Rudy Gobert had an opportunity to give the Minnesota Timberwolves a little more time in a game where they managed the clock poorly. With 12.1 seconds to go, the Dallas Mavericks inbounded the ball down 108-106. P.J. Washington passed the ball to Luka Doncic, who came off Dereck Lively’s screen.
Lively re-screened, moving Jaden McDaniels off Doncic. Gobert switched on to the Mavericks star at the logo, and he had an opportunity to stay to Doncic’s left and force him to shoot a two. Instead, Doncic stepped back, creating separation, and hit the game-winning three with three seconds left. Dallas won 109-108.
“They believed in me to get a stop, and he scored,” said Gobert, who added that he should have funneled Doncic into a two-point shot. “He scored a three, which is something that he does very well. So, I’m definitely taking that responsibility that I need to be better in that situation.”
Gobert is culpable for the loss, but there’s a lot of blame to go around. Anthony Edwards threw an errant pass out of bounds with 12.1 seconds left in the game. Karl-Anthony Towns went 4 of 16 from the field for 15 points. Chris Finch said he should have called a timeout to get Mike Conley back on the penultimate possession; he also could have doubled Doncic on his game-winning three. The referees missed Kyrie Irving’s foul on McDaniels with 47 seconds left.
Blame anyone but Naz Reid, who hit seven threes, the most for a Wolves bench player in franchise history.
However, scapegoating is an easy but imperfect solution. Ultimately, the Timberwolves are mismanaging time, and it’s running out on them. Minnesota took a timeout 34 seconds into the game because nobody was near Conley when he was trying to inbound the ball. That created a timeout deficit throughout the game. The Wolves have had a leakage issue at the end of quarters that has cost them periodically throughout the year, and Dallas has exploited it to take a 2-0 series lead.
“Two turnovers again, ball got static,” said Finch. “That’s on me in the sense that I should have called a timeout to get Mike back in the game on that second-to-last possession for us or whatever. So I’ll take that one; it’s on me. But yeah, ball got static and turned it over. Same story as the other night, turnovers in the guts of the game, not gonna get it done.”
Dallas cut Minnesota’s 18-point deficit to 12 in the last three minutes of the first half. Edwards hit two free throws to take a 108-103 lead with 1:29 left in the game. However, Doncic found Irving open for three on the next possession. The Mavericks manufacture time when they need it; the Wolves have let it slip into the future. They’re on a road trip with a van that’s leaking oil, and they’re still a ways away from the destination.
The Timberwolves can continue to press forward, but they’ll end up on the side of the road if they don’t fix it. Teams that go up 2-0 in the Conference Finals win the series 90% of the time. However, the Wolves beat the odds earlier in the playoffs. In NBA history, teams that win Game 5 of a 2-2 series have won 82.8% of the time. Still, the Denver Nuggets won Game 5 last round to take a 3-2 series lead last round, and the Wolves advanced. The series isn’t over, but it will be if Minnesota doesn’t tighten some screws.
“Yeah, I mean, we was down 3-2,” said Edwards. “We was up 2-0, then they came and won two at the crib and then won one at they crib. So we’ve been here before. I don’t think anybody in the locker room is panicking. I hope not. Just come out and play our brand of basketball. We let ‘em make a run. We was supposed to go up big, but they made a run and cut it right before half. We made some mistakes, but we’ll be all right.”
Doncic and Irving are outplaying Edwards and Towns. The Wolves have the better team, but Dallas’ star players have been more productive and composed. Towns drove winning in Game 7 against Denver. However, the Mavericks have held him to under 20 points in the first two games on 27.8% from the field (21.4% from three).
Edwards is averaging 20 points (33.3% from the field, 36.8% from three), but Doncic (32.5 points, 44.9, FG%, 38.1 3P%) is outplaying him in the series. However, Edwards is likely playing injured. He fell hard at the 9:20 mark of the third quarter in Game 6 against the Nuggets and hasn’t been the same since. He averaged 30.6 points per game (54.1 FG%, 42.2 3P%) before the fall and 18.7 points (29.8 FG%, 31.0 3P%) after it.
“They’re just showing me crowds, man, sitting in the gaps,” Edwards said after Game 2 against Dallas. “But I’m turning down a lot of shots, like my mid-ranges and stuff. I’m turning a lot of those down. But we’re getting open looks, so I ain’t trippin’.”
Edwards may have an injury that’s sapping his production. Towns has had a slow start to the series. The officials missed a call on McDaniels. Gobert shouldn’t have let Doncic take a three at the end of the game. The Wolves could have doubled him. Minnesota had to burn a timeout less than a minute into the game; Finch should have called a timeout to sub Conley in before the game-winning shot.
The Timberwolves must fix their leakage. They can’t let time pass them by.
Tom Schreier
Tom Schreier is the founder and proprietor of Zone Coverage. He created Zone Coverage with the goal of mixing new age media with old-school journalism. His goal was to create an economically sustainable platform for sports content for Minnesota fans. Before Zone Coverage, Tom wrote for Bleacher Report and Yahoo! Sports before joining 105 The Ticket in 2014.
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