Timberwolves Lose to Celtics

The Wolves lost to the Celtics tonight 101-97, failing to convert opportunities to win the game late.

This was what we call a schedule loss.  The team was clearly exhausted in yet another road back to back after flying in from Memphis last night, and it showed all over the court. Particularly shooting the ball: 38% from the field, 29% from three, and an abysmal 58% from the free throw line.

In truth, the game was only close because the Celtics were almost equally poor, and because the Wolves got good scoring from their bench tonight.  Their bench--Barea, Shved, Dieng, Cunningham, and Mbah a Moute, combined for 45 points; tonight it was the starters who let them down.

Kevin Love finished with 27 and 14, but took 26 shots to get there, and Ricky Rubio, who wound up playing only 22 minutes was 2 for 11 from the field. Nikola Pekovic also struggled to a 6-15 night, including a blown dunk with 17 seconds left that would have gotten the Wolves within one point, while Corey Brewer and Robbie Hummel combined to go 2 for 12.

Hummel started in place of the injured Kevin Martin, but failed to have a positive impact in his 19 minutes.

Dante Cunningham hurt his ankle in the 4th quarter; he looked to be able to put some weight on it, so hopefully it isn't serious.

You know what? I don't want to talk about this one anymore. Terrible shooting, poor decision making late, and they lost a winnable game. In truth, the way they played they were lucky to even have a shot at that one. Let's just move on.