The Timberwolves picked up Tuesday right where they left off with their postseason play in 2022.
After three blown double-digit fourth-quarter leads in a playoff series loss to Memphis led to the team’s first-round exit a year ago, Minnesota again coughed up a 10-point advantage in the final period of its play-in game against the Lakers.
And it was the same old story, same old song and dance. The offense stagnated to incomparable levels. Karl-Anthony Towns couldn’t get himself a decent look for a shot. Anthony Edwards jacked up difficult outside shots. Minnesota made mind-numbing turnovers.
“We’re still learning, and playing in these high-leverage situations is huge for us. I thought composure-wise, again, we showed it in our shot selection in the fourth and it’s baked in our DNA right now, and we know we have to learn from this,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “We’re not all just going to be able to save the day. But moving forward, we’ll learn, and we’ll have hopefully grown from it.”
That quote would have made sense after the loss to the Lakers on Tuesday. But the coach spoke those words after Minnesota’s Game 6 loss to the Grizzlies last spring. And it’s appropriate to wonder if things have indeed been learned over the past year.
Tuesday marked Minnesota’s 19th loss this season when leading by double-digits — tied for most in the NBA. It also marked the fourth time in Minnesota’s last postseason defeats that the Wolves led by double-digits in the fourth quarter, including Games 3, 5 and 6 of last season’s playoff series with Memphis.
Minnesota shot 27 percent from the field in the fourth quarter and overtime in those four losses, including the Lakers debacle.
The Timberwolves finished with the NBA’s sixth-worst offensive rating in clutch time this season, scoring 103.9 points per 100 possessions during times where the margin is within five with fewer than five minutes to play.
To Minnesota’s credit, that ranking boosted to No. 17 — still bottom half, but more respectable — after the acquisition of veteran guard Mike Conley. But in the biggest moments, the Wolves revert to those same bad habits.
In the final five minutes in the win over the Pelicans, Minnesota shot 38 percent from the field and committed three turnovers, and had to win the game on the defensive end. That’s been the end of the floor that’s picked up all the slack for Minnesota in late-game situations all season.
On Tuesday, the Wolves went 2 for 16 shooting from the field with eight turnovers over the final 11 minutes of play — the final six minutes of regulation and then the five minutes of overtime.
“We got stagnant,” Finch told reporters. “We ran out of gas, we got tired, for sure. We kind of stopped cutting, the ball dried up, a lot of holding. The obvious things that you saw, and then that was basically it.”
The “tired” excuse is likely valid. Minnesota was down three rotation players Tuesday — and will get Rudy Gobert back for its do-or-die game Friday at Target Center to either earn the No. 8 seed or an early offseason. But regardless, large-minute loads are the expectation in the postseason. Eighteen NBA players averaged 38-plus minutes during the 2022 playoffs. Six guys averaged 40-plus minutes.
Yes, all five Timberwolves starters recorded more than 41 minutes of action against the Lakers. But fatigued players are still expected to produce. LeBron James logged the most minutes in Tuesday’s game, going north of 45. Anthony Davis played more than Towns.
That cannot be an excuse for poor late-game execution. Neither can youth or a lack of experience.
That was last season’s excuse.
