It felt like the Wolves had finally awakened from a week-long hibernation.
It was no surprise the Thunder jarred them from their slumber.
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After a week of awful basketball, Minnesota led the NBA’s reigning champions – and favorites to repeat – by nine in the third quarter Sunday in Oklahoma City.
The Wolves’ defense had tightened. They were attacking in transition. Julius Randle re-acquired his rhythm.
It was all coming up Minnesota.
And then the bottom fell out. Turnovers finally got the best of Minnesota. The offense dried up and the Thunder started to knock down perimeter shots.
In the blink of an eye, the Thunder were in control. Midway through the final frame, the game was no longer in doubt.
Despite a strong performance from Randle. Despite a tough shooting day for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Despite Minnesota shooting 46% from distance.
It was still a no contest.
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The Wolves simply were outclassed by Oklahoma City, a sobering result at the end of a five-game stretch in which they suffered four double-digit losses.
Minnesota has been a rollercoaster team of sorts in the past, making stretches like this seem familiar. But this is undoubtedly worse.
In this recent span, the Wolves were outscored by a total of 69 points – making it the most negatively lopsided five-game stretch for the franchise since the calendar turned to 2022.
The defense is toothless. The offense is out of rhythm. Minnesota is currently 12th in offensive rating and 11th in both defensive and net rating, the latter of which puts it behind the likes of Charlotte and Miami. That’s down from third-best two years ago and fourth last season.
The Wolves have seemingly lost sight of what made them Western Conference contenders over the last two seasons. And they’re running out of time to re-discover the magic.
The upcoming stretch is friendly. The Wolves have three home games this week and will be favored in all of them. Tuesday’s game against Phoenix – the one team that could rise up and knock Minnesota back into the play-in tournament – is the second half of a back to back for the Suns, who are currently missing two starters and played Monday night in Boston.
Minnesota has a golden opportunity to win three straight games to cement its position within the West’s top six and regain positive feelings as it makes its postseason push.
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But we may have just found out who the Wolves are when push comes to shove. This year’s team – while healthy for the majority of the campaign – hasn’t established an identity. The ball movement on offense nor intensity on defense have ever achieved any level of consistency required for excellence.
The Wolves have won games – there’s a reason they’re still in a strong position to make their fourth straight trip to the playoffs – but the success has seemingly all come on the strength of their talent.
The assumption all along for many, even amid the frustration, was the proverbial “switch” would be flipped when the time came, as it was a year ago when Minnesota closed the regular season with a 17-4 run that it then parlayed into another West Finals appearance.
But that switch currently seems to be stuck on “off.” Because this last week – which featured four games against quality foes – seemed like a good time to crank the dial. Yet Minnesota remained stuck in neutral.
No one is making one another better, playing to strengths or covering up weaknesses. The Wolves look out of rhythm, out of gas, out of sorts.
All season, Minnesota’s level of basketball has fallen short of that required to contend for a championship. That reality has finally come to light.
And there might not be enough time to raise it.
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