Terrence Shannon Jr. scores 15 in 14 minutes as Timberwolves fall
terrence shannon jr. made his loudest playoff case of the season on Monday night, scoring 15 points in 14 minutes off the bench. Minnesota still lost Game 5 to the Nuggets 125-113, and the performance arrived while the Timberwolves were playing without Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo.
Shannon's 14-minute burst
Shannon finished 6 of 10 from the field, hit 2 of 4 from three and made his only free throw. He also added one rebound, one turnover and one foul, a short line that still stood out because of how quickly it came together.
Earlier this season, he was at 5.6 points per game. In the final three games of the regular season, that number jumped to 27.3 points per game, and Monday's 15-point burst kept that recent scoring run from looking like a one-off.
Finch on Shannon's defense
Chris Finch did not hide the tradeoff. “I thought [he played] really good offensively. Defensively, I think his first shift was full of a lot of game plan mistakes. I think we've got to clean that up for sure. Offensively, he's proven that he can be a weapon for us,” Finch said after the loss.
That split fits the game. Shannon gave Minnesota points in a night when the roster was already stretched, but the first defensive shift brought the kind of breakdowns that can cut into any bench momentum. He has already shown the scoring upside; Monday was about how much of it the Timberwolves could keep while protecting the other end.
Minnesota's missing backcourt
The absence of Edwards and DiVincenzo sharpened the context around Shannon's night. The two regular backcourt pieces combined to average 41.0 points, 9.1 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game during the regular season, so Minnesota had to replace far more than just one scorer.
Ayo Dosunmu's role has probably increased the most with Edwards and DiVincenzo out, and he is currently averaging 7.0 more points per game than he did in the regular season. For the Timberwolves, Shannon's minutes now sit inside a larger scoring search, and his 15-point answer in Game 5 gives them one more usable option when the rotation is thinner than usual.
