Timberwolves. 4th Quarters. Agony. Feet.
Slowly but surely, the air is leaking out of the Timberwolves season. Not so much a punctured balloon, but an unattended bagpipe, complete with discordant moans and sighs. The realization is dawning that despite high hopes and a quick start, this is going to be yet another year of squandered opportunities and frustration. With only so many mulligans available in the competitive West, matchups against teams which would be just as happy, organizationally speaking, to never win again are actual rather than cliche "must wins." To put it in less overwrought terms, you have to beat the ****** Pelicans when they're missing 3 of their top 6.
As a fan of the Boston Red Sox from well before the exorcism of '04, the feeling of impending doom that pervaded the fourth quarter tonight was in equal parts sickening and schadenfreude-inducing. At this point, even the most hardened of believers must begin to admit these late game collapses aren't simply bad luck (though there is plenty of that too, as we'll see.) But while the inclination to allow this game to let this one "rot away in a dungeon" is understandable, something about being doomed to repeat means comprehension is a first step towards either coping, accepting or addressing.
So, let us ask, if the Wolves were up 10 going into the final innings, yet ended up losing by 7, what the hell happened? The basic answer is, the first 6 minutes of the fourth, they were outscored 19-6
It really was a drama in two parts.
So, let us ask, if the Wolves were up 10 going into the final innings, yet ended up losing by 7, what the hell happened? The basic answer is, the first 6 minutes of the fourth, they were outscored 19-6
It really was a drama in two parts.
Part the First: Barea'd Where They Fell
Last night embodied all that I dislike about JJ Barea, and more importantly the way Rick Adelman employs him, at the expense of Ricky Rubio, in 4th quarters. The Wolves' offense in the first 6:01 of the final quarter was cataclysmic. Aside from two fast break opportunities,Minnesota's halfcourt offense went
Barea ugly turnover out of PnR. Barea misses driving the lane against 3 guys out of PnR. Chase Budinger made 19-footer off a Luc Richard Mbah a Moute wing iso(!). LRMaM gets blocked at the rim by Luke Babbitt(!!) after another wing iso(What tha #*$&?). Barea misses a contested floater out of a PnR.
Barea did have one fastbreak layup mixed in their, but still, the Wolves managed 4 points from the 6 possessions before Kevin Love checked back in from his customary rest at the start of the fourth. Obviously JJ will take a lesser role now that Love is back?
Nope, next possession Barea turnover on a fumble. The Wolves finally get Love involved in the next half-court possession, but he is charged with a turnover. However, and I'm not being spiteful here, it was much more Barea's fault:
Barea ugly turnover out of PnR. Barea misses driving the lane against 3 guys out of PnR. Chase Budinger made 19-footer off a Luc Richard Mbah a Moute wing iso(!). LRMaM gets blocked at the rim by Luke Babbitt(!!) after another wing iso(What tha #*$&?). Barea misses a contested floater out of a PnR.
Barea did have one fastbreak layup mixed in their, but still, the Wolves managed 4 points from the 6 possessions before Kevin Love checked back in from his customary rest at the start of the fourth. Obviously JJ will take a lesser role now that Love is back?
Nope, next possession Barea turnover on a fumble. The Wolves finally get Love involved in the next half-court possession, but he is charged with a turnover. However, and I'm not being spiteful here, it was much more Barea's fault:
Love is definitely open on the roll as Anthony Davis gets caught sort of in between hedging and dropping:
but that's just a lazy pass by Barea that allows Love no time or space to make a play.
On Barea's penultimate possession of the game, he never touches the ball, and the Wolves end up with Love launching a semi-contested three over Davis, and on the last play the Wolves run a desultory PnR ending up with a pretty horrific attempt at a Dirk-step jumper by Kevin Martin.
So to tally that all up, with Barea "running the show" that's 9 half court possessions leading to 3 turnovers, 1 made long two off of a busted play, 2 contested runners by Barea, LRMaM freelancing once and a missed frustration jack from Love, over six minutes of action. Oh yeah, and this.
On Barea's penultimate possession of the game, he never touches the ball, and the Wolves end up with Love launching a semi-contested three over Davis, and on the last play the Wolves run a desultory PnR ending up with a pretty horrific attempt at a Dirk-step jumper by Kevin Martin.
So to tally that all up, with Barea "running the show" that's 9 half court possessions leading to 3 turnovers, 1 made long two off of a busted play, 2 contested runners by Barea, LRMaM freelancing once and a missed frustration jack from Love, over six minutes of action. Oh yeah, and this.
The Wolves 10 point lead has been trimmed to negative 3, by which I mean behind, and I believe but can't confirm that "Hey how about Rubio?" was trending worldwide.
Of course, simply failing to score wasn't the only reason New Orleans had taken the lead. The old bugaboo of porous late game defense (the Wolves currently rank 21st in the league in 4th Q DRTG) showed up again.
Of course, simply failing to score wasn't the only reason New Orleans had taken the lead. The old bugaboo of porous late game defense (the Wolves currently rank 21st in the league in 4th Q DRTG) showed up again.
Part the Second: Austin Rivers Overdrive
Looking at the Wolves D during this stretch is a catalog of basic errors.
On the first possession, LRMaM closes too hard to Tyreke Evans on the wing, and does so giving up a middle, strong hand drive to Evans.
On the first possession, LRMaM closes too hard to Tyreke Evans on the wing, and does so giving up a middle, strong hand drive to Evans.
Evans makes a floater in the lane.
On the next possession, multiple breakdwons lead to an Austin Rivers 3.
On the next possession, multiple breakdwons lead to an Austin Rivers 3.
JB's mistake is probably minor, Rivers is a bad shooter who you might feel comfortable living with hoisting wing threes, though he is an extremely respectable 10-26 this season from the wings. Mbah a Moute's mistake is far worse as the book on Tyreke since about 3 games into his rookie year has been (make him) go left, young man and he had just been beaten right by Evans.
The Wolves then get lucky as Evans fumbles the ball away on a fastbreak following a Barea turnover, and he decides to match JJ in the ill-advised shots out of a PnR department by hoisting up a long off-balance two.
The next five possessions see the Wolves give up 10 points. First, Brewer and Dante Cunningham rather lazily switch this PnR, allowing Eric Gordon an open jumper when Cunnigham backs off his dribble:
The Wolves then get lucky as Evans fumbles the ball away on a fastbreak following a Barea turnover, and he decides to match JJ in the ill-advised shots out of a PnR department by hoisting up a long off-balance two.
The next five possessions see the Wolves give up 10 points. First, Brewer and Dante Cunningham rather lazily switch this PnR, allowing Eric Gordon an open jumper when Cunnigham backs off his dribble:
Sandwiched around Gordon missed layup and two Rivers free throws following a foul on the break, the Wolves give one of the best shooters in the game two great looks from 3 by closing out with their hands down:
And the Wolves give up the lead for good when Love is slow in defensive transition (complaining about a foul call on the play where he turned the ball over on the poor feed from Barea shown above) and makes no effort whatsoever to deter, stop or impede Gordon on his way to the rim for the dunk:
In fact, after Davis makes two free throws following an offensive rebound on the next possession, the Wolves are never closer than 3 the rest of the game.
Even after Adelman pulled the plug on Barea's disastrous stint, and Rubio checked back in at 5:59, the defense was still a shambles. On the very first possession Rubio is back in the game, the Wolves dodge a bullet. One of Corey Brewer's biggest weaknesses, his propensity to reach, almost burns them:
The combination of Love and Cunningham actually do a nice job containing Gordon off of the high pick-and-roll, but notice that Brewer instead of recovering to get back between Gordon and the basket, makes a bad reach, forcing Cunningham to delay his recovery to the shooter in the corner. This is the kind of "hero" plays Brewer attempts which kill the Wolves with regularity late in games. And as with much of the rest of the 4th quarter debacle, there was very little atypical about what occurred in the context of this Wolves' season.
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