Terrence Shannon Jr. gave Minnesota a lift Monday night, scoring 15 points in 14 minutes off the bench, but the Timberwolves still fell to the Nuggets 125-113 in Game 5. He hit 6 of 10 shots, went 2 of 4 from three and made his lone free throw.
Shannon added one rebound, one turnover and one foul in a brief burst that stood out because Minnesota was without Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo, who combined to average 41.0 points, 9.1 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game in the regular season. With that much production missing, the Timberwolves needed someone to create easy offense, and Shannon flashed the kind of scoring that could help fill part of the gap.
Coach Chris Finch liked what he saw at one end and not enough at the other. He said Shannon played really good offensively, but added that the rookie’s first shift was full of a lot of game plan mistakes and that Minnesota has got to clean that up for sure. Finch also said Shannon has proven he can be a weapon for the Timberwolves offensively.
The performance fit a larger pattern in a season that has already swung hard for Shannon. Earlier this year, injuries limited him to 5.6 points per game, then he erupted for 27.3 points per game over the final three games of the regular season. Minnesota might need about half of that late-season scoring again if it is going to replace even some of the offense lost with Edwards and DiVincenzo out. Julius Randle had the ball in his hands more Monday night, and Ayo Dosunmu’s role has also grown the most with those two scorers unavailable.
That leaves Shannon in a useful but unfinished spot. The scoring is real, and it arrived in a playoff game, but the minutes were still limited and the mistakes on defense remain part of the job description. For Minnesota, the question is no longer whether Shannon can score in flashes. It is whether he can stay on the floor long enough to matter when the Timberwolves need that offense most.
