The Minnesota Timberwolves followed up their massive road win with a crushing loss to the New Orleans Pelicans
The Minnesota Timberwolves hadn't beaten the Toronto Raptors in Toronto since 2004, but that all changed on Wednesday when the Timberwolves defeated them 128-126 in a massive road win. With a strong team performance under their belts, the Timberwolves returned home to face the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday.
Matching up against the Pelicans, who entered Friday's contest with one of the worst records in the NBA, the Timberwolves seemed like the far superior team, even without new addition Ayo Dosunmu. However, the final result didn't reflect what the records say for each side.
Pelicans Hand Timberwolves A Brutal Loss
As the Timberwolves have done all too many times this season, the Pelicans handed them a 119-115 loss on Friday, fueled by three 25+ point scorers. A lights-out shooting performance from the Pelicans at 15-of-34 from beyond the arc, they caught the Timberwolves riding the high perhaps a little too much.
It was still a strong performance from Anthony Edwards on the offensive end of the court, who finished with 35 points on 50% shooting from the field, adding five rebounds and four assists to his stat line. However, after the game, he acknowledged the team can't beat themselves up about this too much.
“Yeah this one hurt, but we can’t dwell on it too long, games over, we got another one coming up," Edwards said.
Looking at the standings at the end of Friday night's NBA action, the Timberwolves have lost to four of the six worst teams in the NBA by record. Not something to hang their hats on, it's been a problem of the Timberwolves playing down to their opponents.
On the other hand, they've beaten three of the top four teams in the NBA standings, as the only one they haven't beaten is the Detroit Pistons, who they won't play until later in March.
Help Is On The Way
A change of mindset matters the most for this Timberwolves team when it comes to avoiding bad losses like such, but adding Dosunmu will certainly improve their rotation.
Whether he comes off the bench or not, he's been stellar this season, averaging 15.0 points, 3.6 assists, 3.0 rebounds, and shooting 45.1% from three-point range. One of the best reserves in the NBA this year with Chicago, he's averaged 16.8 points and 51.1% three-point shooting in 10 games as a starter this season.
Minnesota returns to action on Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers, where they'll hope to debut their new guard and get back in the win column.