Timberwolves' Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert looking for 'poetic justice' vs Mavericks
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The Minnesota Timberwolves have struggled a little bit this season, just one year after making a run to the Western Conference Finals. The pressure to back up those expectations combined with a little bit of roster turnover has forced the Timberwolves to battle through a lot of adversity this season, and now they are stuck trying to climb up the standings.
Of course, that deep playoff run was ended by the Dallas Mavericks in the conference finals before the Mavericks eventually fell to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. On Wednesday night, the Timberwolves and the Mavericks will reunite in a rematch of that series, and the game feels just a little bit more important as a result.
Before the game, Timberwolves stars Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert talked about what it means to get some revenge on the Mavericks.
Anthony Edwards: "It's going to be poetic justice. It's going to be beautiful."
Rudy Gobert: "Extra motivation."
The Timberwolves on tonight's matchup against the Mavs
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“It’s gonna be poetic justice,” Edwards said. “It’s gonna be beautiful.”
“I think they’re a really, really good team,” Gobert said. “They beat us in the playoffs last year. They earned it, they played really well against us. I think this year when we’re gonna face this team, we’re gonna have the memories of them beating us, celebrating. Hopefully there’s a little extra motivation.”
Timberwolves trying to get out of play-in range in Western Conference
The Timberwolves have been one of the most inconsistent teams in the NBA this season as they have struggled to find their identity on offense and regain their ferocity on defense since flipping Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle. As a result, Minnesota is just 22-20 and is currently in ninth place in the Western Conference.
The late-game execution has arguably been the biggest problem for the Timberwolves. This has been an issue for this team even when Towns was on the roster and it has continued to plague it this year. Time and time again, the Timberwolves’ offense stalls out in the final minutes of close games and they give up leads at the end of games.
Monday’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies is a perfect example. The Timberwolves held a lead for most of the fourth quarter, but they scored just six points over the final 4:30 of game time as the Grizzlies stormed back for a 108-106 victory.
The spacing on the offensive end has been a problem for the Timberwolves in this situation. When Gobert and Randle share the floor, it is much more difficult for Edwards to get downhill and affect the game on the interior, forcing him into a lot of contested perimeter shots. The lack of flow combined with the lack of spacing leads to a lot of bad possessions late in games when the defense tightens up.
This may not be a fixable problem for the Timberwolves, but they could also be talented enough to overcome that on Wednesday night against the Mavericks.
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