Before the Timberwolves' 128-116 loss to the Jazz on Thursday night, coach Chris Finch tried to deploy a psychological tactic against Utah, which had no players in the NBA's COVID health and safety protocols.
Depleted Timberwolves put pressure on, but still fall to Jazz 128-116
The Wolves, with seven players in the COVID-19 protocol, put six players in double figures, but their defense couldn't prevent Utah from slowly pulling away.
December 24, 2021 at 12:30PM
Finch spoke just before the game, when center Karl-Anthony Towns joined six other Wolves in the protocols, including fellow starters Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt and Anthony Edwards.
"We're kind of playing with house money," Finch said. "They've got nobody in protocols. I don't think they've been affected at all. The pressure is on them to come out and beat a depleted team. We just have to go out, play hard and throw in a lot of shots."
D'Angelo Russell and the Wolves' bench had nothing to lose, because few expected them to win against a Utah team that was playing at home and had almost its full complement of players, including stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell.
That team beat a nearly fully healthy Wolves team by 32 at Target Center a few weeks ago. This shorthanded Wolves team held its own and was down just 112-105 with under five minutes to play before Utah pulled away.
Offense wasn't the issue, as the Wolves had six in double figures. A number of players took advantage of their increased opportunities. Malik Beasley had one of his best games in a while with 33 points in a performance that harkened back to last season. The streaky Beasley, whose three-point percentage was down to 34% from 40%, hit 7 of 16 threes and 13 of 25 shots overall.
Jaden McDaniels scored a season-high 16 points to go with nine rebounds and seven assists while Jake Layman went from little-used end of bench player to starting and scoring 13.
"Everybody came to play and we fought hard and generated a lot of really good shots," Finch said. "Some went in and some didn't. We fought back whenever we got down. … I'm very, very pleased with the way the guys fought and played."
Russell, who was 4 of 18 against Dallas, was 7 of 20 for 19 points but had 14 assists. The Wolves just couldn't get enough stops to make a serious run at Utah, which led for the entire second half. Mitchell had 28 while Gobert had 20 and 17 rebounds as the Jazz shot 53%.
Finch said the Wolves rearranged their defense and were focused on preventing open threes.
They did a commendable job of that in only allowing six made threes to Utah in the first half.
"We were willing to live with the loud twos to take away the threes," Finch said. "They kind of broke loose in the third."
That's where the Wolves lost the game in Finch's mind. Utah hit seven in the quarter and took a 15-point lead.
"We tried everything we thought we could do to win this game defensively and we executed it to the best of our abilities tonight," Finch said.
Sometimes the best of those abilities just isn't good enough when one team is down seven players and four starters and the other isn't.
The Wolves now have a three-day break to see if they can get some guys off the COVID-list. Edwards and Taurean Prince will be past their 10-day quarantine by the next game, and the league might shorten its protocols. Sometimes, the most nervous moments of the players' days come as they're taking their tests.
"It's kind of like a waiting game," McDaniels said. "You just, shoot, sit there and wait until you get that clear text. I pray every time mine comes back clear."
Whoever makes it through plays, no matter how gnarly the lineups may look. Who knows who the Wolves will have available Monday?
The Star Tribune did not travel for this event. This article was written using the television broadcast and video interviews before and/or after the event.
Both teams were returning from a break and showed it, but Jaden McDaniels' energy salvaged matters for Minnesota.
