The Timberwolves were top of the league in defense last season, reaching the conference finals thanks to their strong defensive play.
Changes in Team Dynamics:
But things shifted when they brought in Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo during the offseason. These new players changed their style, making them less focused on defense and more about finesse. In the first month of this season, their defensive performance dropped. They were 14th in defensive efficiency, 23rd for points allowed in the paint at 51 per game, and 18th for fast-break points allowed at 16.1 per game. Surprisingly, even with Rudy Gobert and Randle as part of their team, they struggled with defensive rebounds, ranking 23rd with just 31.5 per game.
Improvements in December:
December brought a big change for the Timberwolves. They climbed to number one in defensive efficiency with a rating of 92.0. They also improved significantly by allowing only 39.3 points per game in the paint and ranked third for fast-break points allowed at just 12.2 per game. Their rebounding saw a boost too; they led the league with an average of 37.3 defensive boards and were seventh overall with a total of 46.5 rebounds.
During their victory over the Spurs on Sunday, where they won by a score of 106-92, they managed to keep an opponent under 93 points for six out of seven gamesโa rare achievement these days! So far this season, only a few games have had teams scoring that low, and Minnesota has done it repeatedly just this month alone.
Fans can’t help but feel excited about how well they’re playing now!
For December, opponents are scoring only an average of 92.8 points against them every hundred possessionsโalmost eleven fewer than Oklahoma City who sits second-best.
The Role of Anthony Edwards:
With all these improvements happening so quickly, it looks like they’re back on track to being a top defense team again! As recently as Monday morning reports showed them climbing up into fourth place overall according to defensive efficiency rankings.
Could Anthony Edwards’ public criticism have sparked this turnaround? After he called out his teammates when their record was eight wins against ten lossesโthey’ve gone six wins one loss since then improving greatly from fourteen wins one loss now!
