Timberwolves split a pair

3 days, 2 games, 2 overtimes, a win and a loss. That leaves the Timberwolves at 5-4 and out of the playoffs as of today in the west, while in the east 4-6 is good enough. So that's the hill the Timberwolves get to climb, and if this weekend is any indication, it is going to be a tough climb.

The Bad News

I say that because even Friday night's 125-119 win over the 2-8 Warriors was one hell of a grind. Nobody for Golden State could guard Andrew Wiggins who finished with 40 points, and yet the Wolves had to rally from a 90-82 deficit at 9:59, and it was still 108-102 at 2:12 and 110-106 at 0:29.8. That was because, similarly, the Wolves had nobody who could even begin to guard D'Angelo Russell, who finished with 52. And, meanwhile, the Warriors' Willie Cauley-Stein made it tough enough for Karl-Anthony Towns, who finished with 20 points on 7-of-17 FG, with 11 boards but no assists. And the Wolves made just 9-of-36 3s.

Against Denver on Sunday, it was a complete flip-flop, as the defense was OK, but the offense struggled. The Nuggets' massive post, Nikola Jokic, pushed KAT around pretty good, though in the end KAT outscored Jokic 25-20 and outrebounded him 16-6. But, it was a grind for KAT. But, even more than that, Denver's Gary Harris, who some of you may remember playing for Michigan, defended Wiggins like an all-star. Wiggins got to the rim at will against Golden State. Here he got there a few times over the first 3-and-a-half quarters. And, if you think 9-of-36 3s is bad, how about 6-for-45 (13 percent).

So, here the Wolves found themselves down 90-74 with 6:43 to go. For the 2 games, they were outscored 180-156 with 7 to 10 minutes to go, and they almost won twice. How did that happen?

The Good News

How did that happen? Well, the Wolves played hard. They didn't give up. They got knocked down and they got back up and made a couple of great runs. And, oh, yeah, by the way, they played both of these games without point guards Jeff Teague and Shabazz Napier.

Against Golden State, the offense just kept doing what it had been doing except it started making FT.  After 3 quarters, they were 33-for-74 FG and 9-of-16 FT. Wiggins was 10-of-19. After that the Wolves were 15-of-37, but with 11-of-13 FT. Wiggins 7-of-14.

So, here the Wolves did it with offensive boards and with defense and they did it with Robert Covington. Cov finished with 17 points and 11 boards. He had 10 points, 4 boards and 3 steals in the 4th quarter and OT. He started the rally with 3 FT, then followed it with a put-back. Then, with the score 110-108 and inside 10 seconds, Covington got a steal that led to a Wiggins driving layup and OT. In OT, he got another steal at 0:13.9 and 2 FT for the final score of 125-119.

Against Denver, the Wolves closed out regulation on an utterly improbable 16-0 run. The big catalyst here was Gary Harris, who had really shut Wiggins down. But, suddenly Harris seemed to lose his cool, committing his 4th, 5th and 6th fouls in 2 minutes. With Harris out, suddenly Wiggins had some room to move. He scored twice late in the 4th and twice to open OT. Still, it took a Towns 3 at 0:42 to force OT, and it was Covington who scored at 0:26 of OT for a 98-all tie. Jokic hit a tough 18-foot fallaway jumper at 0:02 for the win.

Summing Up

So the Wolves won the game the shoulda won, though they made it harder than necessary by being unable to guard D'Angelo Russell and by shooting 9-of-36 3s; and they lost the game they probably shoulda lost, specifically because Gary Harris was the answer to Andrew Wiggins. Still, they coulda won it if they hadn't shot 6-for-45 3s. 6 is way too few and 45 is way too many.

So the offense isn't good enough, not without Teague anyway. In 2 games, KAT and Wiggins only clearly won 1 out of 4 matchups. They're settling for too many 3s. Can Teague get KAT, especially, better shots? Can Covington make a few more plays?

So, now they're 5-4. So, maybe they're a .500 team. If they do that, Ryan Saunders should be coach of he year. And, if the Wolves were in the east, they'd have a great shot at the post-season. In the west, not so much.