The Tussling Timberwolves decided not to practice Monday before traveling to Los Angeles for the start of the NBA play-in tournament, a wise move for self-preservation. Can't be too careful when fists are flying.
Their time would be better served engaging in other activities. An appointment with Dr. Phil. A field trip to the Arboretum to breathe in the serenity. Maybe a scavenger hunt through the skyways.
An organization that specializes in dysfunction and produces more goofy moments than Donald Duck outdid itself with the latest doozy. Two starters threw punches — one at a teammate and one at a wall — that led to their early departures from the most important game of the season and being unavailable as the postseason begins.
Rudy Gobert, the player the organization mortgaged its future to obtain, earned a team-issued one-game suspension for punching Kyle Anderson in a team huddle. And Jaden McDaniels, one of the NBA's best defenders, broke his hand punching a wall in a fit of anger after being called for two fouls, causing what almost certainly will be a season-ending injury.
Fiction writers couldn't dream up this stuff.
Somewhere David Kahn and Gersson Rosas should raise a glass to toast their brothers.
Nothing is ever too far-fetched for the T-Wolves, which means they'll probably put up a heck of a fight Tuesday against the Lakers.
Why? Because the Wolves are goofy enough to rise above the chaos and play well. Or they'll lose by 30.
One or the other.
Trying to figure out this team is like reading a windsock. If you look up and see the windsock pointing one direction, expect the Wolves to go sailing by the other way.
They win when expected to lose, and they lose when expected to win.
They live in the extremes. Either exhilarating or infuriating. Never boring.
Coach Chris Finch lamented his team's immaturity after Sunday's game, which is undeniably at the root of season-long inconsistency. Immaturity.
That criticism is a shameful indictment because this is not a young team still learning the NBA landscape. There have been too many occasions when the Wolves perform as if they shouldn't be taken seriously.
Gobert is a 10-year veteran who, in the span of two weeks, punched a teammate during a game and accused an officiating crew of conspiring to help the Sacramento Kings defeat the Wolves. It's debatable as to which one of those two is more asinine.
Wolves basketball boss Tim Connelly made the right call by leaving Gobert home for the Lakers game. Connelly went overboard in giving away assets to acquire Gobert, a decision that looks awfully reckless at present. And now his prized acquisition is suspended for a postseason game because he punched a teammate in the final game of the regular season.
Only the Wolves.
Gobert's teammates tried to brush off the sideline scuffle, but, interestingly, a few national reporters later began reporting specifics, which meant somebody inside the organization wanted that information known publicly.
Ordinarily, this type of chaos and strife on the eve of the postseason might doom a team, or at least present a sizable distraction. The Wolves are so accustomed to dysfunction that no outcome — good or bad — can be dismissed as unlikely.
The loss of McDaniels, Gobert and already-injured Naz Reid leaves a gaping hole in the rotation. Not only are the Wolves shorthanded, but they're missing important contributors.
Perhaps this will add more gas to the competitive fire that fuels Anthony Edwards, who can carry the team by himself when he gets revved up. His defensive intensity becomes imperative with McDaniels unavailable.
This also is the time and space for Karl-Anthony Towns to reveal his best version. The Towns who brings positive energy and dead-eye three-point shooting, not the Towns who flails after no-calls and whines to the officials.
The Wolves have proven to be so maddeningly unpredictable that nobody really knows what will happen Tuesday in Los Angeles and beyond.
McDaniels and Gobert failed their team at the worst possible time with a remarkable display of immaturity. Except this is the Timberwolves so it wasn't remarkable at all. Just normal business.
