The Minnesota Timberwolves took care of business against the Dallas Mavericks in two head-to-head matchups when the teams faced off last week in Abu Dhabi. Beginning the preseason 2-0 is a great start for this Minnesota Timberwolves team. It is important for this team to get rolling early on in the season following their up-and-down season a year ago. Despite a ton of positives from the first two exhibition matches, there is one early concern for the Timberwolves this preseason which reared its ugly head in the past couple of seasons.
Blown Leads
Second half performance is a must-have for the Timberwolves this season. Last year, the Timberwolves lost 18 regular season games in which they at one-point held a double digit lead earlier in the game, per Jace Frederick. This bubbled into their postseason as they blew a double-digit lead in their first play-in game against the Los Angeles Lakers. After that loss to the Lakers, head coach Chris Finch said the following: “This is what we've done for a lot of the season other than the first part of the season,” via John Krawczynski of The Athletic. “Struggling to find ourselves, but right now, we've got a crew that I really thought played hard, gave ourselves a chance to win. We should have won this game.” Blowing leads has been a staple in recent Timberwolves basketball. A rewind to the 2022 playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies may bring back painful memories of three blown leads, including two 20-plus point leads at home, as the Wolves lost in six games.
With how competitive the Western Conference was a year ago, those blown leads by the Timberwolves drastically impact where the team would've (and maybe should've) finished in the standings. Instead of a rough first-round series matchup against the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets, the Wolves could've been facing off with a number of different, less-challenging opponents. Increasing their odds at potentially advancing past the first-round in the postseason.
Cause for optimism?
The Timberwolves first preseason win against the Dallas Mavericks featured an electric first quarter as the Wolves poured in 37 points and allowed Dallas to only score 19 points. The Timberwolves came in ready to play, in shape and sharp. However, from that point on, the Mavericks found their footing and outscored the Timberwolves by a slim margin in all three of the remaining quarters. It is a good sign, however, that the Timberwolves didn't lose hold of the game as they did end up winning 111-99, but attention to detail and a focus on out-executing your opponent even with a lead needs to remain a priority.
The second Timberwolves-Mavericks matchup in Abu Dhabi started off very similarly. The Timberwolves started out hot and closed the first quarter with a 29-20 lead over Dallas. This time, the Wolves controlled the game from nearly start to finish. Minnesota outscored Dallas in both quarters two and three. The Timberwolves were outscored by three points in the fourth quarter, but their ability to control the game wire-to-wire should give Minnesota fans some hope that the Timberwolves avoid massive second-half let downs this season.
Kamran Jebreili, Associated Press
If the Timberwolves can gain early leads this season, like they did last season, and actually hold onto those leads, unlike last season, the Timberwolves could be set for a big season garnering some respect around the league and potentially a high playoff seed to boot.
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