Minnesota Timberwolves pick up OT road win; 3 takeaways

3. Closing out games

This is one area where, to put it nicely, the Minnesota Timberwolves need help. They scored an average of 34 points over the first two quarters and just 19.7 across the final three. They averaged 23.5 points in the third and fourth quarter.

Even with the fact that overtime is just an extra five minutes, the Timberwolves still averaged 2.7 points over the first 26 minutes and only 2.2 over the final 26 minutes.

This lack of late-game efficiency can and will become a problem for the Timberwolves down the line. After leading by 12 at halftime, Minnesota allowed Brooklyn to take a five-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Compare those numbers with the other three teams that went into overtime so far in the season, the New Orleans Pelicans, the Toronto Raptors, and of course, the Nets, and we see that the Wolves still have a long way to go.

The Pelicans averaged 30.5 points across the first half of their game, and 10.1 across the last three quarters, but they lost by eight to the Raptors. Toronto, on the other hand, averaged 28 points in the first half of regulation and 24.6 across the last three quarters, a much more consistent number than that of Minnesota.

If the Timberwolves continue to play at that level, there is no way they will beat the upper teams in the West.

Even fans should be happy about the win in Brooklyn, the way Minnesota played still shows that there is a lot of work to be done before they can be considered a playoff contender, or even just a regular threat in the NBA.