Timberwolves coach Chris Finch has been around the game a long time, worked in a lot of places. But he has rarely seen a shooting slump like the one the Wolves are fighting right now.
"I've never been a part of a team that had so many guys shooting below their [career] percentages,'' Finch said after practice Tuesday, the night after the Wolves lost to an Orlando team that outscored them 43-19 in the fourth quarter on the way to an 18-point win. "Usually there are one or two guys who are not shooting the ball well. But, seemingly other than [Karl-Anthony Towns], everybody is way below their career averages right now.''
He's right.
The rest of the Wolves starting five is shooting way below their averages. Especially D'Angelo Russell — whose injured ankle could keep him out of Wednesday's game with the Los Angeles Clippers. His .359 overall shooting percentage and .289 percent three-point shooting are way down from career totals of .420 and .350, respectively.
Late Tuesday, all those open looks the team missed eventually bled into the defense, which struggled down the stretch.
"I think [Monday's] game was a good example," said Finch. "Once [Orlando] saw the ball go in a little bit, then everything they threw up seemed to go in no matter who was throwing it up. We're just the opposite right now. That puts more pressure on every single shot and every shot seemingly gets affected. That's how it goes.''
Everyone seems to be feeling it. "We couldn't hit nothing,'' Anthony Edwards said after the game. "That's all I got. We just can't hit enough shots right now.''
The answer?