不改變

Reid Forgrave

The Minnesota Timberwolves won i n t h e m o s t u nTimberwolves way possible .

Heading into the fourth quarter， the Wolves were down nine points to the Portland Trail Blazers in a game that would determine which team would hold fourth place in the Western Conference -- the top of the nonWarriors/Rockets/Spurs tier. For the Timberwolves this season， being down nine points going into the fourth quarter would seem a death knell. Whatever the reason --and many basketball pundits have decided the reason is the same old Tom Thibodeau narrative， where an over-reliance on his starting five means his best players are gassed by the end of games -- the Wolves have not been a good fourthquarter team. By some metrics， in fact， they are the worst fourthquarter team in the NBA.

明尼蘇達森林狼用最不森林狼的方式贏下了比賽。在一場決定誰能拿到西部第四，也就是除勇士，火箭，馬刺集團外的第一位置的比賽中。森林狼在第四節開始時落后波特蘭開拓者9分。本賽季大多數時候，如果森林狼落后9分進入第四節，這基本等同于輸掉比賽。無論原因到底是什么——太多專家將原因歸結于湯姆·錫伯杜的老問題，即過度依賴首發，最好的球員在比賽最后精疲力盡——森林狼一直打不好第四節。事實上，他們是NBA第四節最差的球隊。

Check out the numbers： In the first three quarters of games， the Timberwolves ought to be considered among the NBAs elite. Their net rating through three quarters of games is plus-4.8. If they were able to keep that net rating for four quarters， that would rank fourth in the NBA -- behind the Warriors， Rockets and Raptors and virtually tied with the Celtic

看看數據：森林狼的前三節可以說是聯盟頂尖水平。他們前三節的正負值為+4.8。如果能把這個數字延續到第四節，他們就能在聯盟排在第四，僅次于勇士，火箭和猛龍，與騎士并列。

Its in the fourth quarter of games where they fall apart. The Wolves net rating in fourth quarters is minus-10.1. Thats the worst in the NBA， and drags what would have been an impressive overall net rating all the way down to a middling 11th.

森林狼總是在第四節崩潰，他們在第四節的正負值為-10.1。這在全NBA排名墊底，直接導致球隊整體正負值下滑到聯盟中游的第11。

This is not a new problem. Last seasons Timberwolves lost 22 games in which they held doubledigit leads. They lost 11 games when they led by 15 or more points， a feat that hadnt been accomplished by an NBA team since the 1996-97 season. If just half of those blown 10-point leads had turned into wins， the Wolves would have morphed from one of the worst teams in the NBA into a playoff team.

這不是新問題。上個賽季，森林狼有22場輸掉的比賽里曾經有過兩位數的領先。有11場比賽，森林狼在領先15分或更多的情況下輸掉了比賽，從1996-97賽季開始，還沒有第二支球隊打出過這么差的表現。如果浪費兩位數領先優勢的比賽能贏下其中一半，森林狼就能從NBA最爛球隊之一轉變為季后賽球隊。

The Wolves knew this， which is why their big offseason splash was to acquire one of the leagues best players in crunch time： AllNBA wing Jimmy Butler. Butler is a beast for 48 minutes， but most important， he would be the beast when the Timberwolves need him most. Last season Butler averaged 4.3 points in the final five minutes of games where the margin was five points or less. That was the third-best mark in the league， behind Russell Westbrookand Isaiah Thomas. At the end of games， on offense as well as on defense， its hard to pick a better player to have on the floor than Jimmy Butler.

森林狼當然明白這個問題，這也是他們休賽期引進聯盟關鍵時刻最強球員——全明星側翼吉米·巴特勒的原因。巴特勒能在48分鐘里保持強勁狀態，但最重要的是，當森林狼最需要他的時候，他能化身為猛獸。上個賽季，比賽最后五分鐘兩隊分差不超過5分時，巴特勒能夠拿到4.3分的平均得分。……