Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Clippers
Date: March eleventh, 2026
Time: 9:30 PM CDT
Location: Aspiration Dome
Television Coverage: FanDuel Sports Network – North
Radio Coverage: KFAN FM, Wolves App, iHeart Radio
It’s a humorous factor about ladders.
They take ceaselessly to climb. You’re cautious with each step. You grip the edges, really feel your approach upward, and slowly acquire floor. But all it takes is the tiniest misstep, one foot slipping, one free rung, and all of the sudden you’re tumbling down quicker than you ever climbed.
That’s precisely what occurred to the Minnesota Timberwolves final evening.
After spending the higher a part of two weeks clawing their approach up the Western Conference standings to assert the three seed, the Wolves managed to fall two rungs down the ladder in a single ugly evening in Los Angeles. Their loss to the Lakers, punctuated by a disastrous third quarter, despatched Minnesota plummeting to the fifth spot within the standings, a reminder of simply how fragile life is within the Western Conference playoff race.
And this wasn’t a kind of losses the place you shrug and say, “Well, Luka had one of those nights.” This was a nasty sport. Across the board.
The Wolves shot 25 % from three-level vary, which by some means managed to barely eclipse the capturing catastrophe they placed on show in opposition to the Orlando Magic on Saturday. Anthony Edwards, who has carried the crew offensively for a lot of the season, had one among his roughest nights of the 12 months, ending 1-for-10 from deep and getting fully overshadowed by Luka Doncic and, so as to add insult to damage, Austin Reaves.
But when you’re tempted to pin the entire thing on Edwards, don’t. His teammates didn’t precisely come driving in with cavalry help.
The Lakers Beat the Wolves at Their Own Game
Rudy Gobert had a nightmare matchup within the paint, getting outhustled and outworked by Deandre Ayton, who seemed just like the dominant massive man Gobert was imagined to be on this sport. For Wolves followers who bear in mind Gobert completely demolishing the Lakers’ frontcourt throughout Game 5 of final 12 months’s playoff sequence, watching him wrestle like that was… unsettling. Naz Reid and Julius Randle didn’t provide a lot resistance both.
Meanwhile, the Lakers did precisely what good groups do once they scent weak point: they attacked the rim relentlessly. Minnesota’s perimeter protection cracked open once more, permitting a parade of drives into the paint. When the Wolves tried to break down the protection to assist, the ball kicked out for open appears.
It was the precise script we’ve seen too usually not too long ago. Minnesota struggled to generate high quality offense whereas making it far too simple for his or her opponent to attain. Every Wolves basket felt like climbing uphill. Every Lakers possession felt like a quick break. By the time the mud settled, the Wolves had been run out of the constructing.
The Most Alarming Stat of the Season
Here’s the quantity that ought to make Wolves followers uncomfortable. Against the Lakers, Rockets, and Nuggets, the groups Minnesota is instantly competing with within the crowded 3-by way of-6 standings race, the Wolves are actually a mixed 1–7 this season.
Those aren’t simply random defeats. Those are the video games that decide tiebreakers. Those are the video games that determine playoff seeding. Those are the video games you completely can not afford to maintain dropping when you’re critical about holding the three seed.
And but Minnesota has persistently dropped them. The Wolves are basically handing away leverage within the standings whereas giving their direct opponents the precise benefit they’ll want in April.
That raises an uncomfortable query. If Minnesota can’t beat these groups within the common season, what occurs once they meet them in a seven-sport playoff sequence? Because barring a significant collapse, the Wolves will discover themselves enjoying in both the three vs. 6 or 4 vs. 5 matchup.
And the groups occupying these spots? Houston. Denver. Los Angeles.
The identical groups Minnesota retains dropping to.
After getting embarrassed by the Lakers, the Wolves now face the Clippers on the second evening of a again-to-again. If anybody thinks Minnesota is about to waltz into that constructing and seize a straightforward bounce-again win, they haven’t been paying consideration.
The Clippers have already proven they’ll beat the Wolves, decisively, earlier this season. Minnesota did handle to get revenge of their most up-to-date matchup in Los Angeles, however that sport required a considerably higher efficiency than what the Wolves confirmed in opposition to the Lakers.
If Minnesota performs like they did final evening? I’ll undoubtedly flip into one other lengthy night. So if the Wolves need to salvage this street journey earlier than it spirals into one thing worse, they should begin by fixing the basics.
#1 – Run an Actual Offense
It’s simple to say “the Wolves just need to shoot better.” Shooting within the low 20s from three isn’t going to beat anybody on this league, however the larger drawback is the offense itself.
Against each the Magic and the Lakers, Minnesota’s offensive movement fully disappeared. The ball caught. Players stood round. Possessions devolved into isolation makes an attempt or rushed threes late within the shot clock.
When issues go fallacious offensively, the intuition is to ask Anthony Edwards or Julius Randle to throw on the superhero cape and save the day. But that’s not how this crew works at its finest. Minnesota wants 5 gamers engaged within the offense, chopping, transferring, swinging the ball, and forcing the protection to rotate. When the Wolves generate excessive-high quality appears, the pictures often fall.
When the offense turns stagnant? The percentages begin trying like they did the final two video games.
#2 – Reestablish Dominance within the Paint
One of probably the most shocking components of the Lakers loss was Minnesota getting overwhelmed on the boards. That merely can’t occur once more tonight. The Wolves nonetheless have a major dimension benefit in opposition to the Clippers with Gobert, Randle, and Reid. That trio ought to management the glass, restrict second-probability alternatives, and set up a bodily presence within the paint.
Gobert specifically must bounce again. If he can shield the rim and dominate the boards the best way he did in opposition to the Lakers in final 12 months’s playoff sequence, the whole sport flips.
#3 – Fix the Perimeter Defense
Doncic and Reaves completely torched Minnesota. Some of that’s merely the truth of enjoying in opposition to elite shot creators. But too usually the Wolves allowed simple penetration into the paint, which compelled the protection to break down and opened up scoring alternatives everywhere in the ground.
Minnesota must rediscover the perimeter defensive id that outlined the crew two seasons in the past. That means sturdy containment from gamers like Jaden McDaniels, Anthony Edwards, Donte DiVincenzo, and Ayo Dosunmu.
And actually? This may be a sport the place Jaylen Clark deserves some minutes. Clark’s defensive depth has been one of many few brilliant spots when Minnesota has wanted power on the perimeter. With Kyle Anderson now within the rotation, Clark has been pushed deeper down the bench, however in video games the place opposing guards are cooking, a defensive spark may be precisely what the Wolves want.
#4 – Win the Hustle Plays
When pictures aren’t falling, effort turns into the distinction. Rebounding. Transition protection. Loose balls. Avoiding careless turnovers. Those are the performs that preserve video games from spiraling when the offense goes chilly.
The Wolves didn’t make sufficient of these performs in opposition to the Lakers. They’ll must in opposition to the Clippers.
#5 – Make the Game Easier
When issues begin going sideways, the Wolves tend to extend the diploma of issue as a substitute of simplifying.
High-efficiency offense ought to come from gamers like Gobert ending across the rim, McDaniels chopping and attacking closeouts, and Edwards driving to the basket to break down the protection.
Yes, Edwards ought to proceed capturing threes, it’s a core a part of his sport. But the Wolves additionally must get him downhill extra usually. When he assaults the rim, it bends the protection and creates alternatives for everybody else.
The offense has to return to Wolves Basketball 101.
Time to Re-Grip the Ladder
This street journey acquired off to the worst doable begin. The Wolves slipped from the third seed to the fifth. Denver is creeping nearer. The Play-In line isn’t as distant as Minnesota would really like.
But right here’s the factor. They haven’t fallen off the ladder totally.
They’re nonetheless hanging on.
Now it’s time to stabilize, seize the following rung, and begin climbing once more.
Because if the Wolves slip yet another time, the autumn may get loads steeper.
