Timberwolves lost their identity in Game 3, and need to rediscover it quickly

Their best shooter took only seven shots, one after halftime. Their most dynamic scorer did not attempt a free throw and bemoaned his own effort. The rest of the Timberwolves offense was a mixture of lethargy, poor decisions and missed open shots.

The Wolves have been one of the best offensive teams throughout the playoffs. They looked nothing like that version in a Game 3 dud that gave the Denver Nuggets new life with a 117-90 victory at Target Center.

The Wolves still hold the edge in the series but only if their offensive identity returns in Game 4 on Sunday.

“We didn’t have the same thrust to what we do,” point guard Mike Conley said.

No thrust. No rhythm. No energy.

Everything about their performance was confounding. The defense failed them too, but their struggles on offense set a negative tone. Their first two possessions of the game were a missed three-pointer by Jaden McDaniels and a turnover by Anthony Edwards.

It snowballed from there.

“We didn’t want to work very hard for our offense and got a little bit lazy, and we missed those shots,” coach Chris Finch said. “We did miss a lot of layups early. Generally, when you’re doing that, you’re not playing in the right mindset.”

It was a double whammy of poor outside shooting and too many misses in the paint. They got clean looks but just missed them. Coughing up 14 turnovers didn’t help the cause.

Poor shooting games happen sometimes, but the Wolves didn’t play with enough purpose and force on that end. They trailed by eight after one quarter, 15 at halftime and 27 after three quarters.

“I’ll take the blame for this loss,” Edwards said. “I came out with no energy.”

It wasn’t just him. Karl-Anthony Towns was the only Wolves’ player to find a shooting rhythm. He made all four of his three-point attempts in the first half, but the rest of the team shot 2-for-16 from distance.

Towns attempted only one shot in the second half in nearly 14 minutes on the floor. That made no sense.

“We were kind of a step slow on making the right play, moving the ball, getting to our sets, spacing,” center Rudy Gobert said. “Just a little distracted, it seemed like, and we’ve had that all year some games.”

The Nuggets deserve credit for upping their intensity and playing with a sense of desperation that the Wolves did not match. But the Wolves also just missed wide-open shots. And a handful of point-blank shots at the rim.

Those misses allowed the Nuggets to sprint away and suck the excitement out of Target Center.

“We missed some good looks,” Towns said. “Our offense hurt our defense a little bit.”

Denver center Nikola Jokic showed no interest in challenging Wolves players at the rim when they did decide to attack the basket. They didn’t commit to that nearly enough, instead settling for long jumpers that kept missing.

“We’ve just got to be smarter with our decisions, more decisive with what we’re doing, and we’ve got to work a little bit harder on the offensive end to create space for each other,” Conley said. “With our lack of movement and energy toward the offensive side, we weren’t cutting like we were, we weren’t applying pressure in the paint like we were the first two games.”

If they respond in Game 4 with more pace and more aggression, this will be just a blip, a poor showing after a run of dominant performances.

To steal Conley’s description, they need more thrust. Edwards won’t play with so little energy again. And Towns needs more than one shot in a half.