Monday NBA Roundup: Expectations Dog Developing Timberwolves, Even in Victory

It says a lot about the Minnesota Timberwolves when a win somehow doesn't feel like it matters.

And it says even more about our collective expectations of where they're supposed to be as a franchise. Despite its remarkable youth, a new head coach and last year's 29-win season, it seems as though Minnesota is underachieving in an unforgivable way, squandering its skill and failing to deliver on the promise that arrived with Karl-Anthony Towns and quintupled (rough estimate) with Tom Thibodeau's arrival.

The Wolves beat the Phoenix Suns 115-108 on Monday, staving off exactly the kind of comeback that tends to get completed against them while flashing the requisite promise of their considerable young talent.

Andrew Wiggins Eurostepped through traffic to complete a buzzer-beater early and rang up buckets in bunches late, making eight of his 11 field goals after halftime:

Zach LaVine got loose in the open floor like he always does, and Towns pumped in 28 points and 15 boards while registering his typical highlights inside and out:

Combined, the Timberwolves' unseasoned trio scored 77 of the club's 115 points while generally controlling the action.

Rookie Kris Dunn even bounced around chaotically—sometimes to positive results:

Normally, seeing so many youthful pieces doing so many impactful things during a win would be cause for unfettered excitement. But this Timberwolves team isn't at a point where beating the Suns at home means anything. Because although Phoenix is similarly young, it doesn't share any of the pangs of unfulfilled potential that haunt Minnesota.

The Suns are young and bad through and through. The Wolves are something different.

So this wasn't a back-patting result for Tom Thibodeau's team. It wasn't a learning experience. It wasn't even notable as a signal of resilience after blowing a 12-point lead during the final couple of minutes against the Houston Rockets on Saturday.

In fact, it's precisely those collapses against quality opponents (and some bad ones, too) that have defined the Timberwolves and set the parameters for a successful performance. Minnesota gets outscored by 20.4 points per 100 possessions in third quarters this season, a rate that ranks 29th in the NBA. During fourth quarters, the average deficit is 6.2 points per 100 possessions—better, but still just 25th in the league.

Until they adjust those numbers toward the positive and do it against serious opponents, it's going to feel like the Timberwolves aren't accomplishing anything. We don't just want wins from this group. We want fast-tracked progress, a rung-skipping vault up the standings ladder. And we want it now.

This isn't about whether that's reasonable. It's just an acknowledgement that the standards are skewed.

Minnesota is obscenely talented, and Thibodeau's a proven winner who gets every team to defend. But the Wolves are also led by a trio of 21-year-olds.

Fair or not, we tend to forget that last part.

The Time for Talk Has Passed

Randy Belice/Getty Images

This is why you can't go straight to the players-only meeting.

You've got to build up to it. Have some quiet, reflective bus rides. Camaraderie-building bowling trips. Extra-long film sessions. Anything but the players-only meeting until it's absolutely, unequivocally necessary.

That's because when you have POM, like the Detroit Pistons did after Saturday's loss to address Reggie Jackson's role in the offense, what do you do when you fall behind 69-34 at halftime the very next time you play?!

That's where Detroit found itself Monday, down by 35 at the break against a Chicago Bulls team that had lost three in a row in its own right. The final margin: 113-82.

Rod Beard of the Detroit News didn't see much to indicate the meeting helped:

The Pistons, having exhausted the typical recourse for situations like this, now have a handful of options available:

They can collectively agree the last gathering never happened and just do it again; they can hold a no-players-allowed meeting where the coaches stand around and yell at the equipment managers; they could fire/cut/exile everyone on the roster and coaching staff; or they could just agree to hold each other, cry a little, burn the tape of this one and move on.

The Jackson issue is real. Detroit's offensive rating of 103.5 before he returned on Dec. 4 wasn't great, but it was better than the team's overall figure of 103.3 last year, when he started 79 games.

But since he's been back, the Pistons have put up just 100.2 points per 100 possessions. Of course, Detroit scored 6.4 more points per 100 possessions with Jackson on the court last year, so whatever issues the roster has with his pick-and-roll ball dominance are hard to support statistically.

It's of particular concern that the roster is struggling to adjust to Jackson—a guy whose personality in Oklahoma City had a lot to do with him winding up in Detroit. Despite all this, the Pistons aren’t facing some kind extinction-level event after a loss like this.

That defense, anchored by Stan Van Gundy's years of experience, and that talented core suggest this team's trajectory should still be headed upward. Maybe this is just one of those valuable chances to build character.

No more meetings, though.

Also: Stan. Van. Gundy.

Beast.

Westbrook Buries Leads

We can all agree Russell Westbrook is doing amazing things, but we need to be careful about getting caught up in his numbers and letting them wrongfully overshadow the real stories.

Example: Russ took 33 of his team's 87 shots, scored 46 points, grabbed 11 boards and distributed seven assists.

But Paul Millsap started at center against Steven Adams, put up 30 points on 18 shots and hit the game-winner in the Atlanta Hawks' 110-108 win at the Oklahoma City Thunder.

While it's true the Westbrook discussion is fascinating and requires ample nuance (maybe his stats mean he's a superhero, maybe they mean his team is woefully understaffed or maybe they mean he's not making anyone better), sometimes, we need to remember he's not the only thing worth discussing.

Paul Millsap paid me $20 to write this.

Thaddeus Young Puts Indy In the Black

Paul George hit four jumpers in the span of two minutes and 30 seconds during the fourth quarter to help the Indiana Pacers stave off the Washington Wizards, and then Thaddeus Young finished the 107-105 win.

You know, just like you draw it up.

Washington nearly stole this one, outscoring Indiana 26-19 in the fourth quarter, and would have gone ahead 106-105 if Bradley Beal's shoes were slightly smaller:

But the Pacers, now over .500 for the first time since they were 1-0 after an opening-night win, will take it.

The upcoming stretch will go a long way toward determining how trustworthy Indy's winning record is. Between now and Dec. 30, the Pacers will see a slate of middling East teams: the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Wizards and Bulls again.

Those opponents look like peers right now (except maybe for Boston), but Indiana has a chance to prove it belongs on a level above that group. Or, if things go badly, a level below.

Monday's Final Scores

• Chicago Bulls 113, Detroit Pistons 82
• Indiana Pacers 107, Washington Wizards 105
• Minnesota Timberwolves 115, Phoenix Suns 108
• Denver Nuggets 117, Dallas Mavericks 107
• Atlanta Hawks, 110, Oklahoma City Thunder 108

Follow Grant on Twitter @gt_hughes and Facebook.

Stats courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise indicated. Accurate through games played Monday, Dec. 19.