It would be easy to look at that disaster of a third quarter in Atlanta to try to pinpoint the genesis of the latest Minnesota Timberwolves meltdown. When Dejounte Murray was hitting everything in sight and the Wolves were missing bunny after bunny and that 21-point lead was disappearing, that must be where the problem lies.
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It could be argued that the warning signs were there much earlier on Monday night against a Hawks team playing the second night of a road-home back-to-back. They were there despite the Wolves finally seeming to break out of an offensive funk that had run through the first two games of the season. Even as Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns were humming and the Wolves were hitting more than 70 percent of their shots 22 minutes into the game, they did have problems.
The offense was flourishing, but the defense that was so stifling in the first two games of the season evaporated as soon as the Timberwolves started making shots and feeling good about themselves. They rolled up 79 points and shot 67.4 percent in the first 24 minutes but also allowed the Hawks to put up 60 points and shoot 50 percent from the field themselves. The Hawks got easy shots all half, building their confidence and giving them every reason to not give in.
When the Wolves ceased shooting a historically high percentage, as they did in the third quarter, it all fell apart. Murray scored 22 of his 41 points in the third quarter alone, hitting all eight of his shots to bring the Hawks roaring back. The Wolves shot 26 percent in the third and couldn’t find the defense to compensate for it. The avalanche followed.
Minnesota led 86-65 with nine minutes to play in the third quarter. Atlanta outscored the Wolves 60-20 over the next 19 minutes, flipping the score on its way to a 127-113 victory, a collapse that was staggering in its scope even by Minnesota’s standard for blowing leads.
“I didn’t think we necessarily lost focus,” coach Chris Finch said. “I do think that once we missed a bunch of shots we let our defense down, and that’s the biggest thing.”
The defense wasn’t there from the start, and now a team that professed to be more mature and better equipped to avoid the kind of soul-crushing defeats that defined them a season ago cannot deny the striking similarities to that unreliable group.
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When a game falls apart to the degree it did in Atlanta, no one can walk away from it blameless. It starts at the top and goes from there.
The franchise players
This is a players league and it has to start with Edwards and Towns. When the going gets tough, no matter how crazy or absurd, players as talented as Edwards and Towns are supposed to be able to grab a game and prevent it from slipping completely away as it did against the Hawks.
What was most disappointing was how great the pair looked in the first half. Playing back in his hometown, Edwards was putting on a show for his friends and family. He scored 20 points in the first half, going 8 of 9 from the field, including 4 of 5 from deep, with five assists and one turnover.
😮💨😮💨😮💨😮💨😮💨
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) October 31, 2023
Even more encouraging was seeing Towns get rolling. He couldn’t find his shooting touch in the first two games after a strong preseason, but he had everything going in the first half in Atlanta. Towns punished any smaller Hawks player who tried to guard him, taking them to the post for jump hooks and easy buckets.
And when he wasn’t scoring, he was using his gravity to create wide-open looks for Jaden McDaniels from 3.
😮💨😮💨😮💨😮💨😮💨
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) October 31, 2023
Then for Naz Reid at the rim.
NAZ.
REID!!!!
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) October 31, 2023
The ball was moving exactly how Finch wanted, rendering the Hawks helpless against the Wolves inside and out. They hit 12 3s, outscored Atlanta 34-16 in the paint and used all that offensive production to limit the Hawks to four fast-break points. Edwards and Towns were leading the way, Rudy Gobert was crushing inside and McDaniels was making a strong return from his calf injury.
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But in the second half, the Wolves’ two biggest players looked nothing like what they did in the first half. Edwards made some shots, going 5 of 12, but so much of it came off isolation that stymied the rest of the flow.
that's Æ for ya.
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) October 31, 2023
When he wasn’t shooting, he was turning the ball over, leading to run-outs for the Hawks. He had four turnovers in the second half and five of Minnesota’s 10 for the game. And on defense, Edwards ran right into screen after screen, allowing Murray to get good, clean looks for jumpers and smooth runways to the rim.
that's Æ for ya.
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) October 31, 2023
Meanwhile, Towns disappeared offensively in the second half. He missed eight of his nine shots in the final two quarters, not getting a 3 to fall until the game was already decided in the fourth. Many of his errant shots were near the rim, and the Wolves were a staggering 2 of 13 in the paint in the third quarter alone.
When the Hawks were surging, the Wolves needed anyone to hit a shot or two to stem the tide. Towns got good, open looks, including a pair from 3 that just clanked, fueling momentum to the Hawks.
One of the defining images of the collapse was Edwards getting his candy stolen by Bogdan Bogdanović on a key possession in the fourth quarter. Edwards was able to hustle back and block Bogdanović at the rim, but Onyeka Okongwu beat Towns to the offensive glass for a put-back that put the Hawks up 11.
Hustle & flOOw
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) October 31, 2023
The Wolves just needed more from both of their main guys in that second half, and they did not get it.
The head coach
Ultimately, it’s up to the players to execute on the floor to avoid such epic collapses. But Finch has to take some accountability for a recurring issue with this group, which remains largely intact from last season.
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Finch has been criticized in the past for not using his timeouts when opponents go on big runs, but I did not see that as a big issue Monday. In the third quarter, he called a timeout with 8 minutes, 2 seconds to go after Atlanta trimmed a 21-point deficit to 14. Finch called another one with 2:34 to play in the period and Minnesota’s lead was still at eight. He may have waited one possession too long to call his third timeout of the half with 9:30 to play in the fourth when the Hawks opened the quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 107-98 lead. But the wheels were off by that point.
I don’t have the answer for what he should be doing differently to get his players to exhibit more poise and run things more cleanly. I do know he prefers to give his players latitude to figure things out. He likes to say that he sets up left and right bumpers for players and then gives them freedom to operate within those parameters, believing that is the best way to develop them over the long haul.
Finch vowed to have more structure in the offense this season, and he said after the game that he thought the missed shots at the rim had much more impact on the outcome than anything else. If the Wolves had gone 8 of 13 at the rim rather than 2 of 13, they probably have a double-digit lead going into the fourth.
But Finch also has to dig deeper into what it is in this team’s DNA that continually causes it to blow big leads. Should he pull players more quickly after turnovers or bad defense? Should he burn all of his timeouts in the third quarter, taking one after every opponent field goal? Should he be even more heavy-handed when it comes to calling plays and orchestrating offense?
I don’t know what will work. I just know that whatever the Timberwolves are doing when their big leads start to shrink is not working, and Finch has to be the one to lead them through this adversity.
The big picture
The good news for the Timberwolves is that the season is three games old. There have been stretches of promising play on defense in the first two games and on offense in the first two quarters on Monday. No one needs to be fired or traded over this.
This could be a little blip at the start of the season that they are working through, a portion of the schedule that will be a cute footnote when they are performing well and emerging as a threat in the playoffs.
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On the bright side, McDaniels looked strong in his first game, scoring 12 points to go along with three rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot in 24 minutes. As his minute restriction is lifted, he will only help this team more on both ends of the court.
Gobert has looked spry and athletic. He finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks against the Hawks and had a nifty shovel pass to Towns that shows a tandem starting to understand each other. This looks like the Gobert of old, the one who was a force in Utah.
OH MY RUDY 😳
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) October 31, 2023
“Not even my old self. I feel better than I’ve ever felt because I feel like I’m stronger than I’ve been,” Gobert said last week at practice. “And I just see the experience that I have now, and you add that to the rest of the abilities that I have. I think that’s the best that I’ve been.”
Every team has an ugly loss or three every season. The reason this one is concerning for the Wolves is that it looked so similar to the failures of the past, and they have had more than their fair share of them. But make no mistake, this loss was ugly.
Yes, the Wolves could’ve used more from Mike Conley on Monday, but he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune after the game that he was limited by a bout of food poisoning. Yes, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Shake Milton need to be more reliable performers.
But it starts with the big guns. Towns, Edwards and Finch have to figure prominently in solving this riddle that has confounded this team for the last several years.
(Top photo of Anthony Edwards and Saddiq Bey: Dale Zanine / USA Today)
