MILWAUKEE – When the smoke emerged from an epic Timberwolves of Minnesota defeat, coach Chris Finch said exactly what he had to say.
Losing a 24 -point lead with 10 minutes to play against the Milwaukee Bucks at a night when the Wolves could have gone to the head of 4 in the image of the western conference elimination series was not a disaster, said Finch. This did not reveal a team with an inherent defect not to be able to maintain a quality level of game against a team that is more than beeptable.
No, it was only one of these bizarre nights in the NBA, when the act of the coach of Bucks Doc Rivers of despair to make an area at the beginning of the fourth quarter overturned the match on his head, from 95 to 71 minnesota with 10:32 to play 110-103 Milwaukee when the final buzzing sounded. No need to panic, said Finch. No need to wallow. Stop shoulders and go to the next, even more important game, to Memphis on Thursday.
“It is a bad fourth quarter against a defense of zone,” said Finch. “I don’t think it’s a microcosm of the season.”
Finch could not sit at the table in the rear corridors of the Fiserv forum and validate the question. This would not look great with three games to play, including a confrontation with Memphis’ grizzlymen. But the reality is that that was A microcosm of this season of exciting, frustrating and confusing wolves. In three quarters, the Wolves played with clarity and a concentration that made them dominate the dollars. They looked like a team that was going to win their sixth consecutive game and give themselves a chance not only to get out of the game tournament, but also to welcome match 1 in a first round series.
Then, with just there in the palm of their hands, they were right … stopped. They stopped doing everything they did in these three -quarters to build this advance, stopped moving the ball, stopped moving their bodies, stopped hitting gunshots, stopped challenging at the other end, stopped taking care of the ball.
Minnesota in the first three quarters of the game: percentage of 56% of goals in the field, percentage of 39% of 3 points, 22 assists, five reversals and 90 points.
Minnesota in the fourth quarter: 20% shot, 16.7% out of 3, three assists, nine reversals and 13 points.
“We just frozen,” said Finch. “We did not move the ball. We just flew over. When we made the pass in the middle of the ground, it was late, then turnover, turnover. ”
Milwaukee carried out an amazing 34-3 race during the quarter, using the defense of the area to reduce the Wolves to an embarrassment in hand and to react slow. The star Giannis Antetokounmpo was calm in three quarters, with only 10 points on 4 shots out of 9 with eight rebounds and eight assists. He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter on 5 shots out of 6 and was a plus absorbent in 29 in 10 minutes, 32 seconds on the ground.
Jaden McDaniels from Minnesota and Gary Trent Jr. Milwaukee are fighting for a loose ball. (Images Stacy Revere / Getty)
It’s the Timberwolves season, right there. Earn five in a row and start thinking about climbing in the classification, then collapsing against the Bucks. Earn five in a row at the end of January, then drop home games at Wizards and Sacramento Wizards and Sacramento. Beat the Oklahoma City Thunder twice, the Clippers three times and the Denver Nuggets every four, the last of which can have broken its division rivals. Lose twice against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Golden State Warriors three times before the trade of Jimmy Butler, Milwaukee twice, once at home without Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard then this on the road without Lillard.
Finch may have seen a collapse like that to come. He was not in love with the concentration and quality of his team’s game after each of the two previous wolves victories against the oil tankers in Brooklyn and Philadelphia. It was easy to see after these matches that the coach was worried about a shift in the team’s game when they are fighting for their lives in the playoffs.
Tuesday evening, for three quarters, the Timberwolves were rolling. Naz Reid and Donte Divincenzo had broken out from their mini-saors following their suspension for the fight against the pistons of Strait. Rudy Gobert controlled painting. Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels attacked the edge. More importantly, the ball was zipped around the offensive end, generating superb looks all over the ground.
Taking anything for granted, Finch sent what was his best and smartest alignments to start the fourth quarter. Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Divincenzo, Reid and Gobert have a net note of more-32.9 points by 100 possessions of notchy minutes this season, by cleaning the glass. This is the best net note in any range of five men regularly used in the NBA. Gobert had a reversing dunk and Divincenzo struck a 3 to push the advance at 24, and the Wolves seemed to be in total order.
Then things started to go laterally. Gobert missed a lay-up. Reid missed a 3.
The Bucks reduced the deficit to 16. Timeout, Finch.
He put Julius Randle for Gobert. Reid forced a hook shot that missed. Alexander-Walker returned it.
The Bucks cut it to 14.
Finch underlying Edwards for Conley and McDaniels for Alexander-Walker. Edwards and Divincenzo missed two others 3. Divincenzo made an wandering pass for another turnover.
The Bucks cut him to eight. Timeout, Finch. Again. In the group, they talked about how to manage the area, the importance of moving the ball from one side to the other to create open looks, to make quick and decisive passes so that the dollars rush.
“The guys were talking,” said Finch. “They were talking, definitely. It’s on me. I have to get better photos. “
Searching for all kinds of range combination that would click, he brought back Conley for Divincenzo, but the failures and turnover continued to come. The Bucks scored 12 fast break points after only having only four in the first three quarters. While Edwards, Reid and Divincenzo moved away from 3, Antetokounmpo overthrew the other.
Everything that could be wrong turned badly.
“It was difficult for each last of us to take a look when they were in the area,” said Edwards. “It wasted. Great cry in Milwaukee. “
A collapse of this spectacular with issues of this high must belong to everyone. Finch was right to know that he had to find a way to go to his players on how to attack a style of defense which is often a last resort for an opponent because of the ease with which so many smart teams can dissect him. Maybe he played too much Randle and Conley overnight, neither had it, but the options were few at that time of the game.
Edwards scored 25 points, but it was only 10 out of 27 on the field and 2 out of 11 on a 3 -point beach. In the fourth quarter, he missed his four shots, which all came from the range of 3 points, had his two reversals and only succeeded.
Divincenzo scored eight of the team’s 13 points in the quarter, but also experienced two bad reversals. Randle was 0 of 1 with two of his five reversals in the match, and he did not rebound in more than nine minutes on the ground. Conley and Reid both went 0 out of 3 in the quarter. Gobert committed three faults while the Wolves defense collapsed. McDaniels was 0 of 1 with zero rebounds in six minutes.
“Everyone here is p – off,” said Divincenzo. “But group together and come back because we know that we have a huge match on Thursday.”
A victory would have put the Wolves (46-33) in fourth place thanks to equality breaks. Instead, they fell to the eighth, just behind the Grizzlies (47-32), a team that had its number in the past. This makes the game in Memphis a must if they want to keep their hopes in the old way of the game tournament.
“The next game is the biggest game of the season,” said Edwards.
This is why so many wolves took this collapse in stride. There is no time for them to derail. They are at the end of a long five -game road trip and they have to find a way to scratch a victory, then go home and beat the Nets and Utah Jazz. Do this, and there is a good chance that they will be in the top six.
Complete this match against Milwaukee on Tuesday evening and they would have been in charge. Now they are in the sidecar, holding life in dear as they fuck around a hairpin turn. This is what this season has been. But the thing about a roller coaster tour is that just when you expect the least, management changes.
There have been stretching of the season when the Wolves resemble a competitor in good faith in the West, only to stain their toes on a mediocre team and bring the doubts to the surface. But just when this team seems to be sunk, they have run and relive hope. Cela fait également partie de leur ADN.
This resilience was what they leaned Tuesday evening following a massively disappointing defeat.
“We have to recognize what happened, but don’t let the world explode just because of it,” said Divincenzo. “We have to answer Thursday.”
Who knows what the Timberwolves will look like in Memphis? Maybe they will go out and categorically respond, beating an opponent who recently pulled his coach. Or maybe Memphis will continue to exercise what seems to be a mental advantage over the Wolves and bring them closer to have to go on the road to start the game tournament.
With this team, it is impossible to say. Because remember, yes, the Wolves abandoned a 24-point lead in the fourth quarter to lose against the Bucks. But they also returned from 24 points to the fourth quarter to beat the Thunder in February.
“I have all confidence that we can bounce back,” said Finch. “We have good guys. They will shake. We have already had difficult losses during the season. We did not expect to be undefeated during our last 10 games. No matter how it happens, where it comes. If it comes, we have to go and get those who are still there.”
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(Top photo of Naz Reid: Michael Mcloone / Images Imagn)
