MINNEAPOLIS_With the score tied in the fourth quarter, Robert Covington waved his arms and got Target Center on his feet. The crowd oohed and ah-ed as Derrick Rose turned in another vintage performance that showcased his daring athleticism, and those that braved the storm got loud, trying to will the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves to a victory over the Boston Celtics.
For a few moments, it seemed the Wolves might do it, but the Celtics showed championship mettle in fending off the Wolves for a 118-109 victory Saturday.
The Wolves erased a 14-point deficit to tie the score 89-89 with 8:48 remaining, only to have the Celtics go on 7-0 run. Then the Wolves pulled within 103-101 with 3:31 to play only to have Boston answer again with six straight points to seal the victory.
Gordon Hayward, who has struggled since returning from a fractured ankle, returned to form for Boston with 30 points while Kyrie Irving added 21, albeit on 6-for-15 shooting.
Rose had 24 to lead the Wolves while Karl-Anthony Towns pitched in 20 and nine rebounds.
The Wolves opened with Covington guarding Irving, and in the first few minutes the Wolves grabbed a 16-9 lead. But after that the Celtics got their drive-and-kick game going, getting open threes and hitting five of their first eight from deep.
The Celtics led 29-26 at the end of the first quarter as the Wolves' bench unit and Covington, a combination that has had great success in the last few games, took the floor to start the second quarter, and the Wolves were able to grab a one-point lead. But the Celtics regained their footing and when the starters came back in halfway through, Boston was in control. With the score tied at 36, Boston went on an 11-2 run highlighted by a pair of threes from Marcus Morris and a three-point play from Irving. Boston led by as many as 13 and took a 57-48 lead into the half. In a sign that the energy may have been a little weird in the Target Center for the Wolves, Taj Gibson missed all four of his free-throw attempts while Covington, Andrew Wiggins and Towns all finished the half 2-for-6. The Wolves were also called for six traveling violations, a rarity in the NBA.
But a half like that has been a rarity for the Wolves over the last week. The Wolves have looked like a different team since trading Jimmy Butler to the 76ers and getting Covington and Dario Saric into the rotation. A big factor in this is the communication that is going on between players. Covington, a first-team defensive player, has been a vocal presence from the start, and hasn't been afraid to tell players when they can do things better.
This was a major complaint of Butler after a Nov. 9 loss in Sacramento, the night before he was traded. It was a sentiment veteran Rose echoed _ the team couldn't handle criticism.
Rose said that aspect of the Wolves was still a work in progress and that he also had to be one of the players on the team who was a vocal presence.
"At this stage in my life and my career, that's what I'm here for, to be able to express how I feel, express what guys want to say but don't say it," Rose said. "It's easy for me to communicate with people. They listen to me. I guess they trust me and believe in me ... I'm the one that's coming to them and telling them what everybody wants to tell them."
That was especially true with Towns, Rose said.
"KAT gets the ball and he makes a crazy pass, I say, 'Hey I got you guys, I'll curse him out for you,' " Rose said. "Everybody is scared to say something to him, but the relationship we have, I tell him what I see, I try to be honest and he laughs it off most of the time. He knows that I'm here for the betterment of the team."
The trade has given the Wolves a better mixture in the locker room and on the floor, with multiple Wolves saying the team is playing more "freely" since the trade.
Saturday's game looked more burdensome than most Wolves games of late. Perhaps the Celtics had something to do with that. They kept the Wolves at arms' length throughout the third quarter and answered each Wolves run in the fourth. The difference in this loss for fans was that there was genuine hope the Wolves might pull it out. That wasn't always the case before the trade.
