A surprising Wolves road trip and thoughts on Edwards, Gobert and McDaniels

The Wolves stumbled out of the all-star break, but responded with a strong West Coast road trip. Where this team is headed is still anyone's guess but we saw many key players step up.

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Dizzying. Disorienting. Perplexing. Confusing. There are so many words to describe the whiplash of the Western Conference standings. This has been the case all season, especially for the Timberwolves. One week ago, they were clinging to their play-in hopes and are again seventh.

It had been a couple months since we had reached this point with this team. Yet, the Timberwolves played .500 ball for a whole month and lost three in a row to the Wizards, Hornets and Warriors, the latter have now vaulted to the fifth spot in the standings. Now, the Wolves have won three in a row on the road in Los Angeles and Sacramento with the lone loss coming in that Warriors game.

The Warriors and Wizards and Hornets do not belong in the same conversation, but had the Wolves beaten the more winnable teams, that loss looks better. If that happens, the Wolves have two more notches in the wins column as they win 3-of-4 on a crucial West Coast road trip and lose to the Dubs by only five.

Myself and others have said this before, but this team can beat or be beaten by anyone. Aside from beginning this road trip with two terrible losses, they were just 11-17 on the road this season. That record is now 14-18, which is not great but is progress. They had to put away three other playoff teams on the road by holding them off late.

This is where the frustration with this team comes in. How can a team capable of these performances be the same one to lose to the Washingtons and Charlottes at home? There would have been less urgency around this road trip, or at least reduced pressure, had they consistently taken care of business against these teams. What you do not want to get into is losing dumb games and then get beat on the road by better teams. Playing up or down to your opponents is a dangerous thing for a team to do. We know this Wolves team can be better and they just…don’t sometimes.

Giving credit where credit is due, this team did go and do something impressive. The Lakers got 38 points without LeBron, but the Wolves still won. Beating a full-strength Clippers team on national television on the road is a great win. What we saw in Sacramento may be my favorite win of the three.

By beating the Kings, they earned their third sweep of a back-to-back and moved to 13-9 (.591) in back-to-back games. Despite their so-so February, Minnesota is now 18-11 in 2023, the second-best record in the Western Conference besides Denver.

That aside, this was a strong Kings team in a building with a ton of energy on their side and the Wolves stepped up. Anthony Edwards’ 27 points, four rebounds and eight assists led the way, but Mike Conley chipped in 24 points efficiently and Jaden McDaniels added 19-4-2. Getting 20 made 3’s did not hurt either.

Conley certainly won’t score 20+ points and the team won’t make so many 3’s every night, but the Kings had four starters score more than 20 points. Having players stepping up and executing is what good teams do. Just like the Wolves shouldn’t apologize for beating the shorthanded Lakers, they shouldn’t apologize for getting hot and winning a tough road game in Sacramento.

Because of their work over the past few games, the Wolves are a hair behind Dallas and own the tiebreaker. They now clinched the tiebreaker over both the Clippers and Lakers. Fortunately, the Wolves still have one game left against the Warriors on March 26. This is why the regular season matters so much when you are good and the standings are so compacted.

If this team were more consistent, people would not get so frustrated so quickly. This team has won some good games but some equally befuddling losses, too. Their next game will bring another good challenge with Philadelphia coming to town before Brooklyn and Atlanta. Another good stretch here would help put their post-all-star woes behind them and make a good push for the sixth seed.

However, beating the Sixers and losing to the Nets would be a very 2023 Timberwolves thing to do.

Rudy Gobert finally looks like himself

The Wolves’ big man had been dealing with a groin injury for January and much of February and he just never seemed as impactful as we might expect. These last three games, Gobert has looked much more active, fighting for rebounds and hammering home outback dunks. It is a small sample but he is now averaging 17 points and 11.7 rebounds per game on 62.5 percent shooting in three games on this road trip.

Just look at this clip. Gobert wrestles the rebound from Domantas Sabonis, drives him further from the basket and dunks it powerfully. He made a similar play late in the Clippers game on a missed Conley floater that clinched the victory. Whether it’s the presence of Conley or the rest, Gobert’s recent play is encouraging.

Jaden McDaniels keeps getting better

I’ve mentioned earlier in the season that the Wolves needed more than 11 points and three rebounds from McDaniels, even with great defense, if he was going to be a starting small forward. Month-by-month, McDaniels has found his offense and was crucial on this road trip.

McDaniels has dropped 15 points a game on 59.5 percent shooting (!), 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists. That efficiently is fantastic considering he has some range to his game and has taken 10.5 attempts per game in this stretch. He also hit some big shots late in these games that made it difficult for opponents to collapse on Anthony Edwards.

Anthony Edwards is this team’s identity

This is not an original thought, but it is clear this is Edwards’ team despite Karl-Anthony Towns being an accomplished player and most tenured member of the team. That is also not to say there is no place on this team for both, but watching Edwards close games and demoralize opponents with run-stopping buckets was a delight to watch on this trip.

Edwards has not had the most efficient trip, but has averaged 19 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. Defensively, he has made plays, swatting 1.5 shots and swiping 2.3 steals per game.

Granted the Kings have a terrible defense, especially for a good team, but Edwards puts pressure on every level of the defense since he can hit from anywhere. When he gets going, he is so difficult to stop.

There was just no one the Kings could throw in front of Edwards when got into the lane. Edwards getting eight foul shots on the night was also huge and something he should continue to do more and more.

Aside from getting to the line more, improving the defense beyond the counting stats is his next frontier. Edwards has already come so far from the rookie who was so lost defensively that he needed teammates to direct him to the correct spots. Just look at this great read on the block here:

Edwards’ positioning and timing here was impeccable, but we saw a couple nights before an example of where he can continue to improve his defense.

First of all, defending Kawhi Leonard is no easy task. Nonetheless, it is clear Edwards loses him for a second watching Norm Powell and Kawhi cuts straight to the basket. That moment allows Powell to easily hit Leonard for the easy dunk. Just that split second made all the difference and that is just how it goes in the NBA. If that play ended in Powell driving for a layup or having to pull up for a jumper, you take that over an open looking for Leonard.

This is not meant to downplay the good things Edwards does and how far he has come. Edwards is just still an interesting prospect despite already being an all-star because he is still so young and entered the league so raw. He has the physical tools to do it and he shows clear improvement every year. The Wolves could reasonably construct a good defense around him as he is now, but there is still no reason not to think he cannot get even better.

Everything Edwards has done this season has been so encouraging. Given the conversations many national media people have had wondering about where Towns plays next season is interesting. Towns certainly makes this team better, but it will be interesting to see if the team sees Edwards’ play this season — and weighing their investment in Gobert, long-term salary cap considerations with an Edwards extension, etc. — and wonders if they could turn him into multiple players to further reorient this team around him for the future.