Entering Sunday’s game in San Francisco, Mike Conley led the Timberwolves in clutch-time net rating.
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Minnesota outscored opponents by 13.3 points per 100 possessions with its floor general on the court late in close contests.
When he wasn’t on the floor, well, it’s often been a disaster. Who was No. 2 entering Sunday’s game in that stat? Julius Randle, with Minnesota’s second-best clutch-time net rating at negative-12. And that disparity only grew in Sunday’s 114-106 loss to Golden State.
The loss snapped the Wolves’ four-game winning streak.
Anthony Edwards hit a 3-pointer to put Minnesota up 106-105 with 4:47 to play in the bout. That was the Wolves’ last bucket of the game. From there, Minnesota went 0 for 9 from the field with a turnover, as Edwards took one ill-advised shot after another and the Wolves’ offense grinded to a halt at the worst possible juncture.
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“We lost our composure down the stretch. Just hero shot after hero shot,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told reporters. “Obviously, (the Warriors) were aggressive on (Edwards), and he took some tough shots. … Those are shots that are really hard to make over and over and over, but when we did move the ball, we got good looks.”
Finch said the coaching staff told Edwards there were “guys open all over the floor,” but it was to no avail.
On the other end, Steph Curry had two points and two assists in that same span.
That’s the difference in players at the moment. Curry was in complete control of the moment on a night where he shined himself. Two nights after Minnesota held the star guard in relative check in a Wolves’ win, Curry erupted for 30 points and eight assists, making five triples.
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“We expected a much more aggressive Steph tonight,” Finch said. “They did a good job of trying to get him freed up a bit more. We were able to survive that. We still gave ourselves a chance.”
Only to squander it.
Finch said he briefly considered subbing Conley back into the game in the closing minutes, but refrained, citing the brilliant play of Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Alexander-Walker was excellent in the second half. But most of his best play has come alongside Conley. The Wolves wanted Jaden McDaniels out there to defend Curry.
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The only logical option at that point, should Minnesota have decided to get Conley back into the game, would’ve been to take out Julius Randle and play small. That’s not a lever Finch and Co. have opted to pull yet this season.
The last few minutes was one of two times where Finch felt the Wolves (12-11) lost the game, the first coming at the start of the second half. The Wolves led by 12 early in the third frame, but allowed the Warriors (14-9) to score on their first 11 possessions of the quarter. Golden State scored 44 points in the third.
“They had 10 transition buckets to start in I think the first five or six minutes, and a lot of them came after we had scored,” Finch said. “Which is inexcusable. We did a really good job with our halfcourt defense, they decided they needed to push the tempo, and we didn’t answer the bell. We gave up open threes, dunks and layups in that period of time.”
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