Recap: Cavs 123, Timberwolves 106 (or, Bulking Up)

The Cavs never wavered in their full-spectrum dominance of this game, and the Timberwolves were far too unfocused and disjointed to mount anything like a sustained comeback. Given that the weather outside of the Target Center in Minneapolis was verging on the Siberian, it is a good thing, then, that this game contained so many interesting facets and more than a few back stories relevant to the larger soap opera that is the NBA.

The most obviously novel aspect of the game centered around Cleveland’s second unit, which rolled out Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio as teammates at the Target Center for the first time since 2014. All of CtB’s highly engaged readers will of course already be marking their calendars to mark various anniversaries of Koby Altman’s trade trigger on August 3, 2021, which sent Taurean Prince, a second-round pick, and cash to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Ricky Rubio and his $19 million contract. (Prince’s three-point percentage, once impressive at 41.5% with the Cavs, has fallen to 30% in Minnesota; Prince was on the floor for a mere 11 minutes in this game, ending with nine points and not a lot else.) Rubio discussed his and KLove’s back-in-the-day runs at the Lakers with Cavs publicists and it’s worth a read.

A second back story was the Rookie of the Year contest, where Evan Mobley again took a big step forward in his campaign for that award, putting up an efficient stat line of 11 points on 4-6 shooting, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks in 24 minutes of action. He also had two turnovers and an uncharacteristically high (for him) four fouls. Who, you might ask yourself, is the Timberwolves candidate in the Rookie of the Year campaign this year? The answer is no one — they traded their 2021 first-round pick to Golden State as part of the deal for the high-volume shooter D’Angelo Russell, who sat this game out with an ankle injury. How nice it is to play a game against a team whose recent history and management is more dysfunctional than your own.

A third back story involves two NBA sophomores hailing from greater Atlanta — the Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards vs. the Cavs’ Isaac Okoro. These two are the same age, and have been battling it out since their high school days. Okoro came out on top in this contest, putting up an impressive 16 points (on 7-10 shooting) in a very complete and confident game showcasing his many facets as a defender and offensive threat. Edwards ended with 13 points on 6-17 shooting (1-8 from three), 2 assists and 3 turnovers.

First Quarter

Markkanen, Okoro, and Allen drove an initial push that rapidly pushed the margin to 20-4. Vaunted Timberwolves big man Karl Anthony-Towns was either ill-prepared or not in the mood to offer resistance to the Garland-Allen alley-oop threat. Apart from a rare chasedown block on Mobley, Towns was a doormat on defense and was consistently a step slow.

The Timberwolves tried toggling their lineup, inserting Malik Beasley early, and while Beasley hit a few shots and Minnesota’s ball pressure picked up (via Jaden McDaniels and Leantro Bolmaro), they were already down 15 and Cleveland looked like a steamroller. Patrick Beverley wasn’t making much of a difference either; his strongest take to the hoop was swatted by Jarrett Allen.

J.B. stuck with Okoro for the first nine minutes of the quarter, and he did a lot of damage, tallying nine points and keeping Anthony Edwards contained.

Second Quarter

Virtually every time the Timberwolves came out of a timeout or opened a quarter, they made a miscue, and this quarter was no exception. Naz Reid, an undrafted big man from Louisiana State University who the Wolves had been developing on their Iowa G-League team, opened up with an airball three-point attempt. He was joined by three other reserves and Anthony Edwards. The Cavs proceeded to swat a lot of shots — Mobley block, Mobley block, Love block — leading to fast break points.

Towns came back in and promptly was whistled for his third foul. (He was lucky not to be whistled for his fourth in closing out on a Garland three-pointer.) Taurean Prince continued to ride the pine for the whole quarter, proving again that the Cavs won the Rubio trade.

There was a nice duel between Rubio and the Argentinian Leandro Bolmaro, who gave the Wolves a burst of energy if nothing else. Bolmaro, like Rubio, played a few years for FC Barcelona before making the transatlantic jump, and was the 23rd pick in the 2021 draft; traded from New York to Minnesota, he signed a four-year deal with the Wolves for an affordable $11.8 million. Bolmaro made things interesting in the mid-court battles for possession, but ultimately he and his teammates were bested by Rubio and Cedi Osman. Cedi had two quick steals in the quarter and assured that the Timberwolves would have the halftime margin stretched to 21 points.

Almost comic in its effect was a J.B. Bickerstaff timeout as the Timberwolves made a mini-run to close the gap to 44-25. Markkanen continued his quiet pulverizing of the Timberwolves as he dropped in another couple of triples and picked up another steal. The Timberwolves couldn’t recoup much from this quarter, other than a solitary possession in which Malik Beasley was finally able to stop Darius Garland.

The fans at the Target Center were still reveling in the simple fact of not being outside, having a few hours in which Minnesota Vikings late-game collapses were not on their minds. They also appeared to enjoy laying eyes upon “the greatest trophy in sports,” which of course is Paul Bunyan’s Axe, an icon tossed back and forth between the winners of the Big Ten football annual contest between the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers. Somewhere in the arena, Austin Carr was wondering why the Cavs weren’t burying the Timberwolves by forty and a little concerned the home team hadn’t yet been put away.

Third Quarter

Kevin Love kept grinding away in this quarter and carved his initials on the win. While he went 1-3 from three, the former Timberwolf got to the line often (going 7-7 from the stripe), ripped down four defensive rebounds, had some signature passes, and even left the paint for an into-the-seats closeout on Naz Reid. As for his free-throws, drawing a foul on a three point attempt is an artform of sorts, and Love showed he was still a master of his craft.

Patrick Beverley is not the kind of person who appears to require sympathy, but he did put out a lot of effort into stopping the Cavs. He managed to disrupt an inbounds pass from Mobley in the backcourt, jawed with J.B., and keyed another mini-run for the Wolves. Unfortunately this was the equivalent of howling at a Burlington Northern locomotive since Beverley was promptly posterized by Markkanen. Okoro and Garland both blew by the chatterbox would-be defender with ease.

Mobley seems to have figured out that about half of Okoro’s three point misses skip out straight on into the weak side, and coralled one nicely. Okoro had a massive block on his old rival Anthony Edwards, then followed it with a thrilling and-one on a Taurean Prince contest. (Showing attention to detail, Okoro would sink the free throw.)

Malik Beasley started to find some success by probing into the middle of the Cavs zone for floaters, but it was too late as Dean Wade entered the game to provide more defensive length with about three minutes left in the quarter. Love kept hustling, running full court to to clear out miscellaneous Minnesota limbs and bodies so that Jarrett Allen could snaffle up more rebounds. Love would end the game with 13 boards, Allen with 10.

Fourth Quarter

Garland ended the night early with 12 points and 12 assists, completing another masterpiece with an utterly secure catch-and-shoot corner three. Love put the game away further with a three, stout defense, and another touchdown pass to Cedi Osman, making it an academic exercise at 104-76.

Another Minnesota gaffe on an out of timeout led a turnover, a Cedi deja vu breakaway lay in, and another Cedi three. Is there anyone in the Association playing better basketball at the beginning of fourth quarters than Cedi Osman? He went 4-5 in six minutes of action in the period with an assist and a steal. Love and Towns traded long baseline twos and Allen dunked emphatically over Towns.

It was garbage time early in snowy Minneapolis, and J.B. cleared the bench with 5:22 to go. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch left most of his starters in for a couple more minutes in an effort to make the margin less egregious, but Kevin Pangos (2-4 for five points) keyed the Cleveland reserves to a tolerable -11 in their minutes. Dylan Windler did not make an appearance as he’s back on a G-League stint, but Tacko Fall loomed large and kept Ed Davis rested.

One can only hope there will again will be some garbage time action against Sacramento, although who knows? The Kings are about as mercurial as the Wolves, and, as Damon Jones once explained to me as we boarded a flight to China, “anything can happen.” The Cavs will meet the Timberwolves again this season on March 1, in Cleveland.