Game ID: 22301178
Atlanta Hawks @ Minnesota Timberwolves
Friday, April 12, 2024 at 8:00 PM ET
Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
MIN 25 31 24 29 109ATL 27 20 33 26 106
ATL @ MIN ScoutingATL @ MIN Scouting
Welcome to the scouting desk. The coffee is cold, the film is play-by-play, and somebody has to explain what happened.
Every game has a hinge — a stretch where it was decided, usually while everyone was watching something else. Start where the evidence lives: the Lineups' face-offs say which five actually won their minutes; the Possessions ledger says who ran ahead of the night's own pace; the Shot Chart says where the points really came from, which is rarely where the highlights were. When all three agree, that is the story. When they don't — that is why this desk has a chair.
MIN availability going into 4/05 · 1 day's restOUT Towns missed 14 since 3/07, out tonight
NEW Reid 24 to 31 min over the last 5
MIN availability going into 4/07 · 1 day's restOUT Towns missed 15 since 3/07, out tonight
NEW Reid 24 to 31 min over the last 5
MIN availability going into 4/09 · 1 day's restOUT Towns missed 16 since 3/07, out tonight
NEW Reid 24 to 32 min over the last 5
MIN availability going into 4/10 · back-to-backOUT Towns missed 17 since 3/07, out tonight
NEW McLaughlin 11 to 17 min over the last 5
MIN availability going into 4/12 · 1 day's restOUT Towns missed 18 since 3/07, returns tonight: 28 min (84% of 33)
NEW McLaughlin 11 to 16 min over the last 5
MIN availability going into 4/14 · 1 day's restBACK Towns back 4/12 after 18, 28 min since (84% of 33)
MIN availability going into 4/20 · 5 days' restBACK Towns back 4/12 after 18, 28 min since (87% of 33)
MIN availability going into 4/23 · 2 days' restBACK Towns back 4/12 after 18, 28 min since (85% of 33)
MIN availability going into 4/26 · 2 days' restBACK Towns back 4/12 after 18, 27 min since (82% of 33)
ATL availability going into 4/04 · back-to-backOUT Young missed 20 since 2/25, out tonight
OUT Windler missed 2 since 4/01, out tonight
OUT Gueye missed 72 since 11/01, out tonight
OUT Forrest missed 2 since 4/01, out tonight
BACK Johnson back 4/01 after 6, 31 min since (92% of 34)
BACK Bufkin back 4/01 after 14, 15 min since (130% of 12)
NEW Bogdanović 30 to 37 min over the last 5
NEW Hunter 30 to 35 min over the last 5
NEW Fernando 15 to 20 min over the last 5
NEW Matthews 12 to 17 min over the last 3
ATL availability going into 4/06 · 1 day's restOUT Young missed 21 since 2/25, out tonight
OUT Windler missed 3 since 4/01, out tonight
OUT Gueye missed 73 since 11/01, returns tonight: 4 min (31% of 12)
OUT Forrest missed 3 since 4/01, out tonight
BACK Johnson back 4/01 after 6, 33 min since (97% of 34)
BACK Bufkin back 4/01 after 14, 14 min since (123% of 12)
NEW Bogdanović 30 to 37 min over the last 5
NEW Hunter 30 to 36 min over the last 5
ATL availability going into 4/09 · 2 days' restOUT Young missed 22 since 2/25, out tonight
OUT Windler missed 4 since 4/01, out tonight
OUT Forrest missed 4 since 4/01, out tonight
BACK Johnson back 4/01 after 6, 33 min since (98% of 34)
BACK Gueye back 4/06 after 73, 4 min since (31% of 12)
BACK Bufkin back 4/01 after 14, 14 min since (122% of 12)
ATL availability going into 4/10 · back-to-backOUT Young missed 23 since 2/25, returns tonight: 21 min (57% of 36)
OUT Windler missed 5 since 4/01, returns tonight: 26 min (216% of 12)
OUT Forrest missed 5 since 4/01, returns tonight: 20 min (183% of 11)
BACK Johnson back 4/01 after 6, 31 min since (92% of 34)
BACK Gueye back 4/06 after 73, 4 min since (31% of 12)
BACK Bufkin back 4/01 after 14, 13 min since (116% of 12)
NEW Bogdanović 30 to 36 min over the last 5
NEW Hunter 30 to 36 min over the last 5
ATL availability going into 4/12 · 1 day's restBACK Young back 4/10 after 23, 21 min since (57% of 36)
BACK Windler back 4/10 after 5, 26 min since (216% of 12)
BACK Gueye back 4/06 after 73, 10 min since (86% of 12)
BACK Forrest back 4/10 after 5, 20 min since (183% of 11)
NEW Hunter 30 to 37 min over the last 4
NEW Mathews 15 to 21 min over the last 5
ATL availability going into 4/14 · 1 day's restBACK Young back 4/10 after 23, 24 min since (67% of 36)
BACK Windler back 4/10 after 5, 26 min since (216% of 12)
BACK Gueye back 4/06 after 73, 14 min since (115% of 12)
BACK Forrest back 4/10 after 5, 20 min since (183% of 11)
NEW Fernando 15 to 21 min over the last 5
NEW Mathews 15 to 22 min over the last 5
I Know — the desk, before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
Minnesota comes in 3-2 over its last five, scoring 117 a night and allowing 107, shooting 48 percent and 42 from three, 21 free throws a game; Edwards at 29 and Reid at 16 a game. Without Towns (18 straight). One day's rest. Atlanta comes in 1-4 over its last five, scoring 110 a night and allowing 119, shooting 46 percent and 33 from three, 19 free throws a game; Murray at 21 and Hunter at 20 a game. That is 4 straight losses. It has won the glass by 5 a night. One day's rest.
So: Minnesota wins, and the game turns on the arc, Minnesota at 42 percent from three to Atlanta's 33 and the defense, Minnesota allowing 107 a night to Atlanta's 119. Call it Minnesota 119, Atlanta 109, Minnesota by 10.
4/05 @ PHX 87-97 — MIN notes
MIN lost 87-97. MIN took 9 more shots (85 to 76), but shot 39% to PHX's 43%, 10 of 29 from three, and got to the line 14 times to PHX's 29. Edwards led with 17 (6 of 19, 2 of 6 from three); Alexander-Walker added 13. Q4 was theirs, 26-20, the deficit cut from 16 to 10, but the other 3 periods went 77-61 against them. Conley's -27 in 25 minutes was the worst on the floor.
4/07 @ LAL 127-117 — MIN notes
MIN won 127-117. MIN shot 52% (50 of 97) to LAL's 46%, 15 of 39 from three, and got to the line 14 times to LAL's 32. Reid led with 31 (12 of 16, 6 of 8 from three); Edwards added 26, Gobert 18. The hinge was Q2, 46-27: MIN came in trailing by 4 and left it ahead by 15, and the lead reached 20. Conley was the night's best plus/minus at +14.
4/09 vs WAS 130-121 — MIN notes
MIN won 130-121. MIN shot 48% (43 of 90) to WAS's 49%, 18 of 41 from three, and went to the line 32 times to WAS's 17 — 26 points from the stripe to their 13. MIN turned it over 8 times to WAS's 13. Edwards led with 51 (17 of 29, 6 of 13 from three, 11 of 11 at the line); Alexander-Walker added 23, Gobert 19. The hinge was Q3, 39-24: MIN came in trailing by 10 and left it ahead by 5, and the lead reached 15. MIN trailed 60-70 at the half and won the second half 70-51. Alexander-Walker was the night's best plus/minus at +27.
4/10 @ DEN 107-116 — MIN notes
MIN lost 107-116. MIN shot 50% (41 of 82) to DEN's 55%, 13 of 30 from three. Edwards led with 25 (9 of 18, 2 of 6 from three, 5 of 7 at the line); Conley added 19, Gobert 13. Q1 was theirs, 28-26, but the other 3 periods went 90-79 against them. Gobert's -17 in 39 minutes was the worst on the floor.
4/12 vs ATL 109-106 — MIN notes
MIN won 109-106. MIN shot 48% (38 of 79) to ATL's 44%, 10 of 37 from three. Gobert led with 25 (10 of 10, 5 of 8 at the line); Reid added 19, Edwards 14. The hinge was Q2, 31-20: MIN came in trailing by 2 and left it ahead by 9, and the lead reached 17.
4/14 vs PHX — I Know, the desk before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
Minnesota comes in 3-2 over its last five, scoring 112 a night and allowing 111, shooting 47 percent and 38 from three, 22 free throws a game; Edwards at 27 and Gobert at 16 a game. One day's rest. Phoenix comes in 3-2 over its last five, scoring 105 a night and allowing 104, shooting 44 percent and 34 from three, 21 free throws a game; Durant at 24 and Beal at 22 a game. One day's rest.
So: Minnesota wins, and the game turns on the defense, Phoenix allowing 104 a night to Minnesota's 111. Call it Minnesota 112, Phoenix 108, Phoenix keeping it close.
4/20 vs PHX — I Know, the desk before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
Minnesota comes in 3-2 over its last five, scoring 116 a night and allowing 117, shooting 50 percent and 38 from three, 25 free throws a game; Edwards at 26 and Gobert at 19 a game. 5 days' rest. Phoenix comes in 3-2 over its last five, scoring 111 a night and allowing 108, shooting 47 percent and 37 from three, 18 free throws a game; Beal at 27 and Booker at 24 a game. That is 3 straight wins. It has lost the glass by 5 a night. 5 days' rest.
So: Minnesota wins, and the game turns on the defense, Phoenix allowing 108 a night to Minnesota's 117 and the glass, where Minnesota has been plus-1 a night and Phoenix minus-5. Call it Minnesota 114, Phoenix 111, Phoenix keeping it close.
4/23 vs PHX — I Know, the desk before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
Minnesota comes in 3-2 over its last five, scoring 114 a night and allowing 113, shooting 49 percent and 37 from three, 27 free throws a game; Edwards at 27 and Gobert at 18 a game. It has won the glass by 5 a night. 2 days' rest. Phoenix comes in 3-2 over its last five, scoring 109 a night and allowing 109, shooting 47 percent and 36 from three, 21 free throws a game; Durant at 24 and Beal at 23 a game. It has lost the glass by 9 a night. 2 days' rest.
So: Minnesota wins, and the game turns on the glass, where Minnesota has been plus-5 a night and Phoenix minus-9 and the line, where Minnesota takes 27 free throws a game to Phoenix's 21. Call it Minnesota 114, Phoenix 109.
4/26 @ PHX — I Know, the desk before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
Phoenix comes in 3-2 over its last five, scoring 109 a night and allowing 109, shooting 49 percent and 39 from three, 19 free throws a game; Booker at 24 and Durant at 23 a game. 2 days' rest. Minnesota comes in 3-2 over its last five, scoring 109 a night and allowing 107, shooting 49 percent and 34 from three, 27 free throws a game; Edwards at 20 and Gobert at 18 a game. It has won the glass by 4 a night. 2 days' rest.
So: Phoenix wins, and the game turns on the glass, where Minnesota has been plus-4 a night and Phoenix minus-3 and the line, where Minnesota takes 27 free throws a game to Phoenix's 19. Call it Phoenix 111, Minnesota 110, Minnesota keeping it close.
4/04 @ DAL 95-109 — ATL notes
ATL lost 95-109. ATL shot 40% (34 of 85) to DAL's 40%, 13 of 38 from three. ATL turned it over 21 times to DAL's 14. Bogdanović led with 17 (6 of 15, 3 of 10 from three); Murray added 16, Mathews 14. Q1 was theirs, 31-25, but the other 3 periods went 84-64 against them. Capela's -25 in 29 minutes was the worst on the floor.
4/06 @ DEN 110-142 — ATL notes
ATL lost 110-142. ATL shot 43% (37 of 87) to DEN's 60%, 12 of 37 from three, and went to the line 29 times to DEN's 16 — 24 points from the stripe to their 13. Capela led with 19 (5 of 6, 9 of 12 at the line); Bogdanović added 18, Hunter 18. Q2 was theirs, 30-36, but the other 3 periods went 106-80 against them. Mathews's -29 in 19 minutes was the worst on the floor.
4/09 vs MIA 111-117 — ATL notes
ATL lost 111-117 in 2 overtimes. ATL took 25 more shots (113 to 88), fed by 17 offensive rebounds, but shot 40% to MIA's 48%, 10 of 46 from three, and got to the line 14 times to MIA's 21. The glass went 59-46 for them. Murray led with 29 (12 of 31, 3 of 12 from three); Hunter added 23, Johnson 13. Q3 was theirs, 33-21, the deficit cut from 12 to 0, but the other 5 periods went 96-78 against them. Bogdanović's -22 in 45 minutes was the worst on the floor.
4/10 vs CHA 114-115 — ATL notes
ATL lost 114-115. ATL shot 52% (43 of 82) to CHA's 51%, 18 of 40 from three, and got to the line 16 times to CHA's 22. Krejčí led with 19 (8 of 14, 3 of 8 from three); Bogdanović added 19, Capela 15. Q3 was theirs, 31-22, but the other 3 periods went 93-83 against them. They led by as many as 18. Windler's -20 in 26 minutes was the worst on the floor.
4/12 @ MIN 106-109 — ATL notes
ATL lost 106-109. ATL took 11 more shots (90 to 79), but shot 44% to MIN's 48%, 9 of 30 from three. Young led with 19 (6 of 12, 3 of 7 from three, 4 of 6 at the line); Bogdanović added 17, Hunter 15. Q3 was theirs, 33-24, the deficit cut from 9 to 0, but the other 3 periods went 85-73 against them.
4/14 @ IND — I Know, the desk before tip-off
Written before tip-off, from the five games each side brought in.
Indiana comes in 3-2 over its last five, scoring 123 a night and allowing 119, shooting 51 percent and 32 from three, 20 free throws a game; Siakam at 20 and Haliburton at 19 a game. One day's rest. Atlanta comes in 0-5 over its last five, scoring 107 a night and allowing 118, shooting 44 percent and 32 from three, 21 free throws a game; Murray at 18 and Hunter at 17 a game. That is 5 straight losses. One day's rest.
So: Indiana wins, and the game turns on the turnovers, Atlanta giving it away 16 times a game to Indiana's 11. Call it Indiana 122, Atlanta 115.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
ATLAG A. Griffin
BB B. Bogdanović
BF B. Fernando
BO Bogdanovic
CC C. Capela
DH D. Hunter
DM D. Murray
GM G. Mathews
KB K. Bufkin
KR Krejci
MG M. Gueye
TY T. Young
VK V. Krejčí
MINAE A. Edwards
JM J. McDaniels
JM J. McLaughlin
KA K. Anderson
KT K. Towns
MC M. Conley
MM M. Morris
NA N. Alexander-Walker
NR N. Reid
RG R. Gobert
ATL/MIN the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
END the clock ran out, ball in hand
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur
Rudy Gobert's big night lifts Timberwolves past Hawks and into a first-place tie in the West
MINNEAPOLIS -- — Rudy Gobert had 25 points, 19 rebounds and five blocks to help the Minnesota Timberwolves defeat the Atlanta Hawks 109-106 on Friday night and move into a three-way tie for first place in the Western Conference.
Minnesota is even with Denver and Oklahoma City atop the conference with one game to play. The Timberwolves hold head-to-head tiebreakers over both teams, but the Thunder would win a three-way tiebreaker for the top spot. So, a victory by Minnesota over Phoenix and a loss by either Denver or Oklahoma City would lock up the top seed for the Timberwolves.
“The only way you can get help is if you help yourself first,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “Then we’ll see what happens. Either way though, Game 82 and we’re playing for a chance to win the Western Conference – it’s been a heck of a regular season.”
Naz Reid had 19 points, Anthony Edwards scored 14 and Mike Conley added 13 points and 10 assists for the Timberwolves, who welcomed back All-Star forward Karl-Anthony Towns , who had 11 points after missing 18 games following surgery to repair a damaged meniscus in his left knee.
“Having had so much time to watch this team and watch from a different lens gave me a good understanding of what I can do when I go out there to help this team and impact it the most,” said Towns, who went 4 for 11 from the field and added eight assists and five rebounds.
Trae Young led Atlanta with 19 points in 27 minutes, his second game back after missing six weeks with a hand injury. Bogdon Bogdonović had 17 points and Clint Capela added 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks.
Atlanta is locked into the No. 10 seed in the East and will face Chicago in the play-in tournament.
Gobert went 10 for 10 from the field, including eight dunks, and scored 10 points in the fourth quarter as the Wolves recovered from blowing a 17-point third-quarter lead.
“When he’s playing with this kind of confidence, when he’s playing at this level, we’re going to be really tough to play against,” Towns said.
Minnesota led by nine at halftime and pushed its lead to 76-59 midway through the third quarter. But the Timberwolves then went almost five minutes without scoring, allowing the Hawks to score 14 straight points, part of a 21-4 run that tied the score 80-80 heading into the fourth.
Towns hit a 3-pointer with 2:29 to play to give Minnesota a 101-100 lead, and Edwards added six points down the stretch as the Timberwolves held on.
“My shot didn’t fall, but I just needed to make one and I’m glad that I was able to make that one that I needed to make today,” Towns said. “Next game will be a different story.”
The game also marked the return of Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, who haven't attended a Timberwolves game since their bid to become majority owners apparently fell through on March 28 . The duo sat across the court from Glen Taylor, the team's longtime majority owner who said Rodriguez and Lore missed a deadline to transfer ownership, which the two dispute.