Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert have double-doubles as Timberwolves roll past Miami 122-94

After the Wolves lost to Atlanta on Dec. 31, a solemn Rudy Gobert said the Wolves looked “not like a team that wants to play for a championship.”

He changed his tune within three games.

It is sometimes hard to recognize the turning point of a team’s season in real time. That usually only comes with the benefit of hindsight. But it’s hard not to watch the Timberwolves these last three games and feel like their spiritless losses to Brooklyn and Atlanta represented a shift in the team’s overall demeanor and effort.

For the second time in three games, the Wolves defeated a solid Heat team, 122-94, overcoming a slow start to control the rest of the game on Jan. 6 at Target Center.

It all led Gobert to claim afterward that they look like a title contender.

“The game in Atlanta was just a wake-up call for all of us,” Gobert said. “It put it on ourselves to say, ‘Do we really want to be that team? Or do we want to be the team that we said we’re going to be, which is a championship team?’ I think the answer is pretty obvious.”

They held Miami to just 36% shooting and led by as many as 31 on Tuesday.

Anthony Edwards led the way with 26 points while Jaden McDaniels added 19 and Naz Reid had 14. Julius Randle (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Gobert (13 and 17) each had double-doubles.

The Wolves couldn’t have played much worse last week in their losses to the Nets, and the Hawks and the collective mood of the team wasn’t a good one, as they had some time in Miami before playing the Heat on Jan. 3. They could have let that energy infect the rest of their road trip, but instead, they have responded with some of their most professional basketball of the season.

The Wolves have been frustrated most of the season because they haven’t lived up to their full potential, but this three-game win streak has shown what they can do when they are clicking.

“There was frustration after a game like that [in Atlanta],” said guard Donte DiVincenzo. “You have to respond. We responded in Miami. I think this team’s biggest challenge is once we do respond to keep responding, and that’s what we’ve done.

“We’re going to have nights, I don’t think as bad as Atlanta, but we’re going to have nights where guys just don’t have it or the energy’s off or the shot’s not falling, and we can’t let that snowball.”

“Coming out of the holiday period, the priority was to get Jaden back into the mix offensively, whether it be play calls or just kind of finding him in the flow a little bit more, and he’s really responding there,” Finch said. “You can’t let him go missing inside of our own team, and that’s on me. But I think his teammates are doing a really good job of finding him.”

DiVincenzo entered the game 11 for his last 45 (24%) from three-point range dating back to the Wolves’ loss to Denver on Christmas. But after a 0-for-3 start against Miami, he finished by hitting four of his next six to close the night. One thing DiVincenzo has focused on is not letting the shotmaking affect other parts of his game.

“Everybody on the team wants their shots to go in,” DiVincenzo said. “But the difference is, last year you’re harping on the shot, and it’s not going in and you’re not doing the other things as well or as much, and you’re focused on the shot, and you’re not gonna play. I think it’s the trust I’ve built with Finchy and the players on the team to still keep playing, keep playing through the missed shots.”