On Saturday afternoon, the Minnesota Timberwolves fell in an afternoon matinee to the Orlando Magic at home. It was the Wolves' fifth time playing an afternoon game this season, and their fourth loss in that circumstance. 

It was certainly a less than inspiring performance for a team with legitimate championship aspirations. Minnesota looked unprepared for the level of physicality that Orlando brought to the table, and Chris Finch said as much in his postgame press conference. 

"I thought we tried to play through their bodies way too much today," he said. "I thought we needed to find kickouts earlier, when we did find them they were a beat late." 

That just comes down to simple decision-making, which is something that can be fixed with time. The Timberwolves have to make better reads on choosing when to physically punish defenders, and when to dish the ball elsewhere. 

"We were getting okay shots, I thought we rushed those a little bit," Finch said. "We were kind of wild in transition, we needed to calm down and convert a couple of those. And then we just kept looking for home run plays and shortcuts ... The only thing we could repeatedly generate was offense through the short roll." 

That last point from Finch is particularly telling. It was clear that Minnesota's primary actions weren't working and they were having to improvise a bit during this one. Against a physical and disciplined Orlando defense, that's exactly what leads to a loss. 

The Magic deserve credit here. They came into Target Center with a clear game plan to play physical, force Minnesota into uncomfortable situations, and make the Wolves earn every single possession. Orlando executed nearly flawlessly, and the Timberwolves never found a consistent answer.

Of course, the big concern here is this becoming a pattern that affects this team in the playoffs. Four losses in five afternoon games is a sample size worth taking seriously, and one common trend across some of these losses is Minnesota struggling to adjust when opponents dictate the terms of engagement physically.

But again, this is fixable. Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle are both physically capable of punishing defenders in the paint when they're locked in and making the right reads. 

What Saturday reminded us of is that the Timberwolves can be taken out of their comfort zone more easily than a championship contender should allow. Chris Finch knows it, and the margin for error is going to be a lot smaller in six weeks than it is now. 

The teams that are serious about lifting the Larry O'Brien in June use a game like this as fuel to get better. If this team can come into their next scrappy, physical matchup with a more decisive approach, this loss will have served its purpose.