Takeaways: Timberwolves routed by Warriors 111-85 as losing streak hits five

A day after the NBA postponed the Timberwolves’ game against the Golden State Warriors, the teams played their makeup game at Target Center even as protestors were in downtown in response to the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis around the start of the game.

One player said before the game it didn’t feel as if the team was actually preparing to take the floor, and the Wolves’ play reflected that in a 111-85 loss. It was the Wolves’ fifth consecutive loss on a day that didn’t feel much like a typical basketball game on and off the floor.

“Everybody, your heart and your thoughts are with the family going through that tragedy,” guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “But that’s not an excuse. I think, if anything, sometimes that brings a community together more, and we need to stay together as a community, as a team, and just push through these rough days, these dark days, because there’s a lot more bigger things than basketball, but what we can control right now is our basketball and our energy.”

From the tip, the Wolves were not themselves. They committed 26 turnovers for the game and the Warriors took control of the game in the third quarter, which it won 38-17. Some fans booed as the Wolves fell behind by 19 late in the third and then again in the fourth when they went down 25.

Anthony Edwards had 32 for the Wolves, but he had eight turnovers, five in the first quarter. Jaden McDaniels was 1-for-8 with four turnovers for the Wolves while Julius Randle was 3-for-11 for 11 points. Stephen Curry had 26 points for Golden State, which plays the Wolves again Monday, Jan. 26.

After the game, Wolves coach Chris Finch took a while to come to his postgame press conference, which is the sign the team was having a discussion amongst itself. The Wolves were “talking about a few things, just things that we needed to address,” Finch said.

The Wolves’ midseason slide continues and the need for help off the bench becomes more glaring for this team, which got just seven combined points from its reserves before Finch emptied the bench with 5:10 to play. Naz Reid didn’t score on 0-for-4 shooting.

But the problems extend beyond the bench to everyone.

“Lifeless. No energy at all,” Randle said. “Terrible choice of words, but it’s just no energy to what we’re doing. No purpose. No passion. Just kind of feels not great.”

DiVincenzo, who had 22 points, said the Wolves got some issues out in the open.

“It’s been addressed. But at the same time, words can only go as far as words go,” he said. “It might work for one or two games, but this needs to be something that is a night in and night out thing where you play with energy.”

Added Edwards: “Everybody tired. Everybody ready to go to the [All-Star] break, but we just getting outplayed on the effort part. So we got to bring it on that side for sure.”

The Warriors had no turnovers on the other side, but Golden State shot just 9-for-26 in the qaurter, and that allowed the Wolves to hang around down just 24-19 after the first.

Despite the sloppy start (16 turnovers in the first half) the Wolves were down just 47-46 at the half in part because Edwards and DiVincenzo shot a combined 14-for-19 with eight threes.

BOXSCORE: Golden State 111, Wolves 85

NBA standings

The Warriors raced out to a 6-0 start in the third quarter, and it only got worse from there for the home team. The Wolves shot just 6-for-19 with six turnovers in the quarter compared to 16-for-27 for Golden State, who had only kept the Wolves in it because it was shooting so poorly in the first half (33%).