After their dominant win against the Houston Rockets on Monday, the Minnesota Timberwolves entered their match-up against the Chicago Bulls riding high. However, despite a comfy 23-point lead, all their hopes for another “dub” came crashing down. The game went into overtime and the Chicago Bulls emerged victorious with a final score of 129-123.
Coby White and DeMar DeRozan contributed 33 points each. Coby had 5 rebounds and 7 assists, while DeRozan had 3 rebounds and 5 assists. Coby’s crucial three-pointer, with only 2 minutes and 28 seconds remaining, gave the Bulls their first lead since the 1st quarter. Props to Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns for putting up an impressive fight, with Edwards bagging a staggering 38 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists. Karl chipped in 33 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
Following the game, Jon Krawczynski (senior writer for The Athletic) shared Edwards’ take on the issue of the blown leads, “That’s the theme of our team, theme of the year. We can’t keep leads. We’ll figure it out though. It’s still early.”
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Anthony Edwards on all of the blown leads: "That’s the theme of our team, theme of the year. We can’t keep leads. We’ll figure it out though. It’s still early."
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) February 7, 2024
Anyone seeing the tandem’s impressive stats in isolation would have trouble believing that the Wolves still got defeated by the end of OT. But like Edwards mentioned, this is not the first.
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A recurring nightmare for the Wolves
Scoring in the 4th quarter has deteriorated significantly in the Wolves’ games as is evident from the following losses: 28-14 to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 36-18 to the Charlotte Hornets, 33-22 to the San Antonio Spurs, 28-18 to the Orlando Magic and lastly, 32-23 against the Chicago Bulls. Post last night’s game, coach Chris Finch said, “The defense fell apart, (The late-game offense was) not great. A couple of key turnovers. Tried to win it all by ourselves at times.”
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This running theme of the Wolves blowing away their fourth quarter due to weak offense must come to an end as soon as possible. And it is not still early, like Edwards mentioned, since the postseason is just two months away. Currently ranked 3rd in the Western Conference, the Minnesota Timberwolves have a real shot at the championship this year with the “Ant-Man” on top of his game backed by Karl-Anthony Towns. However, if the Championship dream has to be turned into reality, then the rest of the Wolves need to step up their game, especially in the final quarter.
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