When the Minnesota Timberwolves survived a tighter-than-expected game against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night, it ensured that they would achieve something few before them in franchise history have ever done. The Timberwolves will finish the entire 82-game season without ever losing three consecutive games.
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Losing streaks have been as much a part of Timberwolves lore as wild rice is a part of soup in Minnesota. As far as coach Chris Finch is concerned, one player deserves most of the credit for a full season without a single skid. The coach has started to coin a phrase to capture the impact that Rudy Gobert is making.
“There’s a difference between being the reason you win and being the reason you don’t lose,” Finch said after a 109-106 victory over the Hawks. “And Rudy is the reason we don’t lose. He doesn’t let us lose these games.”
On a night when Anthony Edwards struggled through an illness and Karl-Anthony Towns showed plenty of signs of rust in his first game back from knee surgery, it was Gobert who would not let the Wolves squander a chance to remain in the race to be the top-seeded team in the Western Conference. Gobert scored 25 points, setting a franchise record by going 10 of 10 from the field, grabbed 19 rebounds and blocked five shots.
😤 RUUUUUUU 😤 pic.twitter.com/kT6AeyE5x2
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) April 13, 2024
Gobert dunked all over the smaller Hawks, catching passes in traffic and converting at the rim with the kind of smoothness that will be needed of him in the playoffs. He may not always be the most fluid offensive player, but he will be 32 in June and understands the opportunity that lies right in front of him.
“Since I got here it’s been my goal to try to help this organization see some days that they have never seen before and be in a position that they’ve never been before, which is the position to play for a championship,” Gobert said. “That’s a position I’ve never really been in before either.”
With Gobert and Mike Conley, the Wolves have two veteran leaders who have a keen understanding of the moment. Neither player has been to an NBA Finals. Both are laying it all on the line to get the Wolves there.
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“My will and my determination and my resiliency, that’s the things I want to carry on in my teammates and I try to bring every day,” Gobert said. “Whether we win or lose, things don’t go our way, I just try to stay consistent and I think it’s contagious.”
Gobert is second in the league with 13.0 rebounds per game, second in field-goal percentage at 66 percent and first in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year race, having put a tough first season in Minnesota behind him and settling in nicely in Year 2. His chemistry with Towns is a real strength, and the two centers have adapted well to playing alongside each other.
They were reunited on Friday after Towns missed the previous 18 games and needed surgery to repair the meniscus in his knee. He returned faster than expected, and his timing could not be better. He finished with 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting with eight assists and five rebounds, a necessary first step back toward the kind of stardom that can only come with time.
Towns missed his first five 3-pointers on Friday night, but his one make came at a crucial moment. Edwards drove and delivered a quick, crosscourt pass to the corner. Towns caught it and hoisted it, splashing a 3 through the net for a 101-100 lead with 2 minutes, 29 seconds left.
WELCOME BACK 32 pic.twitter.com/zWc3mvR9jG
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) April 13, 2024
“Oh, I was aware,” Towns said of his misses to that point. “I was very aware.”
Despite his 0 of 5 start, Towns shot it quickly and with confidence.
“I just stayed very confident in my shot and I knew if I got another chance like last year, I’m going to make the shots.,” Towns said.
Towns was playing for the first time since March 4. He missed those 18 games with that torn meniscus in his left knee. It was an eerily similar situation to the 2017-18 season when the Timberwolves were looking like one of the tougher teams in the West before Jimmy Butler had surgery on his meniscus. Butler missed 17 games and returned with three games left in the regular season.
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The big difference: Those Wolves went 8-9 in those games and dropped from third in the West to eighth, requiring them to beat Denver on the last game of the season to get into the playoffs.
These Wolves are so much deeper. They went 12-6 in KAT’s absence and need to win their final game and have both Denver and Oklahoma City lose to earn the top spot. Minnesota hosts Phoenix in the finale on Sunday while Denver plays at Memphis and Oklahoma City hosts Dallas.
Almost as important as the seeding is getting Towns reacclimated into the group. Finch said he had extensive conversations with him about the keys for him returning to a team that had found a nice rhythm over the last few weeks.
Naz Reid excelled in the starting lineup thanks to his quick decision-making. Towns has generally been a more deliberate player, but he did showcase some slick passing against the Hawks. He picked up eight assists against three turnovers. His shot wasn’t falling and there were times he was a step slow in rotating, but that all figures to come with the more time he gets on the court.
“I feel great,” Towns said. “Honestly, I couldn’t tell you I did it. So God has been good to me.”
Towns wasn’t the only one who made his return on Friday night.
For the first time since their partnership with Glen Taylor blew up, Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez were sitting courtside at Target Center. Typically, Lore sits on the same sideline as the players’ bench, right next to the scorer’s table while Rodriguez sits across the court on the opposite baseline. On Friday night, they sat side by side in Rodriguez’s seats, directly across from Taylor and his wife, Becky.
The Wolves led the Hawks by 17 points in the third quarter but fell asleep at the wheel in the back half of the period to let the Hawks into the game. Edwards scored just 14 points on 4-of-12 shooting and Towns was 4 of 11, including 1 of 6 from the 3-point range. But they were able to stabilize just enough in the fourth quarter after Hawks coach Quin Snyder pulled his starters and went with reserves later in the game.
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Towns will play in the regular season finale, then get five or six days off before the Wolves host Game 1 of their playoff series on either April 20 or 21. Who they play remains to be seen. The Wolves (56-25) are in a three-way tie with Denver and Oklahoma City for the top spot in the West. Oklahoma City owns the tiebreaker due to its better record against both teams.
“Every game matters. Every possession matters at this point,” Gobert said. “I like the position we’re in, I like the way we play. It’s about us at the end of the day.”
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(Photo of Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns: David Berding / Getty Images)
