How Can the Wolves Execute Better Offensively Down the Stretch?

The Minnesota Timberwolves have an obvious fault this postseason. They cannot finish games. Luckily for the Wolves, the modern-day NBA is all about making runs; no lead is ever truly safe. But consistently blowing double-digit leads is an issue, especially down the home stretch. No matter what team has been up the entire game, anyone can catch fire late. It has been an ongoing issue for the Wolves in this series. They have led most of Games 3 and 5 but relinquished those leads due to faulty execution down the stretch.

It has been a mixed bag of results overall. Tuesday's Game 5 featured tough contested shots, foul trouble, and only a combined 3-7 for 7 points from D'Angelo Russell, Anthony Edwards, and Karl-Anthony Towns in the final 5 minutes. Game 3’s loss also featured the lack of ability to get the game back on track. Finch didn’t take a timeout, allowed a 21-0 run, and the Wolves blew a 26-point lead. Not to mention, they lost by nine. It’s a tough way to lose a game.

Although these are tough losses, it leaves a lot of room for the Wolves to improve upon as they develop together. Finding shots and hitting them in clutch-time scenarios is not simple, especially with a team that has an average age of 25 coming into the season, seventh youngest in the league.

The Wolves don’t really have a defined closer. DLo has been able to finish off games during most of the regular season. However, when he is taken out of games or has struggled to gain momentum, the ball often doesn't find his hands. KAT usually has a lot of factors that can hold him down, such as foul trouble, defensive matchup, and having to rely on others' ability to set him up.

That leaves Ant, 20, as the player who has the best tools to be a closer on this team. He has a three-level scoring game, something only KAT has. He has the quick first step off the dribble and athleticism that neither DLo nor KAT possesses. Edwards' innate scoring abilities make him the clear favorite to initiate the offense in the future. Despite some misses down the stretch in Game 5, Ant showed the ability to easily get to all three levels and take advantage of matchups.

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While not all of these shots fell, they would have turned the tide of the game if they did. Ant has established himself as this team's best option down the stretch for the future. It’s something the Wolves should lean on significantly for the rest of the series, using the multidimensionality of Ant’s game to open things up for others. He was severely disadvantaged in Game 5 due to his five fouls, making him open up a lot more from the perimeter.

The Wolves have other concerns in addition to finding a closer. They allowed too many offensive rebounds and committed careless fouls and turnovers. But being able to make a couple more shots in clutch time when you already had a double-digit lead should push this team over the edge.

It would give them more room for error. When the Wolves let the opponent come back into the game, they have to execute decently from the offensive end, and they’d still win most games.

Minnesota would have won this series if they had executed better at the end of Games 3 and 5. However, they must process the end of both games and improve. They need to diagnose how these games fell apart possession by possession. The reason why the Wolves had to hit on all cylinders to finish? They gave up too much on defense in the last seven-plus minutes of the game

The hope is that the Wolves build upon this and execute better in Games 6 and 7. At worst, they take it into the next season after another year of development. Most of Minnesota’s players haven’t been to the playoffs before. Chris Finch has only been an NBA coach for a year and a half. But a team can only claim they’re in a learning phase for so long. Eventually, you have to answer the call.