MINNEAPOLIS — The Timberwolves either hit rock bottom on their season or are hovering just inches above it after falling, 116-104, to the Detroit Pistons at Target Center on Saturday night.
It marked the sixth consecutive loss in what was a game the slumping, struggling Wolves should have won against a rebuilding Pistons team that entered with the NBA's worst record.
Instead, the Wolves messed around and blew an 18-point, first-quarter lead by the end of the night. Once again, rebounding was a mystery for the Wolves, who allowed 22 second-chance points and 24 fast-break points.
After the first quarter, the Wolves seemed to put the rest of the night on cruise control. The Pistons gradually chipped away as the Wolves were content to let their defensive effort slip.
Detroit got within five in the third quarter before Anthony Edwards helped push the lead back to 12 with a barrage of 3-pointers.
That was only a temporary reprieve, though, as Detroit went on a 17-5 run the rest of the quarter to tie it up 88-88 headed into the fourth. Detroit pulled ahead in the fourth thanks to an 11-0 run and the Wolves' lack of rebounding. On one sequence, the Wolves allowed three offensive rebounds, which prompted booing from the home crowd in the middle of a possession.
Edwards led Minnesota with 30 points while D'Angelo Russell had 25. Bojan Bogdanovic had 28 for the Pistons, who had lost seven of their last eight entering the night.
