MINNEAPOLIS — Anthony Edwards sat on the Minnesota Timberwolves bench in street clothes, helplessly watching his short-handed teammates clank 3-pointer after 3-pointer in an ugly loss to the Detroit Pistons.
The Wolves have put up an inspired effort while Edwards has been out with a right knee injury, going 4-2 in the six games since he went down. They have been able to stay afloat without Edwards, but losing Jaden McDaniels and Ayo Dosunmu as well was far too much to overcome against the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference.
Minnesota posted season lows in points, field goal percentage and 3-point percentage in a 109-87 loss to the Pistons on Saturday, but help appears to be right around the corner.
All signs are pointing to Edwards returning Monday in Dallas, giving the Timberwolves a needed jolt as the playoffs near. Edwards has been doing individual work at the team’s practice facility this week and was cleared by the team Friday for all on-court basketball activities. He still has to go through a workout Sunday and shootaround Monday before being cleared for game action, but his teammates walked out of Target Center on Saturday evening believing they would see him in uniform sooner rather than later.
“We can’t relax now that Ant’s coming back and say, ‘Hey, give Ant the keys and just go,’” point guard Mike Conley said. “I think we’ve got to let Ant do his thing. But at the same time, continue to push the ball, continue to involve everybody, and I think that’s when we’re our best self. When the ball’s moving, guys are being selfless.”
A return Monday would come not a moment too soon for the Wolves (45-29) and for Edwards. The loss to the Pistons dropped the fifth-seeded Wolves 1 1/2 games behind Denver (47-28) for the fourth seed and just a half-game ahead of sixth-seeded Houston (44-29) in the West. Getting back the face of their franchise, who is averaging 29.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and is one of their best on-ball defenders, will be a huge lift as they try to lock down home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Returning on Monday would also have an individual benefit for Edwards. He has played in 58 games this season, though only 57 count for awards eligibility because he left the game on Oct. 26 after playing just three minutes. This means he will need to play in all eight remaining games of the regular season to be eligible for All-NBA honors. Edwards has been named to the All-NBA Second Team in back-to-back seasons and will likely land on one of the three teams if he plays at least 65 games this season.
Without Edwards, McDaniels (knee) and Dosunmu (calf), the Wolves did not have enough firepower against the rugged Pistons. They shot 32 percent from the field, including 21 percent (9 of 43) from 3-point range. Julius Randle was 2 of 13 overall, Naz Reid made 3 of 15 and Bones Hyland shot 2 of 10.
The shooting woes spoiled a very good defensive game for Minnesota, which forced 20 turnovers but could only turn those into 7 points.
“Couldn’t make a shot,” said Donte DiVincenzo, who scored 22 points on 7-of-18 shooting. “We’ve got to capitalize on those. I think we played pretty good defense up until the fourth quarter. But we got to capitalize on those turnovers or rebounds.”
The best chance teams have at beating the East-leading Pistons is to outshoot them from deep. Detroit entered the night 28th in the league in 3s attempted and 22nd in percentage. You have to turn these games into a math problem, shooting treys and forcing the Pistons to trade 3s for 2s. The Wolves were fifth in the NBA in 3-point percentage (.372) coming into the game, but Detroit made one more 3 than Minnesota did, going 10 of 26.
Dosunmu (.429), McDaniels (.421) and Edwards (.409) are the Wolves’ three best 3-point shooters, but were all watching from the end of the bench. Reid went 0 of 7 from deep, Hyland was 2 of 9 and Conley missed four of his five 3-point attempts.
“We felt like we had good looks, and we expect to make them, and we just can’t all have nights where we are not putting it in the basket, especially when we’re down the guys that we’re down,” Conley said. “So, it’s on us. As the guys who are able to play, we expect to be confident and go out there and do our job.”
In a vacuum, there was no shame in the Wolves dropping a game to the best team in the East when missing three of their best offensive players. The sting comes from Minnesota’s inability to truly capitalize on what was a remarkable run of health in the first three months of the season. Its starting five of Edwards, McDaniels, Randle, DiVincenzo and Rudy Gobert have played 710 minutes together this season, by far the most of any five-man unit in the NBA.
But the Wolves missed so many opportunities to build an early cushion, dropping games to the likes of the Kings, Jazz, Bulls and Grizzlies in a season that has often lacked urgency and attention to detail. They have looked bored at times with the regular season after back-to-back runs to the Western Conference finals.
That complacency has put them in a dogfight for No. 3-6 seeds. They are three games behind the Lakers (48-26), making it highly unlikely that they can charge all the way up to third. The Wolves also have by far the most difficult remaining schedule among the teams with which they are jockeying for position, with games at Detroit, Philadelphia, Orlando and Houston and a home game against surging Charlotte still left to play.
A sharper performance while they were fully healthy could have easily yielded five more victories, which would have put them comfortably in the third seed right now and allowed them to weather the influx of injuries they are facing. Coach Chris Finch said before the game that McDaniels and Dosunmu are viewed as day to day, and with Edwards gearing up to return as soon as Monday, they do not appear to be far away from full health.
The good news for the Wolves is that the bottom did not fall out when Edwards went down. They were able to get quality wins against Phoenix, Houston and Boston, upping their pace to create easier offense in transition with Hyland and Dosunmu — dubbed the “Twin Turbo” backcourt — getting them out and running.
The Wolves also rediscovered their defense, leading the NBA in defensive rating over the previous five games. If they can maintain that defensive energy and keep the rest of the team in sync when Edwards comes back with his scoring prowess, things could look very promising in Minnesota.
“I think going through some injuries for us is a blessing in disguise with guys coming in and getting some experience,” said Gobert, who had 14 points and 12 rebounds against Detroit. “Whether it’s great games, great wins, or tough losses like today, it’s part of the learning process. Gotta keep trusting who we are as a team, keep putting in the work. Our guys are gonna come back, and we have guys that can contribute and help.”