Tuesday night in the NBA, the Detroit Pistons simultaneously arrested a slide; got healthy at home; and knocked off the prohibitive Eastern Conference favorite. The Pistons’ victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers was one of the night’s most notable results. Yet, it felt notable because of what it said about one of the two teams involved in that contest.
The result from Tuesday which offered more than a little to say about both teams, not just one, was the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 103-91 win in Miami against the Heat.
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Let’s start with the Timberwolves in the aftermath of Tuesday’s triumph, which split the (already-ended) season series with the Heat at one win apiece. It is expected that young teams will undergo all sorts of shifts and confront many imbalances. Yet, the Timberwolves’ manifestation of these characteristics is a most unusual one. Minnesota’s youthful roster plays a liberated brand of ball on the road.
The team has not yet won at home this season. Moreover, Minnesota hasn’t won a regular-season game in the Target Center since March 7, if you can possibly believe that. (The team went 2-19 in its final 21 games last season, and the two wins came on the road.) Yet, the new season has revealed that these young pups — alluded to in Flip Saunders’ last tweet before his death — are unfazed when they leave Minnesota and endure the NBA’s grueling travel schedule:
kG. Andre and Tay not only experience but Kg and Tay All League Defense. Defensive Culture for Pups to see.
— Flip Saunders (@Flip_Saunders) August 14, 2015
The Timberwolves’ victory moves them to 5-1 on the road this season. If they can learn to be moderately good at home, they can be moderately good overall… which would mark legitimately great progress in light of the assets gathered under one roof. The presence of Karl-Anthony Towns in the middle, mentored by Kevin Garnett, enabled Minnesota to be the much more effective defensive team on Tuesday. The Timberwolves’ defense fed their offense while also limiting Miami during the decisive fourth quarter:
1st time in 483 games that Miami gave up 41 or more points in a fourth quarter. Wolves got 11 off turnovers in 4th, 12 from foul line.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) November 18, 2015
Zach LaVine, a player who obviously possesses world-class athleticism, is continuously confronting the challenge of learning how to incorporate his skills into the feel and flow of game-night competition. He took some definite steps forward on Tuesday, producing a big fourth quarter complete with a dagger three from the right corner to put the game away inside the two-minute mark of regulation. If Tuesday represents part of a process for LaVine and not an aberrational occurrence, the larger project underway in Minneapolis (or at least, by the team headquartered in Minneapolis; the Wolves need to start winning games in that city) will take flight in due time.
The great thing about the season for the T-Wolves is that they don’t have to play it in the face of smothering expectations. There’s room to grow, and given the sadness still felt due to Flip Saunders’ passing, no one is going to be too harsh on this team if the season takes an unwelcome turn. Instability is part of a young club’s evolution; the central realization to make with the Timberwolves is that so much of the roster’s promise is already shining through. A 41-point fourth quarter to beat Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the road? That’s an eye-opener for a young group in the middle of November.
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What about the Heat and Mr. Bosh in particular? Bosh scored just 10 points on Tuesday. Teammate Hassan Whiteside has to solve his foul-shooting woes (2-of-9 against Minnesota), but the defensive anchor in the paint is continuing to show that his emergence last season was no fluke. A 22-14-10 line — the 10 being blocked shots — offered further support of the contention that Whiteside is here to stay. Bosh, on the other hand, lagged behind his frontcourt friend.
It’s worth noting that in the Heat’s other home-court loss this season — to Atlanta — Bosh scored only nine points. His average is just over 18, but one point to make about cumulative statistics is that the way in which they add up matters. Bosh has scored 30 and 25 in separate games earlier on Miami’s current seven-game homestand; the Heat won those contests. Yet, the Heat are going to find it hard to thrive when Bosh can’t get untracked. A steady progression of 20-point nights will serve the team a lot better than a 30-burger here and a 10-spot there.
Naturally, Bosh’s prolonged health-based absence from the league (and the Heat roster) last winter might have something (or more than something) to do with his inconsistency. Miami simply has to hope that he’ll find more of a groove before the end of 2015. Accordingly, the Heat — which cannot afford to drop another game on this homestand against a relatively cushy part of their schedule — must be able to find a higher gear come the second half of December and beyond. A 6-4 record isn’t necessarily “bad,” but it represents a missed opportunity, given the caliber of the competition thus far. When the schedule gets tougher, the Heat will need to be better — much better — if they are to contend for a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
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It’s early in the season, and no one game should be given an undue amount of importance in the present tense. Yet, when we arrive at the month of April and look back on roughly 80 games over five months, some contests do stand out more than others.
We’ll see how much this game gave us a window into the identities of the Timberwolves and the Heat.
