The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Chicago Bulls on a night where two of their starters, Andrew Wiggins and Robert Covington, shot a combined 1-of-30 from the field. The atrocious shooting night from the swingman tandem didn’t seem to bother head coach Tom Thibodeau. Thibs said, per Malika Andrews of ESPN, that people can get lost in stats sometimes, and that the win is the most important take away from the game.
“I think sometimes people get lost in statistics in this league,” he said. “Sometimes, stats don’t translate to winning. And I think the winning part is important.”
Thibodeau is certainly a coach with an old-school mindset. Most NBA coaches and analysts rely on data and analytics, which require statistics, to study and breakdown the game. But as old-school coaches would say, not everything that happens on the court appears on the stat sheet.
This was certainly in full display in the Wolves’ home victory over the Bulls on Saturday night. As mentioned, Covington and Wiggins combined for just one make and four points on the night (all from Covington). However, the tandem’s horrific shooting night did not seem to affect Minnesota at all since they still routed the Bulls, 111-96.
Karl-Anthony Towns paced the Timberwolves with 35 points on 13-of-23 field goal shooting and made 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. He added 22 rebounds and six assists to cap off 37 minutes of work. Minnesota also got a hefty lift from their bench as Derrick Rose and Dario Saric scored 22 points and 19 points, respectively.
Nonetheless, stats are there for a reason, and that is to provide a quantitative support of how the basketball game went. But fans and analysts alike shouldn’t just rely on statistics to make insights on a particular game or player. People should always remember to watch the games, because there are things that happen during the games that don’t translate into the box score.
