Obi Toppin’s ridiculous three-point make on Monday night to sink the Minnesota Timberwolves 132-130 in overtime against the Indiana Pacers marked the end of an excellent run of basketball. The Wolves were on an eight-game winning streak before Indiana defeated them and had won the last 13 games with Julius Randle.
The Pacers loss was bad, no doubt about that. Indiana was missing four starters: Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner, and Aaron Nesmith. They arrived in Minnesota after the Milwaukee Bucks beat them 126-119.
Minnesota had quashed a lot of its bad habits during its win streak. However, this loss brought them all back to the forefront again. A lackadaisical approach early on against an undermanned team that Vegas favored them to beat by 10.5 points and more atrocious clutch time offense.
The Wolves were unlucky that Obi Toppin picked the fourth quarter and overtime to turn into a 6’9” version of Steph Curry. Still, Minnesota’s season-long issues are now back at the forefront of everyone’s minds, especially given they will almost certainly be a road team in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
So, how good was Minnesota’s eight-game winning run? And how much can we take from it?
Jaden McDaniels found his game again
The Wolves have sorted several issues out. Jaden McDaniels had been averaging 16.9 PPG and 7.3 RPG during that stretch, a stark contrast to his early season performance, in which he was mostly just a corner spacer who couldn’t shoot efficiently.
McDaniels has become an effective offensive option, which is significant. His growth occurred while Randle, Rudy Gobert, and Donte DiVincenzo were injured. Still, that he has continued to play well since all three have returned is important. Opponents no longer have one player they can ignore or sag off, helping create more space for Randle and Anthony Edwards to work.
Everything on the court looked much smoother over the winning stretch – even down to the Target Center vibes. The defense could lock in and get stops against any team or individual, while the offensive flow looked good. Edwards averaged 28.4 PPG over the winning stretch, shooting 65% from two and 40% from three.
But how good were their opposition?
There may be no bad wins in the NBA, but there are bad teams. And seven wins came against teams with a below .500 record.
The win against the Denver Nuggets, who went into that game with a 42-24 record, was easily the most impressive. Still, they were missing Aaron Gordon, their third most important player.
Minnesota had beaten the Nuggets comfortably with Gordon playing already this season, but their most recent result didn’t tell us much. Everyone around the league knows that the Timberwolves have beaten Denver five times going back to Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals. Therefore, a win or loss here was unlikely to have made a huge difference. Still, they picked up the win and garnered national media coverage.
The Wolves largely beat up on bad teams during their winning streak. That’s not meant to put them down because those games are just as important as any other in ensuring regular season success. Still, it means we can take a little less away from those games, as good as they might have been.
Minnesota’s second-best win during its winning streak was against the Orlando Magic, who had won just three of their previous ten games before facing the Wolves. Orlando led 87-78 after three quarters, but the Wolves outscored the Magic 40-28 in the fourth to win 118-111.
What’s next?
The Wolves’ schedule doesn’t get much harder, either. Three of their next four games are against below .500 teams before tougher contests against Denver and the Detroit Pistons. Though they still have to play the Bucks and Memphis Grizzlies, only four of their final 12 games are against teams with a winning record this season. Half of those teams are in the Eastern Conference.
It’s still difficult to know what to make of the Timberwolves this season. They have gotten much better, that much is apparent. Still, we won’t know how much better until the playoffs start.
They had the easiest schedule in the Western Conference after the All-Star Break, and have done an excellent job of stacking wins. But only games against the best teams in the Western Conference will reveal how meaningful these recent improvements actually are, and we might not find out about that until the NBA playoffs start in a month.