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.

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Minnesota scored 28 points in the first six minutes of Friday’s playoff rematch in Los Angeles to build an 11-point advantage.

History was set to repeat from April.

Until it wasn’t. Minnesota was out-scored 111-82 over the final 42 minutes in a 128-110 loss to the Lakers to drop to 1-1 on the young season.

Here are the Timberwolves Talkers from Friday’s game:

Where’s the defense?

The Timberwolves spoke throughout training camp about ascend back to a truly elite defensive level this season.

Has the opposite occurred? Wolves radio voice Alan Horton posted on X.com that Minnesota’s defensive rating Friday — the Wolves allowed 139.6 points per 100 possessions — was their second-worst defensive performance of the last 16 years.

The lackluster showing came off the heels of a season opener in Portland in which Minnesota played approximately one quarter of quality defense.

After emphasizing that end of the floor in training camp, early results suggest Minnesota could be in line for major defensive slippage this season.

Luka Magic

Los Angeles is without LeBron James, who’s currently out while battling sciatica. But the Lakers still have Luka Doncic, who was far and away the best player on the floor Friday.

Doncic shredded Minnesota to the tune of 49 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. It didn’t matter who Minnesota put on the Slovenian superstar — Jaden McDaniels, Jaylen Clark, Anthony Edwards, Doncic cooked them all. He got wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and executed once he found his spots.

A slimmed down Doncic looks every bit like an MVP contender at the season’s outset.

Rotation updates

The top seven have settled in as: Donte DiVincenzo, Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle and Jaden McDaniels in the starting lineup, with Naz Reid and Terrence Shannon Jr. in as the first reserves.

Mike Conley was again one of the first eight Wolves to play Friday, but he logged just nine minutes as he picked up three quick fouls in his opening stint and has struggled in two games against two bigger teams.

Jaylen Clark and Bones Hyland both entered in the second quarter. Whether Hyland has entrenched himself in a 10-man rotation, has surpassed Conley in the pecking order or has merely been a fill-in while Conley works through early-season struggles remains to be seen.

Rob Dillingham finally made his season debut early in the fourth quarter, but his action was short-lived, as he exited the game with a nose injury after battling defensively down low just a couple possessions after subbing in. Dillingham told reporters postgame he suffered a broken nose. That injury doesn’t usually lead to long absences in the NBA.

Edwards scores

One bright spot for the Timberwolves was the sustained scoring success of Anthony Edwards. After dropping 41 in the season opener in Portland, Edwards scored another efficient 31 points on Friday.

The noteworthy part of Edwards’ performance was how nonchalant it was. There were lengthy periods of the game in which the guard’s impact wasn’t felt — which was an issue given the Lakers have no one to match up with the all star — but by game’s end, Edwards again eclipsed the 30-point plateau.

It suggests Edwards could make a legitimate run at the scoring title this season.

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Timberwolves rally to beat the Trail Blazers 118-114 in season opener

Cedric Tomes did just about everything he could to lift East Ridge to a 28-20 victory over Andover in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs on Friday night at the Raptor’s Nest in Woodbury.

The senior quarterback, who is headed to the University of Minnesota to play basketball, rushed for three touchdowns and threw for another as the Raptors (5-4), a No. 4 seed, advanced to face Maple Grove, a No. 1 seed, in the second round next Friday.

The Crimson rolled past Eastview, a No. 8 seed, 56-7 on Friday to advance. The Huskies, a No. 5 seed, finished their season 5-4 overall.

East Ridge turned the ball over on downs at the Andover 31-yard line on the game’s opening drive, and history looked like it might repeat itself on possession No. 2 when a false start call brought up 4th-and-8 at the Huskies’ 18.

Instead, Tomes fired a pass over the middle and connected with junior wide receiver Akeed Ali in the end zone. After converting a 2-point try, East Ridge led 8-0 with 1:05 to play in the first quarter.

The Raptors expanded that margin to 14-0 when Tomes scored on a 24-yard run to cap a lengthy drive kept alive on a roughing-the-punter call on the Huskies on 4th-and-24 at the East Ridge 21. Tomes and company then faced a 4th-and-7 at the Andover 35, but he connected with Ali on an 11-yard catch for another first down.

East Ridge struck again late in the first half when a 47-yard pass from Tomes to Ali set up a 1-yard quarterback sneak. The touchdown put the Raptors on top 21-0 with 26 seconds to play before halftime.

But the Huskies were far from finished, running almost six-and-a-half minutes off the clock to score on a 2-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Joseph Mapson on the opening drive of the second half.

Then, after a Raptors’ fumble on the opening play of their next drive, Andover got the ball back at the East Ridge 39. Mapson scored again on an 11-yard run to cut the gap to 21-14 with 1:58 remaining in the third quarter.

But Tomes answered right back, leading his team 78 yards on its next possession to score on a 2-yard run with 7:12 left in the fourth.

Andover scored again on an 8-yard pass from Mapson to senior Aidan Wiegert with 1:18 remaining. But the two-point conversion attempt failed and East Ridge recovered the ensuing onside attempt at midfield.

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Woodbury has found much success in the second half this season.

It did so again Friday, putting up 14 points in the final two quarters and made a defensive stand with 3 seconds left to beat Eagan 21-20 in a Class 6A football playoff.

Eagan’s Gage Halvorson caught a 12-yard reception from Parker West with 3 seconds left to get the Wildcats within one. West was stopped just shy of the goal line on the 2-point try and the Royals could exhale.

A 18-yard touchdown reception by Woodbury’s Nolan Freymiller capped a 10-play, 78-yard drive midway through the fourth quarter for the winning points and the second-seeded Royals averted an upset by the seventh-seeded Wildcats.

Shawn Rekowski caught a 38-yard pass late in the third quarter as Woodbury (7-2) tied the game 14-all. Woodbury has outscored its opponents 138-75 in the second half.

The Royals next get No. 6 seed Moorhead, which wears orange and black, on Halloween. The Spuds upset No. 3 Blaine 38-21. Moorhead jumped out to a 21-0 second quarter lead and hung on to beat Woodbury 34-27 in Week 2.

Chris Brandt and West had long first-half touchdown runs, Charlie Heinlein and Grady Recer had interceptions and Harrison Brandt had two sacks for the Wildcats (2-7).

Mark Mathis broke a tackle and scored from 23 yards out less than three minutes into the game for a 6-0 Woodbury lead, capping a 10-play drive in which Eagan provided little resistance.

Take away a shutout loss at Forest Lake and the Royals entered averaging almost 28 points per game.

But the Royals did not score on their next four drives, including a receiver dropping a fourth-down pass and a Wildcat interception by Heinlein after the ball went off the helmet of a Woodbury receiver.

Brandt scored on a 59-yard run on Eagan’s third offensive play, and West darted 56 yards to the end zone on the first play of the second quarter.

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