Mike Conley scored a game-high 21 points, while Anthony Edwards put up 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and Naz Reid added 18 points to help take down the short-handed Cavaliers.
The Minnesota Timberwolves returned to the Target Center floor on Friday night to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers after a much-needed two days off. The pair of rest days came on the heels of a season-long six-game road trip followed by a valiant short-handed fight against the reigning champion Denver Nuggets in as brutal of a road/home back-to-back as it gets.
Both Minnesota and Cleveland were projected to play this one severely short-handed.
Cavs Head Coach and University of Minnesota alumnus J.B. Bickerstaff had to cobble a lineup without star guard Donovan Mitchell and standout forward Evan Mobley, as well as key rotation pieces Max Strus and Dean Wade.
The Wolves, meanwhile, remained without Karl-Anthony Towns (torn left meniscus) but got back both Rudy Gobert (left rib sprain) and Naz Reid (head injury) after both players returned to practice on Thursday. Finch said in an interview with KSTP’s Darren Wolfson that Gobert took contact for the first time since he suffered the injury back on March 12 against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Had a nice conversation with #Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch. Here’s a snippet that includes injury updates on Naz Reid (head) and Rudy Gobert (ribs): #Twolves #RaisedByWolves pic.twitter.com/65vpwrecOl
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) March 21, 2024
Towns was back, too, as he joined his teammates on the bench for the first time since undergoing surgery in Los Angeles last week.
Gobert took his usual place in the starting lineup, but Reid also joined him, much to the delight of a packed house on “Naz Reid Beach Towel” giveaway night. The move worked to add more spacing to the starting lineup — which is a +16.7 in 150 possessions this season per Cleaning the Glass — and allowed Finch to more easily pick and choose who Kyle Anderson took the floor alongside.
Last time the Cavaliers played the Wolves, Cleveland played in deep drop coverage with Jarrett Allen and Georges Niang protecting the rim, which opened plenty of opportunities for Reid to shoot 3s atop the key. Naz took advantage, draining seven of his 11 attempts. But on Friday, Allen was up at the level of the screen to start the game, daring the Wolves to throw pocket passes to Gobert. Minnesota hit him in the pocket twice, resulting in a made layup and a pair of free throws, two of Rudy’s four attempts from the stripe in the first four minutes. He added a block and three rebounds, igniting the crowd with “RU-DY, RU-DY, RU-DY” chants that welcomed him back from a three-game absence.
Minnesota got plenty of clean looks early, but couldn’t build a lead because All-Star point guard Darius Garland, like he did in the first matchup, continually got past Jaden McDaniels in pick-and-roll, forcing gap help from Anthony Edwards and creating simple kick-out opportunities. This got the ball swinging and unlocked open shots. That, plus five offensive rebounds for six second chance points, kept Cleveland on top of the scoreboard for most of the first frame.
Thankfully for Wolves fans, though, Reid made an impact on his big night. After starting 1/3 from the floor, Naz made his next three to get Minnesota out in front 19-16 on an and-1 driving finish. He picked up his second foul on the next trip, his first defensive possession as the 5 (Anderson entered for Gobert), and checked out with a game-high 10 points in his first stint.
Naz Reid in Q1:
10 PTS / 8 MIN
pic.twitter.com/YeVoOH7YB5— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) March 23, 2024
Finch went to a 2-3 zone with Anderson at the 5, but Nickeil Alexander-Walker picked up a pair of fouls at the bottom of the formation, so his group switched back to man. Outside of Cleveland shooting 7/10 from the free throw line, pretty much every defense the Wolves tried did its job in the half-court. The Cavs shot just 6/24 (25%) overall and 1/8 from deep.
Minnesota’s lead could’ve been larger than just 25-20 after one quarter, but they scored just six points in the final four minutes as a result of Edwards missing three straight bank shots — something he has largely exchanged for a nice step-through move in the post. A buzzer-beating 3 from Jordan McLaughlin at the end of the period certainly helped.
McLaughlin stayed in rhythm to start the second, making a pair of corner triples on either side of a Monte Morris slot 3 to help Minnesota build a game-high nine-point lead less than three minutes into the second. Cleveland added two of their own for a total of five made 3-pointers in a span of 92 seconds of game time — great for those on the over of 207.
THE BIG MAN HANDLES.
THE JMAC THREE.
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) March 23, 2024
Partly as a wrinkle available to Finch with two bigs back and partly a function of Alexander-Walker picking up his third foul in just five minutes of action, the Timberwolves rolled with a three-guard lineup including McLaughlin, Morris and Mike Conley (with a combination of Anderson/Reid/Gobert in the frontcourt), which did an excellent job of touching the paint on drives and kicking it out for open 3s in a spread floor.
“Plus Nickeil if you count him. It’s great,” Finch said after the game.
“J-Mac is playing otherworldly right now. He’s just come in and changed the game for us. Shooting with so much confidence. Making all the normal J-Mac plays. Getting 50-50 balls. Competing for the ball in the air. Flying around. Getting his hands on stuff.
“I really love Monte’s defense right now, too. It’s really good. We’re spoiled for choice right there. And I love the fact that they all like to play together. And they all can play together.”
Cleveland crawled back into the game, though, by continually beating defenders off the bounce off PnR and dribble hand-of actions, and scoring inside. The Cavs also benefitted from a pair of technicals (one on Gobert, one for a second delay of game violation). Have you heard that yet this year?
The Wolves just couldn’t string together efficient offense down the stretch, largely because of missing so many contested looks in the paint. Minnesota shot just 2/7 in the paint compared to Cleveland’s 5/9 mark. After a 26-point performance on Tuesday, McDaniels took just four shots (including two in the final 1:42 of the half) and was a non-factor offensively.
Minnesota trailed 49-45 at the break, with Edwards, Gobert, McDaniels and Alexander-Walker scoring a combined 12 points.
There were a pair of lineup changes to start the second half, as Anderson started over Reid (potentially to help the bench find more of a rhythm) and Tristan Thompson started for Allen, who had a right hand laceration and soon returned. Anderson paid off the decision in the early going with a score and assist to McDaniels lifting out of the corner, but exited after just three-and-a-half minutes.
“It was literally, I didn’t want to put Naz in position to get a cheap fourth foul, where he couldn’t develop any rhythm in the game because he would’ve then had to sit,” Finch said, describing the move.
“It was also kind of allowing us to manipulate the matchups, so we could get a spacing big out there against some of their fives at some point. Staggering those minutes.”
LeVert got loose with a nice assist to Thompson and five quick points in a span of 1:14, continuing what was a strong first half from him off the dribble. But Edwards finding a rhythm was the most important development of the early going; he saw a triple go down before adding a mid-range score and a nice take at the rim to even the score at 60.
The energy Edwards created snowballed to the defensive end, as the Wolves really cranked up the intensity on that end. The result was five turnovers from Cleveland in the first six minutes of the frame, often a result of the stifling combination of perimeter ball pressure from McDaniels, and Gobert making plays not only on the back end, but switched out onto Garland as well. Edwards also pitched in with three rebounds on the glass, where the Wolves held the Cavaliers to just one offensive board in the quarter. Their work held the Cavs scoreless for nearly five minutes of game time.
McDaniels and Gobert also pitched in offensively, scoring all eight points on an 8-0 run that helped the Timberwolves seize control of the game, 70-62. Minnesota carried a 72-66 lead into the final frame largely as a result of the seven forced turnovers for 11 points off of them in the third quarter alone.
The Timberwolves kept that same energy with a banger start to the fourth. Reid opened the scoring with a big 3 after scoreless efforts in the second and third quarters, before assisting on two straight buckets from Anderson and Conley, who drilled a triple to extend the lead to a game-high 12. The 36-year-old followed it up with a block on a Niang shot, and then turned to mean mug the bench while rolling his shoulders for a good five seconds as Reid drove in for a slam.
ALL OF THIS >>>>>>> pic.twitter.com/U9ngznXFOK
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) March 23, 2024
Minnesota got the lead out to a game-high 14, capping off a 12-4 run to start the quarter.
Some Timberwolves fans started to get anxious, as Garland — after a 4/16 start from the floor — finally turned it on with eight straight points for Cleveland to cut the lead down to eight.
That anxiety quickly turned into raucous screams, as McDaniels knocked down a back-to-back corner triples on each end of the south baseline to balloon the lead back to 11 with 4:17 to play. McLaughlin and Edwards did a great job of getting into the paint to open up the looks.
Fans made sure to get a “NAZ REID, NAZ REID, NAZ REID” chant going at least once for the fan favorite on his beach towel night, which then spurred perhaps the most Naz Reid sequence yet.
He caught an elbow to the face on a rebound, and remained in the back-court holding his nose as Ant jetted up the left side of the floor and Finch called for Anderson to re-enter. Naz slowly made his way to the right corner as Edwards snaked into the paint, removing his hands from his face only to catch-and-fire an on-target lefty bullet from Ant. Cash.
Bickerstaff called a timeout, and fans all proudly held their towels in the air for what was an awesome moment during the break:
Naz Reid beach towel night is the greatest giveaway of all-time pic.twitter.com/dgXub7OmKC
— Jack Borman (@jrborman13) March 23, 2024
Target Center was electric tonight pic.twitter.com/24X2D703Pd
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) March 23, 2024
“It was amazing,” Reid said, describing the moment he saw all of the Naz Reid towels waving.
“I mean, that’s something that you dream about, definitely at this level in the NBA. That’s love. There’s so much support. Everybody has seen how much I’ve worked since day 1 until now. More to come. I would definitely appreciate as much support as possible.”
The Wolves rode that energy to the finish line, with an exclamation point stamped on a Conley-to-Gobert alley-oop with under two minutes to go.
Minnesota won 104-91, headlined by a game-high 21 points from Conley, who scored 10 of his 21 in the fourth quarter. Reid scored 18 on his big night, while Gobert dominated the interior with 14 rebounds and a pair of blocks. Edwards added 16 points and 13 rebounds, one shy of his career-high, and McDaniels came alive with 13 second half points (15 on the game) and five stocks. The Timberwolves had six players score in double figures, too.
Garland led the way for Cleveland with 19 points on 8/21 shooting, while LeVert gave the Cavs 16, and Allen delivered a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Friday was the 19th time the Wolves have held an opponent under 100 points, and improve to 17-2 in such games.
The Timberwolves improved to 48-22 with the win on Friday, tying their best 70-game start in team history (2003-04).
This story will be updated throughout the night after coach and player media availability.
Key Takeaways
Jaden and Rudy Headline a Dominant Defensive Effort
There isn’t a better defensive duo in the NBA than Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert. It’s as simple as that. Friday was another bullet point entry in a long list of evidence to their collective résumé.
After Garland created a few open shots for himself and his teammates in the first quarter, McDaniels completely shut him down for the remainder of the game, limiting the 2023 All-Star to just 19 points on 8/21 shooting (38%), including 0/6 from beyond the arc. Jaden using his length to close down passing lanes, effectively contest shots and, more generally, make Garland uncomfortable had positive downstream impacts beyond McDaniels’ highly impressive three-steal, two-block box score numbers.
Other perimeter players were able to stay home and run 3-point shooters off the line or make good contests (Cleveland shot just 7/29 from 3 — 24.1%), low-men didn’t need to rotate out of the corner to tag Allen on his rolls very often, and Gobert didn’t need to switch out into space that much. But when he did, boy oh boy was Rudy effective.
Another one https://t.co/xGTqL2WP4b pic.twitter.com/bxHFikJ4us
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) March 23, 2024
“I love it. That’s what I want — I want a guy to try to go at me and try to score on me,” Gobert said postgame about Garland trying him in isolation. “I tell all my teammates to stay home, and I think that’s good for us. I don’t know what makes them believe that’s a good thing. But they keep doing it. I love it.”
The Cavaliers only took 12 shots at the rim, instead getting up a whopping 28 looks in the short mid-range area (4-14 feet). Credit to the Cavs — they shot 61% on those shots, well above the league average of 43.8% — but forcing 16 more SMR attempts than rim attempts is a winning recipe. Even on shots Cleveland made below the arc, Gobert, McDaniels, Anderson and Reid did all they could to make them tough shots.
The soon-to-be four-time Defensive Player of the Year said he felt good in his return from a left rib sprain, which sidelined him for the team’s last three games, including two back in Utah, where he played for nine seasons.
“Gotta embrace the pain sometimes. And sometimes the pain of watching hurts more than the pain of the injury itself. But for me, it’s all about playing through that. As long as I can move and I’m able to impact the game, I’m gonna be out there,” he said.
“That was the ultimate test tonight. I got elbowed a couple times. Didn’t get a call, but I got elbowed a couple times in the chest. It hurts, but I’m able to get up and keep playing, so it’s a good sign.”
Gobert was also dominant on the boards, pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds. His five offensive rebounds don’t do his impact justice, though, as he made the majority of Cavaliers rebounds while he was on the floor difficult, contested rebounds that required multiple players collect. That slowed down the Cavs’ transition offense, which produced only seven points — less than half their 15.1 points per game average.
Put all of that defensive excellence together and you have…
- A single-game defensive rating of 101.1 (Wolves’ 108.7 season-long mark leads the NBA)
- An opponent effective field goal percentage of just 46.3% (league average is 55.0%)
- 15 points off of 12 turnovers (eight live-ball turnovers)
Prettay, prettay, prettay good for the league’s best defense.
“Defensively, I thought everyone put in the effort and the communication was great and we got better throughout the game, which I think wore them down throughout the course of the game,” Gobert said of the team’s effort.
On a night when the offense wasn’t firing on all cylinders to say the least, turning to a two-man wrecking crew to raise their level defensively and win the game on that end of the floor is incredibly valuable, and it’s a driving force behind the Timberwolves’ 47-22 start.
Money Mike Conley
Without Towns, the Wolves have had to brace for impact when the fourth quarter arrives. Edwards generally plays the third quarter, which means he sits to open the final frame. Towns and Reid often took the bulk of the scoring load in those non-Ant minutes, but it has been Conley who has stepped up in Towns’ absence.
The 17-year veteran is second on the team in fourth quarter scoring (6.0) and is shooting 58.6% from the floor and 37.5% from downtown since KAT got injured. That is a huge bump from his 2.8 points per fourth quarter before Towns went down.
“I was trying to be aggressive, but I always kind of had this plan throughout the season and obviously with the playoff push starting to be more aggressive. We’re going to need it in the playoffs,” Conley said postgame.
“Regardless of KAT or whoever is out there, we’re going to need everybody being themselves, being aggressive, looking to score and make plays and keeping everybody honest. So I’m just going to keep trying to do that and help ease the pressure off these guys.”
Before the March 12 matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers, Conley hadn’t registered a double-digit fourth quarter all season. But since then, the former Ohio State star has done it not once, not twice, but three times, including 10 tonight.
Mike Conley scored 10 of his 21 points in the 4Q tonight, his third time scoring 10+ in the fourth. All have come in the last 10 days – big efforts in the non-Ant minutes to start the quarter.
Minnesota is now 10-2 when Conley scores at least 7 in the 4Q.
— Jack Borman (@jrborman13) March 23, 2024
“He was aggressive. They were sending him certain directions, and he just went. He did a good job of just hitting the hole like a running back and getting downhill. Being aggressive. This is how he’s been playing the last handful of games, and this is how we needed him to keep playing,” Finch said of his point guard.
“We had six guys in doubles tonight. Everybody had a bunch of assists, too, which I thought was a sign of good offense out there. And we shot the ball well from the 3-point line as a result.”
I’ve said all season that an aggressive Mike Conley is the best Mike Conley, because the guy is exceptionally productive when he looks to score. He (understandably) doesn’t isolate often, there is certainly room for him to scale up his scoring off the ball as a shooter, and he has proven he can comfortably shoot double digit attempts while still maintaining great efficiency because he takes smart shots. Not to mention that he’s just a flat-out great shooter with excellent touch at all three levels.
He pumped the breaks on his ability to do it every night, though.
“It’s strategic,” he said, describing starting to scale up his game with the playoffs nearing. “It’s hard to go a full season of trying to score 21 a game, especially when you’re pushing 40. So, it’s tough.”
Part of that is simply because he expends so much energy doing all the little things beyond scoring.
“I feel like a lot of the things Mike does really effect all of us. When one of your veterans put the effort that he puts — you know, get a big block, close out, do a perfect closeout night in and night out,” Gobert said about his longtime teammate.
“I think he inspires all of us and it impacts all of us. It gets us all going. And he’s been doing it consistently. It’s huge for us.”
Conley providing double-digit scoring nights is even more critical on night when Edwards or Towns don’t have their A-game as bucket-getters, so it makes sense that he gets more aggressive in games the team needs it from him. With a win on Friday, Minnesota is now 28-6 when Conley scores at least 10 points.
Up Next
Minnesota will host Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors at Target Center for a Sunday night showdown to close out one of the best basketball weekends of the year.
Fans can watch the 6 PM CT tip on Bally Sports North.
Golden State, who is 5-5 in their last 10 contests, will begin a five-game road trip in Minneapolis, while Sunday’s matchup is the third of a four-game homestand for Minnesota.