The Start — Groundhog Day

Have you ever heard of the whole “Groundhog Day” quote by Minnesota Timberwolves Head Coach, Chris Finch?

The tanking Utah Jazz, who actually have motivation to win this game due to their possession of the Wolves 2025 first round draft pick, opened the game on a 8-0 run. Just like the night before, Minnesota was almost immediately looking at another double-digit deficit. However, as we said at the end of the Los Angeles Laker game:

“We got TJ Shannon.”

In his first start, Terrence Shannon Jr. took matters into his own hands as the Wolves offense struggled to find a rhythm. The scouting report told the Jazz to leave him open from perimeter, so he repaid them by canning his first triple. He then used that same gravity to drive into the gap and create a wide open trey for Mike Conley. Haven’t had enough yet? How about a huge tip dunk?

Both teams weren’t showing any interest in playing defense at this point. They exchanged three ball after three ball. Utah’s Brice Sensabaugh had quite the MPE (Medium Player Explosion), splashing in four three pointers in a three minute stretch. Minnesota hung tough early though, getting contributions from end of rotation guys like Luka Garza.

The Middle — Tale of Two Halves

Donte DiVincenzo looked great in his second game back from a toe injury. He was getting deflections, closing our defensive possessions with rebounds, while acting as an effective lubricant on offense. His perimeter shot making and movement helped get things going. This helped Shannon continue his tirade, knocking in two more triples and his signature punishing drives.

The Jazz went ice cold in the second quarter, shooting just 34.8%. The Wolves built up 13-point lead thanks to beautiful ball movement and energy. They set a new season high with 24 assists and committing just one (!) turnover. It looked like they were finally going to get one of those easy wins.

But the best laid plans…

It took Utah all of 6:31 of game time to go on a 27-4 run. You read that right. A 23-point turnaround put the home team up 12 points after trailing by 11 at the half. How did this happen?

• Missing 12 of 14 field goals to start the half.
• Letting Utah push in transition after those misses (Sound familiar?).
• Allowing John Collins to score 11 points after already putting up 18 by halftime.

It felt like the game was going to be over in an extremely disappointing showing, despite being down a number of starters.

2nd
-DDV such a great lubricant for MIN offense, moving ball, hitting deep 3. getting deflections and DREB to get momentum
-Rob struggling with shot, finally gets a tough drive to fall, Clark also biffing another wide open layup
-TJ confidence thru the roof, 2 more triples, then drive drop off for Jaden wide open dunk
-UTA going ice cold, falling down double digits
-Naz cooking both inside and out, up to 16
-Another superman TJ transition take winding around defender trying to draw charge, then hits another 3 off good ball movement (3/3 in 1st half)
-MIN most AST in 1st half with 24
-MIN leads 67-56 as UTA unable to keep up hot shooting
-MIN 38.5% FG ; UTA 34.8% FG
-Naz, Jaden, TJ all 13 or more and 4 assists on 18/30 shooting; Collins 18
-MIN 24 TOV to just 1 AST

3rd
-Collins still going off, 6 more quick points to start half, leading 11-0 UTA run
-MIN absolutely cold and playing without force
-Jaden breaks drought with another middy off good ball movement
-TJ another punishing drive and-1
-Collins another 5-pt burst to take a 76-71 lead
-UTA attacking off poor MIN shots and turnovers, now 12-pt UTA lead
-UTA 27-4 in 6.5 mins, MIN looking dejected and ready to quit
-Luka gets pumped up scoring on Filipowski lol
-b2b Naz 3s breaths a pulse into MIN
-Luka drawing 4 FTA, then Clark putback off miss FTA cuts lead down to 3 late
-DDV 3, blocks layup, then finds Clark for 3 to tie
-UTA up 94-92
-MIN 32% ; UTA 66.7%
-MIN – Naz up to 22, help from Clark, Garza, DDV; UTA – Collins 11 in 3rd, up to 29 & 10

The Finish — Another Clutch Time Collapse

Back-to-back Naz Reid triples gave his team a quiet pulse. This allowed Luka Garza to draw multiple trips to the charity stripe. Jaylen Clark opportunistically chipped in five points. Then DiVincenzo drilled his third trey. All of a sudden, Minnesota whittled the big deficit down to just two, trailing 92-94 as they entered the final frame.

Though rookie Rob Dillingham struggled from the field, he had a number of hustle plays on defense which helped spark the Wolves. Jaden McDaniels knocked in his second triple of the game to tie the game with still 7:58 to go. Both teams frantically exchanged the four leads in the in the next two minutes.

Once again, Minnesota looked like they expended too much energy trying to recover from their second big deficit of the game. Their defense was lacking, allowing KJ Martin to finish at the rim over and over again. Utah regrew the lead up to 113-106 with 3:13 remaining as it looked like the Wolves were done.

But this team has a way of fighting.

Finch opted with a veteran group of Conley, Alexander-Walker, DiVincenzo, McDaniels, and Reid to finish the game, and boy did they fight. At one point, Conley won a jump ball against a taller and younger Isaiah Collier, leading to an Alexander-Walker jumper that sliced the deficit down to just a single point. A vintage DiVincenzo catch-and-shoot bomb pushed the Wolves up 116-115 with 1:31 left.

Minnesota had their chances to seal the game with dagger threes, but Conley airballed a corner attempt while McDaniels clanked wide. This setup a near defensive stand by the Wolves that ended in a Walker Kessler dunk off a broken play to put them back up one with 9.7 left.

After a Finch timeout, it looked like DiVincenzo was going to get his chance to be the hero, getting a wide open lane to work with. Instead of pulling up for an uncontested mid-range jumper, he he drove into the teeth of the defense where Collins and Kessler awaited him. According to the officials, Collins went vertical as DiVincenzo went crashing to the crowd as the buzzer sounded.

You be the judge.

No matter what you think of the final call no-call, this loss can’t be pinned on the officials. Both teams got a light whistle, each getting called for 13 personal fouls and awarded 14 free throw attempts. Minnesota simply missed too many shots (43.6% FG), couldn’t take enough advantage of 20 Jazz turnovers, and got killed on the boards (59 to 40). Most damning was that they fell behind big at multiple points in the game against a tanking that was still benching their best players (Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson).

This was once considered the start of an easy schedule, but instead they shot themselves in the foot and are on the bottom looking up in the play-in tournament. Though it’s unlikely they fall out of play-in contention, their time to make-up ground and avoid a single-game elimination situation is disappearing in front of their very eyes.

Game Highlights

Box Score

Lead Tracker

Comment of the Night

Up Next

The Wolves wrap up a quick road trip by flying down to visit the reeling Phoenix Suns on Sunday, 3/2 at 8:30 PM CT. They had lost seven of their last eight games before smashing a bottom dwelling New Orleans Pelicans who were without Zion Williamson. That said, this Wolves team has proven time and time again that you can’t trust them.