Minnesota knew its ceiling would be determined by its defense at the outset of training camp last month.
In order to be a championship team – the Wolves’ stated goal after finishing as the Western Conference runnerup in each of the last two seasons – Minnesota had to be elite at producing stops. The Wolves had to be within the top two or three teams in the NBA.
It felt doable. The Wolves were that the league’s best defensive team during the 2023-24 season.
And this time around, Minnesota featured a near repeat roster flush with familiar faces who would allow the team to hit the ground running.
“For me, the most important thing for our group is to really build the right habits from Day 1 and decide what our pillars are going to be. When it comes to defense, really decide,” Rudy Gobert said back on the team’s media day. “Make sure (that) no matter what, no matter who is on the floor, we stay dedicated to those things. And if we do that, and we do it together, I think we’re going to be a top defense this year.”
Two games into the season, the Timberwolves sport the NBA’s fourth-worst defense after falling 128-110 to the Lakers on Friday in Los Angeles.
Minnesota radio voice Alan Horton posted on X.Com that the Wolves’ defensive rating of 139.6 on Friday marked the team’s second-worst in the last 16 seasons.
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch aptly summed it up as “one of the worst defensive performances we’ve had in a long time.”
Luka Doncic finished with 49 points. He and Austin Reaves generated one easy look for another for themselves and their teammates as the Wolves defenders ushered the playmakers to their preferred spots on the floor.
In the third frame Friday, Minnesota shot 59% from the field and went 9 for 10 from the charity stripe. It still lost the quarter by nine points, 40-31.
Ball contain, rotations, closeouts – they’re all bad at the moment for Minnesota. Finch told reporters his team never discussed going “under” ball screens against Doncic, yet players did that multiple times early in the game to free up the superstar for wide-open triples.
The Timberwolves have played eight quarters of basketball this season. They’ve allowed more than 130 points per 100 possessions – a sky-high defensive rating – in five of them.
Their “best” defensive quarter to date came in the final frame Friday in Portland, in which the Wolves held the Blazers to 4 for 19 shooting to rally to victory. But it should be noted Portland went 1 for 10 from deep in that fourth quarter, and all of those shots were “wide open,” per NBA.Com tracking data.
There were no such bailouts in Friday’s affair. The Lakers executed at a high level, punishing every mental lapse the Wolves made.
The Wolves knew they likely couldn’t finish sixth in defensive rating – like they did a year ago – and contend for a championship this season.
At this rate, they’d be fortunate to finish 20th.
“The defense is certainly not where it needs to be. Just nothing, not dictating at the point of attack, no aggressiveness to it at all. The fly around mentality behind it is just not quite there,” Finch told reporters. ““We have to get back to everybody buying into guarding. … We’ve just got to be better at the point of attack. That’s where it all starts.”
In fairness, it has only been two games. There are 80 to play in the regular season. Perhaps Sunday’s home opener against Indiana in front of a raucous Target Center crowd will revive Minnesota’s defensive intensity and the Wolves won’t relinquish it again from there.
The Wolves sure better hope so. Because it’s rare for a team to suddenly get great on the defensive end after showing signs of the opposite early in the campaign.
A team with a roster that brought back so many familiar faces from a year ago figured to quickly establish an identity and chart a viable path toward a championship.
The best teams are at least a version of who they want to be by the time camp breaks.
“Everything that you know you are in January, you would have had to have already been coming into training camp or in training camp,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said early in camp. “We expect to be a tough-minded defensive team.”
It was a nice thought. But through two games, the Wolves have no identity. They’ve set no tone. The Lakers – who don’t sport a physical roster – were the clear aggressors Friday in Los Angeles.
Their first true punch landed Friday in the latter stages of the first quarter put Minnesota’s defense on its heels, and the Wolves spent the rest of the evening in the corner, anxiously awaiting the bell.
There was no fight on that end of the floor. And, thus, no chance altogether.
Whether Minnesota still has the players willing and able to flip the early script is to be determined.
Because this much is already known – if the Wolves can’t get stops, they cannot contend for anything of consequence.
Related Articles
Timberwolves Talkers: Minnesota blown out by the Luka Doncic-led Lakers
Frederick: Chris Finch is at his best when he’s not beholden to anything or anyone
Shipley: Sports and gambling, strange and terrible bedfellows
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch explains decisions to start Donte DiVincenzo, play Bones Hyland
Frederick: One game in, Anthony Edwards looks unguardable, and everything seems possible
Leave a Reply