Wolves need deep shots from NAW, DiVincenzo to start falling soon

As the Wolves look to even up their second-round series against the Warriors on Thursday night, they need a lot more offense from everybody than they got in Game 1 (Naz Reid excluded). That has to start with Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle, their two high-usage stars.

But the Wolves also need to start getting some shooting from two key bench players who have struggled mightily so far in this postseason. Through six games, Donte DiVincenzo is 7 for 38 from three-point range. That 18.4 percent mark ranks 93rd out of 94 qualified players in these playoffs. Nickeil Alexander-Walker is 5 for 25 (20 percent), which is 91st.

It's been a stark change from the regular season for a couple excellent shooters. DiVincenzo made roughly 40 percent of his threes this year on high volume, something he's done in each of the last three seasons (with three different teams). Alexander-Walker was at 38 percent and has cleared that mark three years in a row. Along with Reid, they're two critical shooters — and overall players — for Chris Finch off the bench.

The key for both guys? Don't lose confidence. It's just a six-game sample size, and their track records suggest they can snap out of it at any moment if they keep taking good shots and trusting their work.

"Honestly, at the end of the day, I understood one thing: the law of averages," Alexander-Walker said on Thursday. "The more that I stress it, the more that I worry about finding it, the more that I get in my head about 'what do I need to do to get it going?' the further I get (from) actually doing so.

"I've learned to stay faithful and trust my game," he added. "I come in every day, get on the table at 7:30 (in the morning), do my treatment, shoot, come back, lift, shoot again. So nothing's changed on my end. Just waiting on the ball to go in. Any time now would be nice. Just gotta keep doing my thing, that's all."

Not necessarily speaking about himself, Alexander-Walker acknowledged that the spotlight and pressure of the playoffs could potentially factor into the results if players feel like they have to try to do more than usual.

"It can be a little mental," he said. "There could be a little internal added pressure of 'OK, I have to do something to produce more than I was in the regular season' or it's heightened, so I have to rise to the occasion, so to speak."

Heading into Game 2, the focus for everyone in a Timberwolves uniform has to be finding the right balance between urgency and staying true to what's gotten them here. They have to come out with a lot more energy than they did on Tuesday, but they also don't want to ramp it up too much that they're making mistakes. For NAW and DiVincenzo, that means continuing to shoot when they're open and trusting that they'll start to go in soon.

Tip-off is at 7:35 p.m. CT in Minneapolis.

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