Layman | 27 | 7.2 | 37.3 | 14.3 | 75.0 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 2.1 |
| McKinley Wright | 3 | 2.9 | 66.7 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.7 |
| Leandro Bolmaro | 28 | 7.4 | 29.3 | 23.5 | 88.9 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 1.3 |
| Chris Silva | 1 | 3.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
