Chris Finch was concerned about how his Timberwolves would handle back-to-back games coming off a road trip — and doing it against one of the NBA’s hottest teams Saturday night at Target Center.
The Timberwolves were coming off an emotionally charged victory Friday, the Cleveland Cavaliers off a rare loss Thursday.
“We’ve got to find ways to keep getting better,” said center Rudy Gobert, who finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds. “This was also a game I think where we were a bit fatigued in the second half. We can’t be focusing on that. We got to still be able to play through fatigue.”
Julius Randle, who finished one assist shy of a triple-double with 20 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists, has liked how the Wolves (22-20) are looking offensively, but they were outrebounded 19-8 and outscored 29-19 in the third quarter.
“We’re scoring a lot of points,” Randle said. “But we just have to do a better job of cleaning it up. We kind of let their movement take us out of position on the rebounds.”
The Cavaliers (35-6) showed up at the end of a three-game road swing exuding the same “youthful spirit” that was part of the team’s identity during its surprising start this season, Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson noticed in morning shootaround.
Anthony Edwards had a team-high 28 points, but he didn’t appear to have the same juice after an 11-point first-quarter performance that made him the third-youngest player in NBA history to reach 8,000 points. The other two players were LeBron James and Kevin Durant, which put a smile on his face when Edwards watched the graphic pop up on the video board at halftime.
