Timberwolves Sieve-Like Defense Can't Stop Suns in 110-99 Loss

Well, Mo Williams made some more shots (26 points on 10-22 including 5 made threes).  Gorgui Dieng played some good basketball and is really showing off his passing skills recently.  Andrew Wiggins got to the rim a few times.

None of it mattered as the Wolves never looked remotely capable of stopping the Suns from scoring whenever the wanted in a 110-99 loss in Phoenix. The Suns shot 55% from the field and gathered in 15 offensive rebounds in a game in which the Wolves valiantly tried to stay in it by matching the Suns offensively, but ultimately could not keep up.

It was Goran Dragic early, mostly against Andrew Wiggins, who simply couldn't stop him from getting wherever he wanted on the floor, and it was Gerald Green (of course) late, who put the Wolves away for good in the 4th quarter. Along the way, various Suns took turns torturing the Wolves putrid defense--Miles Plumlee and Brandan Wright combined to go 8-9 from the field.

The Wolves just don't rotate with any consistency at all. One guy comes to help, and the basket area is wide open, as nobody fills the space. Lay-up after lay-up is the result. Another result is terrible defensive rebounding, as the Wolves so easily get out of position and fail to box out opponents. Both of those things have been season long problems that continue to plague this team.

Notes:

• Andrew Wiggins had a pretty strong game, with 17 points on 8-15 shooting. Started out very effectively in the first half, but faded some in the 2nd. He also showed some ability to pass the ball, with two assists for Anthony Bennett dunks, and a few other crisp passes out of double-teams that were not converted.
• Suns bench outscored the Wolves bench 52-24.
• Robbie Hummel continues to show he deserves playing time. He gets overmatched sometimes at the defensive end, but he plays such low-mistake basketball, and scored 9 points on 4-6 from the floor tonight.
• Wolves were not able to get to the free throw line tonight, something they need to do to compete. Only 12 attempts. Part of that was that the Suns weren't exactly challenging them hard on drives.
• Miroslav Raduljica played 5 absolutely disastrous minutes in which he committed 2 fouls, a turnover, and missed his only shot. That does not do justice to how painful his shift was.
• Waiting on the inevitable Mo Williams breakdown. 39 more minutes tonight, including the final stretch when the game was out of reach. No idea why Flip kept him in there for the last 4 minutes. Zach LaVine played 11 minutes.