The Minnesota Timberwolves suffered a crushing 110-103 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, a defeat that snapped their five-game winning streak. The Timberwolves, who had held a 24-point lead in the fourth quarter, were outscored 39-8 in the final 10 minutes. This loss dropped them from a four-way tie for fifth place in the Western Conference to eighth.
Despite the painful defeat, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch expressed confidence in his team’s ability to bounce back. “We’ve got good guys. They’ll shake it off. We’ve had some tough losses before,” Finch said. “We didn’t expect to go undefeated over our last 10 games.” However, no one expected a collapse like this after holding a 95-71 lead in the fourth quarter.
This marked just the fifth time since 1996-97 that a team came back from a 24-point deficit to win a game, and only the third time it happened without overtime. Earlier this season, the Timberwolves were on the other end of a similar comeback, rallying to defeat Oklahoma City in overtime after trailing by 25 points.
Minnesota acknowledged that their collapse was due to the Bucks’ switch to a zone defense in the fourth quarter, which the Timberwolves struggled to adjust to. They shot just 4 of 20 from the field and 2 of 12 from beyond the arc in the final period, committing eight turnovers.
All-Star guard Anthony Edwards admitted that the zone defense “messed us up,” while forward Julius Randle noted that the Timberwolves have been successful against zones before, but just couldn’t execute on Tuesday. When asked whether teams would likely use more zone defense against them in the future, Randle joked, “If teams are smart, probably. I ain’t going to give them the blueprint.”
Despite the tough loss, the Timberwolves are still in a good position to avoid the play-in tournament, which includes the teams finishing seventh through tenth in the West. They are just one game out of fourth place, which would earn them home-court advantage in the first round. Minnesota has a better record against the teams they’re fighting with, including the Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Denver Nuggets, and Golden State Warriors.
Minnesota’s five-game road trip wraps up on Thursday against the Memphis Grizzlies, who are dealing with injuries, including the loss of starting guard Jaylen Wells to a wrist injury. After that, the Timberwolves have home games against Brooklyn and Utah. With the Warriors and Clippers facing off in a game that will result in one team losing, and the Grizzlies hosting the Nuggets, there’s still time for Minnesota to improve its playoff position. Edwards summed it up, saying, “The next game is the biggest game of the season.”