NBA scores 2018: The Timberwolves’ weary season continues & 3 more things from Friday night

06 Jan 2018 13:00

Minnesota is winning games, but it feels like something is still missing.

It’s harder to get points against the Boston Celtics than any other team in the league, but still, the Minnesota Timberwolves made scoring look absolutely painful on Friday in a 91-84 defeat. It was the fewest points that Minnesota` scored in a game all season, and it came with 37-percent shooting from the field.

The Timberwolves have now lost a couple games in a row and three of their last five. It’s not a concerning trend in an up-and-down NBA season, but Minnesota still isn’t making their basketball look easy. Sometimes, their three-headed blend of Karl-Anthony Towns, Jimmy Butler, and Andrew Wiggins looks divine, but just as often, like Friday, it looks like it still isn’t fitting together well.

Against Boston, Towns recorded his fourth 20-20 game with 25 points and a monstrous 23 rebounds. However, Butler and Wiggins both shot 3-of-12 from the field, a continuation of Wiggins’ worst season as a pro. He’s averaging slightly more points on a slightly lower field goal percentage than his rookie year, while his rebounding and assists are both down. The former No. 1 draft pick’s inability to consistently hit outside shots continues to hurt him, especially with another isolation-heavy wing joining him.

It just doesn’t feel like Minnesota is having fun. They have talent, but everything we hear are complaints: about Tom Thibodeau, about Thib’s too top-heavy rotations, about Wiggins’ struggles, about Taj Gibson’s fit (despite being a damn fine basketball player in his own way), about injuries to key bench players. More than anything, it seems like the Timberwolves are missing joy.

There was no joy in this Jayson Tatum poster

KAT, meet Jayson Tatum.
Jayson Tatum, meet KAT. pic.twitter.com/tDvXMACvpB
— Yahoo Sports NBA (@YahooSportsNBA) January 6, 2018

His 20-20 game be damned, Towns got got here.

Look at this gorgeous Rick Carlisle-drawn play

Yogi so close. Another great pass by Maxi. pic.twitter.com/NTSJXdeXSF
— Nick Neva Lawst Angstadt (@NickVanExit) January 6, 2018

No timeouts, 2.6 seconds left, and an inbounds from the far baseline ... and Rick Carlisle drew up a play that got the Mavericks a catch-and-shoot three from a 40.1 percent three-point shooter. It is a travesty that this shot did not fall.