The Minnesota Timberwolves dispatched Malik Beasley to
In July 2022, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded Rudy Gobert to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Malik Beasley. If you pay close attention, his comments continue to reverberate around the Target Center concourses. “We genuinely believe that the score should be 4-1 at this point,” he remarked prior to Game 6 of the previous year’s playoffs. “But, as a young team, we made a few blunders. We must grow from it and go past it.
Beasley’s remarks were mocked by Memphis media outlets and Grizzlies supporters, yet there was some validity to them. After winning Game 1 in Memphis, the Timberwolves gave up home-court advantage in Game 3 after blowing two 25-point leads. The Grizzlies eliminated Minnesota twenty-four hours after Beasley stated that the Wolves should have won the series. Minnesota had a ten-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
Much of the goodwill the Timberwolves had garnered during their 46-win season was lost with those postseason defeats. Minnesota’s 42-win campaign the previous year did little to stomp out the anticipation for their comeback to relevance. Expectations are raised by success, and the Wolves fell short of them the previous season. However, a lot of this season’s early going has silenced the unfavorable rumors surrounding the Gobert deal. TheMany fans were understandably disappointed that Frenchman, who has led the league’s top defense, was left off of the All-Star roster.
However, there are still certain things that the Timberwolves need to learn from the Grizzlies playoff series. With the Gobert deal, Tim Connelly completely changed the roster of the Wolves, making them a very different squad. Nevertheless, they have the ability to squander double-digit leads and falter in the fourth quarter. They struggled with ball movement in their season opener, a 97-94 loss to the Toronto Raptors, and in their third game of the year, they let away a 19-point lead against the Atlanta Hawks at the half.
Since then, Minnesota has had notable victories. Following the game in Atlanta, they went on a seven-game winning streak, winning on the road against the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics. They have also defeated the Oklahoma Thunder and the Philadelphia 76ers in two games.
Miami Heat, City Thunder, and Los Angeles Lakers. For the majority of the season, Minnesota has had the #1 seed in the West. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards have been named All-Stars, while Chris Finch will serve as the team’s coach.
Even so, it’s difficult to ignore the team’s recent setbacks against the Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs, and Charlotte Hornets. Two of the poorest teams in the league are Charlotte and San Antonio; Orlando overcome a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter. The Timberwolves played down to their opponents last year, as evidenced by the Hornets and Spurs’ defeats. Particularly in light of the previous two late-game defeats to Oklahoma City and Boston, the Magic game seemed to portend something. The Wolves will lose in the postseason if they don’t improve their late-game offensive.
In 2021–2022 regular-season success spurred enthusiasm. Since2003–04, the Timberwolves have only had one postseason campaign, and Tom Thibodeau failed to establish a solid foundation for the squad that played in 2017–18. The next year, Jimmy Butler asked for a trade, and midway through the season, Thibodeau was dismissed by the Wolves. The Finch-Edwards Wolves, though, seemed sturdy. Even so, nobody will be satisfied with regular-season success if it results in yet another disastrous postseason run.
Tim Connelly stated during the preseason media day that the Timberwolves needed to win a playoff series in order to advance this year. It’s hard to predict Minnesota’s performance in the February playoffs. However, it’s equally challenging to ignore the Memphis series whenever the offense pauses. The Wolves have a chance to make things right.last year with the Grizzlies. Nevertheless, by limiting Minnesota to seven points in the last 11 minutes and winning in overtime, the Lakers overcame a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit. Rather, they faced off against the top-seeded Nuggets, who defeated them in five games.
Following Friday’s game, in which Orlando defeated the Wolves 28–18 in the fourth quarter, Finch convened a team film session where they watched the entire game and spoke about what went wrong.
“We don’t do that very often,” Finch remarked on Saturday during practice. “Normally, we watch edits based on themes, but today we watched the entire fourth episode.” Just discussed our offensive problems and their causes, while attempting to make comparisons to our past games. but made an effort to find comfort in the knowledge that we’re experiencing this now and that, perhaps, we can resolve it in time for the end of the season.
Turning the ball over and surrendering points in transition were Minnesota’s main problems. “Even if we win, you
observe teams attempting to gain an advantage over us, said Kyle Anderson. However, it’s lovely to see it in February. That will be evident during the postseason. Teams will strive to avoid us in this manner. Dare us to leave the ball by moving tiny, playing quickly, and doing other similar things.
The players claimed it was more than just reviewing film; rather, they saw it as a chance to talk candidly about their late-game offensive.
“To be honest, the most important thing was not what was said, but rather who spoke,” Mike Conley remarked following Minnesota’s 111-90 victory over Houston on Sunday. “We had several men, coaches and players, get up and speak. And simply listening to distinct voices and discussions. Men were chatting about movies.regarding the actions they should take to improve. Guys were responsive to coaches who called them out and told them they needed to do this and that, and they were acting like mature adults about it. It was a tremendously productive meeting.
“The talk was excellent,” Gobert concurred. “We had a few guys voice our opinions and decide what we want to do as a team—it was more than just the movie.”
The Wolves have a five-game road trip scheduled prior to the All-Star break in early February. We have no idea how they will place in the Western Conference or how they will look going into the postseason. To stay atop the West in the short run, they need to improve their late-game offensive. We might consider the film session on February 3 to have been a turning point in the season if Minnesota begins to close out games. The players’ voices will have overpowered the echoes of Beasley’s disastrous three-year-old playoff declaration.