The dream of 82-0 is dead. After overpowering the Toronto Raptors 24 hours prior, the Minnesota Timberwolves fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers in overtime, beginning a stretch of five games in seven nights for Minnesota.
The second night of a back-to-back can be tough on every team in the NBA, and the Wolves are no exception. Despite the Wolves' first loss of the season, there was still plenty to take away, both good and bad, from the team's performance in Cleveland.
Bench unit steps up again
Midway through the third quarter, the Wolves held a 13-point lead and appeared ready to cruise to another blowout victory early in this season. The opposite happened as the Cavaliers went on an 18-4 run to take their first lead since the score was 7-5.
It was the first time in any of the Wolves' first four games that they encountered any sort of rough stretch. The Wolves' 3-0 start to the season has been an unmitigated success, but one question lingered after the three straight blowout wins: How would the team respond to adversity?
In response to Cleveland's third-quarter run, Chris Finch decided to go with an all-bench lineup to finish the quarter, instead of leaning on his starters. With the game teetering toward swinging further in Cleveland's favor, the Wolves bench lineup held steady, keeping the game tied through the end of the third quarter.
The player most responsible was Terrence Shannon Jr., who scored all 14 of his points in the second half. During a time when the Timberwolves couldn't buy a bucket, Shannon Jr. prevented the game from getting out of hand and allowed the starters to return in the fourth quarter to potentially close out the game.
Shannon Jr. also had five assists in the game. Similar to the previous game, when Ball was in foul trouble, Shannon Jr. has shown the ability to be a quality on-ball creator when the team requires it, something that bodes well for a Timberwolves team with a lack of point guard depth beyond the starting group.
Up and down performane in clutch-time
For the first time this season, a Timberwolves game came down to the wire, a necessary test of Minnesota's new team. The results were mixed, with an equal combination of spectacular plays and costly errors.
Coming down the stretch of the game, the Wolves' offense stalled out with Edwards dominating the ball. When the Wolves got him moving off of the ball is when the offense looked like they were going to put the dagger into the Cavs.
With the game tied, Edwards curled off of screen on back-to-back possessions and knocked down a pair of jumpers to put the Wolves up by two and then by four. It was exactly the type of crunch-time offense the Timberwolves should be running, made possible by LaMelo Ball's playmaking.
From there, the Wolves had many opportunities to close out the game and just could not. In regulation, Jonathan Kuminga missed a free throw to put the Wolves up by three. On the next possession, the Wolves couldn't secure what likely would have been the game-sealing defensive rebound. Instead, James Harden scored the game-tying bucket around a poorly positioned Edwards.
In overtime, the Wolves' offense stalled out with little to no ball movement for the first few minutes, Jaden McDaniels fouled out and committed an ill-timed technical by complaining to the official, and Kuminga missed another key free throw.
There were a few calls from the referees that did not go the Timberwolves' way. There appeared to be a foul on Edwards at the end of regulation, the same on Ayo Dosunmu's attempt to take the lead in overtime, and LaMelo Ball got called for a phantom foul on what seemed like a clean steal with 14 seconds left.
None of these issues are necessarily predictive as to how the Wolves will play in close games down the road, but are all areas where the Wolves can look back on as reasons they were unable to close this game out.
Ultimately, this isn't a game the Wolves should get too broken up about. They had their opportunities to win, couldn't get the game over the finish line, and had both the shooting variance and some of the officiating calls go against them.
The Wolves were bound to lose their first game at some point, and it came against one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference on the second night of a back-to-back. What will be telling about this team is how they respond the next time they are on the court on Wednesday against the Golden State Warriors.
Anthony Edwards looks healthy
Edwards entered the game as questionable after grabbing at his knee multiple times during Sunday's win over the Raptors. Following the game, he received treatment from the training staff before the team flew to Cleveland later that night.
If there were any questions about Edwards' health status before the game, he emphatically put an end to those with 47 points on 19-33 shooting while playing a total of 41 minutes in the Wolves' overtime loss.
Given how last season ended, with separate injuries to each knee, it's fair to be concerned about Edwards experiencing any issues with his knees. It is also important to remember that Edwards is as superhuman an athlete as they come and has many times shown the ability to recover quickly and go supernova one game after appearing hobbled.
Tonight was one of those nights. It's unclear if Edwards had any pain or discomfort. If he was, he showed exactly zero signs.
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