Ten days ago, Jaylen Nowell stood before the media after a shootaround and was asked a straightforward question: “How do you evaluate how your season is going?”
He gave a straightforward answer: “Not going well.”
Nowell is one of the more thoughtful interview subjects on the Timberwolves roster. His answers are typically expansive, earnest and confident. But that answer said it all in three words. This was supposed to be Nowell’s breakout season. The Rudy Gobert trade cleared out two players who were standing in his way for playing time, and he planned on having a big year to cash in, either in free agency this summer or via an extension from the Timberwolves.
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Instead, Nowell has struggled mightily in his fourth year. He is shooting 28 percent from 3-point range, turning it over at a career-high rate (1.7 per 36 minutes) and also having trouble staying in front of anyone he is defending. The harder things get out there for him, the more he seems to press, seemingly trying to get back every one of his misses each time he rises up to take a shot.
The latest tough game for him came on Monday night in Houston, when the Timberwolves delivered another inexcusable effort in a season full of them to lose 119-114, becoming the first team to lose to the Rockets in 14 games.
Nowell was 3-for-8 from the field, 1-for-3 from 3-point range and had seven points, zero assists and three turnovers. His inability to give them a spark off the bench doomed the Wolves on a night when Minnesota got off to a slow start — falling behind 9-0 to start the game — and then couldn’t shake itself out of another disastrous third quarter.
Nowell is a gifted one-on-one scorer with a creative off-the-bounce game and a crafty finishing package. He can get his shot off seemingly against any defender, but that confidence has occasionally been his undoing this season. His tunnel vision as he barrels to the basket can often put him in bad spots, as it did in the third quarter as the Rockets started to take control.
G-BIRD 💪@gmathews_24 | #Rockets pic.twitter.com/3O1zScsdwX
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) January 24, 2023
The Wolves were outscored 34-25 in the third, which ended with Jalen Green, the young guard who was on fire from the get-go, getting a way-too-easy look at a 3 in front of Nowell.
JG AT THE BUZZER‼️@JalenGreen | #Rockets pic.twitter.com/hpVuh2YMwz
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) January 24, 2023
No one expects Nowell to be Gary Payton on defense. But when he is not torching the opponent on offense, his defensive shortcomings are magnified. With Taurean Prince out because of sprained ankle, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch gave Nowell ample time to find his game. He played 19 minutes but seemed to lose effectiveness as the game went on. He was scoreless in five minutes of the fourth quarter and turned the ball over twice.
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The most disappointing part of Nowell’s performance is that it appeared he was starting to find some of his offensive game over the previous two weeks. He scored 16 points each in games against Cleveland and Utah and put up 13 points and three assists in 17 minutes against Toronto. But he has scored just 13 points combined in the last two games against the Rockets.
When the Wolves traded Malik Beasley and Patrick Beverley to Utah in the Gobert trade, the runway was clear for Nowell to have a big season. He started out strong, averaging 16 points in 22 minutes per game. But the consistency has slipped considerably since then, and the Wolves need him to resume his role as a potent scorer and occasional playmaker.
“Just get in the gym more,” Nowell said earlier this month when asked what he could do to get back on track. “Watch more film, see where the spots are at and just continue to work.”
The loss to Houston could hardly be blamed solely on Nowell. A performance this grotesque has many fathers. Ultimately, the Timberwolves have shown through 49 games that the only thing they consistently do is play poorly against teams with bad records. They could have easily dropped two other games to the Rockets this season, have lost to the Pistons twice, the Spurs twice and the Hornets once.
“We have the ability to beat anybody, and we have the ability to lose to anybody, and that’s been on display all season,” Finch said. “That’s an immature trait.”
A look at some of the other culprits:
Chris Finch
The coach told reporters in Houston before the game that he wasn’t a fan of playing the same team in consecutive games because he thought the team that lost the first one had a considerable advantage in Game 2. He is right when it comes to the Timberwolves, a team that has proven to take struggling opponents lightly and feel way too good about itself after a win.
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The Wolves had an arrogant approach to this game, even after needing a superb performance from Anthony Edwards to save them from another ugly defeat. They were pounded on the glass, 64-46 in total rebounds, and blasted in the third quarter. Motivation, rebounding and third quarters have been problems all season long, and Finch has been unable to fix them.
“I’m trying,” he said after the game when asked about the team’s immaturity against lesser opponents. “Obviously there’s things I can do better, for sure. I’ve got to give them some solutions offensively tonight when we were struggling, for sure. I maybe could’ve gone with a couple different lineup combinations to finish the game, I think.
“We tried to put them on alert. It’s up to them to be ready to go.”
Edwards has shown signs of being a tone setter as the season has progressed, but one of the defining characteristics of this team is it does not have the voice in the locker room that locks players in on nights when the energy is not there. Finch has said more than once that, in the absence of that leadership, it is on the coaches to fill the void. He hasn’t been able to push the right buttons in that respect, but the players have to own a lot of that responsibility as well.
The big dogs
Edwards finished with 31 points and five assists. But for the first time in a long time, they felt like empty stats. Seventeen of those points came in the fourth quarter, many of those after the Rockets built a lead that was too big even for them to squander. He turned the ball over six times and only grabbed three rebounds, a big problem for the Wolves defense.
The Timberwolves have started to use Edwards even more at the point of attack against an opponent’s best perimeter scorer, especially in the fourth quarter. But Eric Gordon blew by Edwards on a couple of possessions, and Edwards just did not have the same intensity level he has shown the last couple of weeks.
OKAY EG 👏 pic.twitter.com/Iziju4dFkn
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) January 24, 2023
You will also notice in the above clip how easily Gordon scored at the rim. Gobert didn’t bother him at all. Gobert had 15 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks in his return from a three-game absence because of a sore groin, but it felt like he left some stats on the table as well.
Gobert seemed to be finding a rhythm before he went down with the injury, and it was clear there is still a lot of work to do there.
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“We need to get him back up the way he was playing a couple weeks ago,” Finch said. “He had four blocks tonight, but I thought he also could have controlled the paint even better.”
He may be still getting his legs back after the week off, but this is just way too easy against a three-time Defensive Player of the Year.
defense ➡️ offense @Toyota | #Rockets pic.twitter.com/MxPaD2PoWq
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) January 24, 2023
D’Angelo Russell was a potent scorer in the first half, scoring 19 points to help the Wolves muddle through their underwhelming start. But he missed seven of his 10 shots in the fourth quarter as the Wolves failed to make a comeback.
The old reliables
When things haven’t gone well this season, the Timberwolves have usually been able to turn to Kyle Anderson and Naz Reid for boosts. Both were nonexistent Monday, and the Wolves desperately missed Anderson’s smarts and Reid’s hustle.
Anderson had two points and zero rebounds and only played 12:24 because of foul trouble. Almost always a calming influence on the court, he picked up a technical foul in the first quarter. He only had one assist and five fouls in the game.
Reid could not stay in front of Alperen Şengün, who had 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
What Reid gives up defensively, he can often get back on the other end of the court. But he only scored two points and grabbed one rebound in a startlingly inactive night for him that led Finch to play Nate Knight the bulk of the minutes at backup five. Reid played just nine minutes in the game.
Finally, Jaden McDaniels, who has been such a consistent defensive presence for the Wolves this season, couldn’t do anything with Green. McDaniels owned him Saturday at Target Center, but Green returned the favor Monday. He scored a career-high 42 points and fouled McDaniels out.
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The schedule now gets a lot tougher, with a game in New Orleans on Wednesday preceding a Friday night showdown with Memphis, a two-game homestand against Sacramento and a home date with the Warriors. The Wolves (24-25) could have moved into the sixth seed in the Western Conference with a win over the Rockets. Now they sit in ninth.
Maybe it’s a good thing the cupcakes are gone for a while. The Wolves always seem to choke on those.
(Photo of Jaylen Nowell: Jordan Johnson / NBAE via Getty Images)
