The Wolves and Pelicans each scored 88 points from the field on Friday night in New Orleans. Minnesota made 38 shots with 12 threes, New Orleans made 39 with 10, and it came out even. The whole 115-109 margin came at the free-throw line, where the Wolves made 27 and the Pelicans made 21, per ESPN’s box score.
Minnesota came into the night making 63.4% of its free throws, the worst mark in the league, and New Orleans came in making more free throws per game than anybody. The Wolves beat the Pelicans at the thing the Pelicans do best. My take: it came from attacking a bad defense and crashing the glass, and it’s the formula the Wolves should run back on Sunday against Utah.
The line flipped
Before the game I wrote that the Wolves had to wall off Zion Williamson and dare New Orleans to shoot, and I set the free-throw count as my number. Over 30 Pelicans attempts meant the Wolves had fouled their way out of the plan. Under 25 meant the wall worked.
They took 26. That landed between my two marks, but it was still the second-fewest the Pelicans have taken in nine games, per their game log. They came in averaging 32.0 a game. Williamson got to the line four times, tying his season low and well under the 7.4 he was averaging, and finished with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting, a season low in scoring, per the AP recap.
The other half of the swing was Minnesota’s own work. The Wolves made 27 of 37, both season highs. Their previous best was 22 makes at San Antonio on Oct. 31, and their most attempts was 30 at Orlando, per the Wolves’ game log. Their 73% was nothing special, but volume doesn’t need to be special. They got 0.307 free throws per field-goal attempt, per Basketball Reference’s box score, and the Pelicans committed 28 fouls. Herbert Jones fouled out in 14 minutes.
Kuminga went to the line, and it mattered
Jonathan Kuminga shot 6 of 12 from the line. That’s not pretty, and I’m still taking it. His 12 attempts were a season high by four, per his game log. He’d taken one free throw or none in three of his previous five games.
Back in October I argued that Kuminga’s free throws were the number to watch, because he was replacing a forward who lived at the line. Friday was the version of Kuminga the Wolves signed. He scored 17, grabbed eight rebounds and finished plus-14 in 34 minutes, against a Pelicans frontcourt playing without Yves Missi.
The free throws also came from the glass. Minnesota grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and grabbed 37.0% of the available offensive rebounds, per Basketball Reference. The Wolves already lead the league at 15.0 offensive rebounds a game, per Basketball Reference’s league page. Trey Lyles had 13 rebounds, four on the offensive end, in 29 minutes. Joan Beringer played only seven minutes, and ESPN’s injury report now lists him as out with a fracture.
Dosunmu and Ball closed it
Ayo Dosunmu was the best player on the floor. He scored 26 on 8-of-14 shooting, made four of six threes and all six free throws, and played 39 minutes. Eleven of his points came in the fourth quarter. When Dejounte Murray’s three put New Orleans up 89-87 with 7:55 left, LaMelo Ball scored five straight points to start a 10-2 run, per the AP recap, and the Wolves led the rest of the way.
Ball finished with 22 points, eight assists and a plus-23, the best on either team. He was 5-of-5 from the line. The fourth quarter went 38-30 to Minnesota, and the free-throw split in it was 7-of-12 for the Wolves against 6-of-6 for the Pelicans. Even on a night with the margin coming from the stripe, Minnesota still left five points there in the quarter that decided it.
What didn’t work
The wall had holes, and I won’t pretend otherwise. New Orleans scored 54 points in the paint to Minnesota’s 50 and got 30 fast-break points to the Wolves’ 11. Jeremiah Fears scored 24 on 9-of-16 shooting without making a three. That’s a guard I said to leave alone outside, and he simply didn’t go outside.
The Pelicans also made 10 of 24 threes. Karlo Matković, a starter, hit four of eight and scored 18. Murray, one of the three guards I wanted to sag off, went 3-for-11.
The bench didn’t help either. Bones Hyland went 1-for-7, and Jaylen Clark went 3-for-9.
Utah is the same test
The Wolves are 7-3, 2-0 in NBA Cup play, and have won three straight. They host the 1-8 Jazz on Sunday. Utah’s opponents are making 26.2 free throws a game, the most against any team in the league, per Basketball Reference. That’s a defense that gives away points at the line.
Minnesota is still last in the league at 64.8% from the stripe after Friday. Their free throws have cost them games already, like the night Anthony Edwards scored 47 and the Wolves lost in Cleveland at the line. Rudy Gobert went 0-for-2 on Friday, and his free throws were my reason to wait on an extension. None of that changes the lesson from New Orleans. A bad free-throw team should still take as many as it can get, because 37 attempts at 73% beats 19 attempts at anything.
With Edwards, Terrence Shannon Jr. and Donte DiVincenzo out, and Beringer now on the report too, the rotation is thin. The full depth chart and contracts show who’s left. My number for Sunday is 30. If the Wolves get 30 free-throw attempts against Utah, they should win their fourth straight, however many they miss.