Wolves can't overcome historically bad start in blowout loss to Cavs

The Minnesota Timberwolves never gave themselves a chance.

The Wolves doomed themselves with a horrific start in a 128-107 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers Monday in Cleveland.

It wasn't just a bad start for Minnesota, it was historically bad. The Wolves (30-24) went the first 7 minutes, 4 seconds of the game before scoring a point, which finally came when Rudy Gobert split a pair of free throws. It took even longer for them to find their first field goal after missing their first 16 shots of the contest. The Wolves were the first team to start a game 0 for 16 since the Philadelphia 76ers had an ice-cold opening in 2004. Minnesota trailed 30-12 after the first frame.

On top of the icy shooting and the over seven-minute scoreless drought, the Wolves also turned the ball over five times in the quarter. There was a notable sequence with terrible turnovers on back-to-back possessions. Running out in transition, Terrence Shannon Jr. threw an ill-advised pass to Anthony Edwards that sailed out of bounds. Then the next possession, Naz Reid wasn't on the same page with Edwards, and his pass didn't connect on what resulted in a backcourt violation.

Nothing was going right for the Wolves.

Edwards was the one to finally end the 0-for-16 start, knocking down a 3-pointer with just under three minutes remaining in the first quarter. He tried his best to get the Wolves back in it, scoring a game-high 44 points on 13-for-28 shooting to post his third straight 40-point game. Edwards became the first player in Timberwolves history to score 40 or more points in three straight games, and he's also the first player in the NBA to accomplish that feat this season, a torrid scoring pace.

But Edwards also had seven turnovers in the game, and he also picked up another technical foul while leaving the court at halftime, his 12th of the season; if a player gets 16 in a season, it's an automatic one-game suspension.

And the big showing from Edwards couldn't offset the balanced offensive output from the Cavs (43-10). Evan Mobley led the charge with a team-high 28 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and four blocks, and he in particular gave the Wolves fits defensively. But he wasn't the only one; Donovan Mitchell had 23 points and eight assists, Darius Garland scored 17, Ty Jerome added 15 points off the bench and Jarrett Allen and De'Andre Hunter scored 14 and 12 points, respectively.

That was all five starters in double figures, and the Cavs also scored 56 points in the paint.

It was a rough night all around for the Wolves, and it was one of the rougher nights for the team's young players who had been stepping up so well in the absences of Julius Randle (groin) and Donte DiVincenzo (toe). Shannon had an assist, a steal and two rebounds, but had the bad turnover early and scored just two points, and in garbage time. Rob Dillingham was OK with 13 points and three assists, but he had a memorably bad turnover, too. Luka Garza got dominated by Mobley on the pick-and-roll in limited minutes. Jaylen Clark scored four points and had a steal, but had a plus-minus of minus-22.

Mike Conley was ruled out for the second straight game due to a finger injury.

The Wolves will look to bounce back when they return home for back-to-back games at Target Center on Wednesday and Thursday. First up is a 7 p.m. tipoff Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks.