Minnesota Timberwolves are embarrassing without Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Butler has been out sick and the Minnesota Timberwolves have made their fans sick in the two games without him.
The NBA season is barely a week old. We shouldn’t be able to be so mad about how things are going but the Minnesota Timberwolves are making it hard to be happy. Heck, contentment can’t currently be found really for any Timberwolves observer as the team has looked downright embarrassing the last two games.
Jimmy Butler has missed the last two games with an upper respiratory illness and he apparently took all of his teammates’ will, energy, desire and skill with him. The Wolves played back-to-back games on Tuesday and Wednesday and lost both contests by more than a trio of touchdowns. Of course, both teams are teams the Timberwolves should have beat.
Tuesday saw the Timberwolves lose to an anonymous Indiana Pacers team at home by a score of 130-107. The Pacers will have to fight to make the playoffs in the incredibly weak Eastern Conference.
Wednesday saw the Wolves take on the Detroit Pistons in Michigan. The Pistons are a better team and the Wolves were on the road, so it’d be a tougher game but you’d think the Wolves would have something to prove after being embarrassed the night before. We thought wrong, apparently. The Wolves lost to the Pistons 122-101.
Obviously, Jimmy Butler is an important part of the team but his absence shouldn’t revert the team back to horribleness. It sure feels like it did.
We all felt good about the Timberwolves after they fought to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder at the buzzer on Sunday night. It looked like this team was ready to fight. Andrew Wiggins, the hero of the first games of the season and the game winning shot taker against the Thunder, followed up all that fight with a seven point outing against the Pacers.
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Defense has also apparently become optional without Butler, too. It’s sad to see the Wolves allow non-explosive offenses to light them up.
The home crowd booed the team during Tuesday’s game at Target Center and for good reason. This team should be downright embarrassed by the two games they’ve played this week.
It was going to take a lot for the Timberwolves to ruin the high that came from a buzzer-beater win over the Thunder and the Wolves managed to do that in just over three business days.
Blowouts will happen from time to time in the NBA, that’s the nature of an 82 game season. Having blowouts in back-to-back games against lesser opponents, well, that should never happen. Heck, some sort of pulse would have been nice to see in Detroit but the Wolves were DOA. Hopefully the Wolves season as a whole isn’t DOA, too.
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The Wolves will try to look like a professional outfit in a rematch against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday from Target Center. Tip is set for 7:00. Cross your fingers that Jimmy Butler plays otherwise, well, you saw what happened against Indiana and Detroit.