Anthony Edwards heating up in time for tough stretch of schedule
The Timberwolves passed a prove-it stretch of schedule before some key games to end 2022. Let's look at the players who stepped up over the last week.
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Well, well, well. Look at the Minnesota Timberwolves. With four winnable games ahead of a difficult stretch of the season, the team went 3-1 versus the Thunder, Bulls and Mavericks. This was about as well as anyone could realistically expect them to do. Against Dallas, in particular, splitting two games against them and tying for the final play-in spots was big. Plus, both teams have 1.5 games up on the Warriors in 12th now.
This four-game stretch was perhaps the most fun I have had watching the Wolves this season. The game last Friday in Oklahoma City where the Wolves won without D’Angelo Russell or Rudy Gobert, was especially fun. The Wolves being down three of their best players left two young and inexperienced teams to duel it out in a close game.
It was a soft stretch of schedule, but the tone of this post would very different if they went 1-3.
If there was one takeaway from this stretch, it’s that a lot of guys stepped up. Here are some guys that jumped out to me:
Anthony Edwards: The team went all-in on this guy and with two of the other best players on the team out, Ant stepped up. Playing all four games, Ant scored 26.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 8.0 assists on 47.6/39.1/76% shooting. Here were a couple plays that stood out to me.
Austin Rivers: Who would have thought, but with Russell missing time, the Wolves needed someone to get some shots up. Rivers averaged 32 minutes per night and scored 17.8 points, but did so shooting 73.5% from the field.
Naz Reid: Both of these next two big guys are recent prospects the team can hang their developmental hat on. Watching each of these players is incredibly fun. Seeing how hard Reid plays, but his ability to hit outside shots and drive to the rim make him a great off-the-bench weapon. Reid had the production to match, too, averaging 17 and 7 while shooting 63 percent from the field and over 40 percent from deep.
Nathan Knight: Knight’s 10 points in 11 minutes versus OKC were fun, but he also showed he had skill and if he harnesses that power and energy, he could also become a great reserve option. I don’t know how they’ll do it once Towns and Gobert are healthy, but I would love to see more of Knight down the stretch.
The Wolves may be in a disappointing position, but they are really still in the mix. I have been mostly down on this team so far, but they are just two games out of sixth place and four games behind Denver for first. That is why this four-game stretch was so crucial.
Hang A Banner? Hold A Parade? Why Does This Matter?
Well, that’s not entirely why. It’s because the six games after this stretch have the Wolves traveling to Boston, Miami, New Orleans, and Milwaukee. They get a brief respite hosting the Pistons on New Year’s Eve, but then host the Nuggets two days later. Going 1-3 instead of 3-1 ahead of this stretch would have been daunting.
What would success look like? They absolutely must take care of Detroit in that NYE game. Finding two more wins feels like the key to winning this stretch of schedule.
Boston, despite looking like the best team in the East for the first eight weeks of the season, is 4-6 in their last 10. The Celtics will be at home but we’ll see if they can pounce on a slumping giant.
The Pelicans similarly have hit a rough patch after leading their conference. Beating another conference playoff team would be a great win.
While the Heat are good, they .500 as of this writing and just 9-7 at home.
Beating Denver at home would, of course, be an important win for potential tiebreaker implications. Not only that, good teams win at home and beating the Nuggets would help building on their current 9-8 mark at Target Center this season.
The Wolves are now 6-5 in Towns’ absence with mostly wins over teams they should beat, but also teams they needed to beat like Dallas and Memphis. They have kept their heads above water, so far, but these next half-dozen games will show us a lot about this team.