Timberwolves have left late-game struggles in the regular season

The Minnesota Timberwolves played the most clutch games — games within a five-point margin during the final five minutes of regulation or overtime — in the NBA during the regular season, and the results weren't particularly great.

Of the 82 regular-season games, 46 of them were clutch games, and the Wolves went just 20-26 in that slate. Their offensive rating of 106.4 during those minutes ranked 20th in the league, their defensive rating of 114.8 dropped all the way to 24th and the ugly -8.4 net rating in clutch time was 23rd in the NBA. It was one of Minnesota's biggest weaknesses.

But as they've taken a 3-1 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers, it's become clear the Wolves have figured out their late-game woes. In two clutch-time games in the playoffs — Games 3 and 4 — they've posted a 166.7 offensive rating, a 78.6 defensive rating for an 88.1 net rating. Most importantly, they're 2-0.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said after Game 3 that it was their best closing effort of the season. His team's follow-up showing Sunday may have been even better. And if it wasn't impressive enough to see the Wolves suddenly close games masterfully like the flip of a light switch, they're doing so against all-time great closers in LeBron James and Luka Doncic.

Game 4 even featured a rally from a 10-point deficit.

“There wasn’t any panic," Finch said after Sunday's Game 4. "That’s been a hallmark of this team in the second half of the season, there’s been no real panic. We’ve been down a bunch. Even in the first half of the season, we were down a lot, went through not the greatest play, and then we’d come back. Guys always have a belief they can come back."

There's always been fight, but there hasn't always been success. Finch hasn't stuck to one particular closing lineup all season, generally using his personnel based on their opponent. But he's stuck with the same five-man group — Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, Jaden McDaniels, Donte DiVincenzo and Naz Reid — in the two clutch games against the Lakers.

It appears Finch has found something with that lineup, which was only featured in 32 regular-season games for 113 total minutes and had a -4.3 net rating. That lineup has been excellent thus far in the playoffs. It stretches the floor, surrounds Edwards with shooters who can make the Lakers pay when they collapse the paint around him or send double teams.

"I think that unit is, on the offensive end, you can throw it to anybody, and anybody can kind of get downhill and make plays for one another," DiVincenzo said. "And when that is the situation and Ant's up top doing his thing, they have to respect everybody on the line. He's making the right play over and over and over again. Then you go on the defensive end, and we can just switch and we can just be physical and be ourselves, and at that point, it's winning time."

The ability to switch has been beneficial against the Lakers, who hardly play a big and feature James and Doncic, who are dominant in screen actions. Meanwhile, Edwards is making Los Angeles pay for blitzing him and sending double teams his way with the best decision-making of his career. His playmaking has taken a clear leap from last year's playoffs, and even the regular season. Edwards isn't forcing shots, isn't turning it over and he's still been every bit the same dynamic scorer.

Game 4 was truly an Edwards masterclass. He scored a game-high 43 points on 12-for-23 shooting, adding nine rebounds, six assists, a steal, a block and just a single turnover. Edwards has only turned it over six times in the series — 1.5 per game — less than half of his season average (3.2). He's also up over an assist per game in the playoffs (5.8 vs. 4.5).

"The biggest thing during the quote unquote down times throughout the year of not necessarily making the right play, he's learned from it and come back, and his highs are extremely high," DiVincenzo said of Edwards. "So throughout the entire season, weathering the storms of ups and downs and different guys in lineups and trying to figure out and get guys comfortable, when it comes to winning time, dude knows how to win."

Edwards is benefitting from the group around him, and he's trusting his teammates in key moments. He found Reid for a critical 3-pointer late in the Game 3 victory (the Wolves closed that game on a 13-1 run). He hit a cutting DiVincenzo for an and-1 layup late in Game 4. Edwards is making all the right reads, and late in Games 3 and 4, he's had the perfect cast around to complement his skillset on both sides of the ball. That group is just locked in, offensively and defensively.

Finch said that lineup brings a balance of shot-making, playmaking and activity on the offensive end, and a certain level of grit and physicality on the defensive side of the ball. It's proving to be a lineup he can go back to, and while the closing lineup may look different in a different series, he's found the perfect combination for L.A. Game 4 certainly proved that.

"We've been like connected on the defensive end," Edwards said of that closing lineup. "Just making the right rotations, having each other's back. ... Offensively, we just got four guys out there, when they trap me, we got four guys out there that know how to play, know how to cut, know how to come to the ball, know how to space, and then we got shooters all over the floor, so Finchy been doing a great job of putting the right guys out there at the right time."