MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Timberwolves brought brass knuckles to the court last season, playing the kind of physical, nasty defense that seemed to be from another time and place, a throwback to those wrestling matches of the 1990s. This season, they have brought a flamethrower, as Anthony Edwards came back from Paris shooting like Steph Curry.
Edwards’ latest shooting expo came Friday night against the Portland Trail Blazers, against whom he buried 9 of 15 3-pointers on his way to 37 points in Minnesota’s 127-102 victory. Edwards has made an NBA-best 50 3s this season, the third-highest total through nine games in NBA history. Curry made 55 in 2018-19 and 53 last season.
The Wolves made 22 of 50 3s as a team and rank fourth in 3s attempted (41.3 per game) and second in makes (16.8). Last season, the Wolves ranked 23rd in attempts with 32.7 per game and 15th in makes (12.7).
“I really can’t explain it. I’m not shocked or anything because I’ve worked so hard on my trey ball,” Edwards said. “It’s like here we go. This is what’s supposed to happen. Hopefully, it keeps going that way.”
For Edwards, it’s a devastating development in his game. He was known much more for attacking the rim in his first four seasons. After playing for Team USA in the Olympics this summer, he spent the offseason working hard on his catch-and-shoot 3s to prevent teams from taking him out of games by packing the paint. He has made at least seven 3s in a game three times this season and said taking so many jumpers helps save his legs for defense and getting downhill in the fourth quarters of tight games.
he has NINE threes tonight btw.
🐜🐜🐜🐜 pic.twitter.com/tcZw78lPdw
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) November 9, 2024
The Timberwolves entered this season determined to hang their hats on defense. And why wouldn’t they? Who can forget the destruction they wrought on the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of the playoffs, that swarming, suffocating, seems-like-they’re-playing-with-seven-guys type of defense that propelled them to the Western Conference finals?
They have Rudy Gobert, the reigning defensive player of the year, flanked by a handful of the best perimeter defenders in the league: Jaden McDaniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Edwards. It was their identity last season, and even after trading Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, they believed it had to be their identity as they look to take it one step further this season.
It is entirely possible that, once all the pieces snap into place, the Wolves will once again be defined by their defense. Nine games into the season, their identity has been the complete opposite.
The best thing the Timberwolves have going during a 6-3 start is their offense. They have the fifth-best offensive rating in the league (117.6) after languishing at 17th (114.6) last season. It has kept them afloat while they work out the defensive kinks that have come with the roster changes.
“It makes the floor huge,” coach Chris Finch said of Edwards. “And he’s got great range. He’s taking them in the flow of the offense. He’s reading the coverages in pick-and-roll really well right now. He’s playing at a high level.”
In what was shaping up as yet another underwhelming performance at the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night, the Wolves needed to wait for their offense to arrive to save them with a 45-point deluge in the fourth quarter of a 135-119 win.
They needed it because the defense was again missing in action for much of the night. The Bulls entered the game on the second night of a back-to-back, missing star guard Zach LaVine and lugging a 28th-ranked offense with the 24th-ranked field goal percentage in the league. And yet the Bulls ran circles around the Wolves for most of the game. They shot 60 percent from the field in the first half, hit 10 of 17 3-pointers, many of them lightly contested, and racked up 65 points.
Ayo down the lane! @CHSN__ | @AyoDos_11 pic.twitter.com/ps3l1aZCNx
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) November 8, 2024
The Wolves have not looked like last year’s No. 1 defense for most of the season. There have been moments. They beat up on the lowly Charlotte Hornets on Monday at home and locked in late against the Nuggets last week to pull out a big win. Each time they show a flash, there is talk about it revealing the team that dominated opposing offenses last season.
The next chance they get to show they are capable of sustaining that kind of effort has always fizzled. Nikola Vučević made 11 of his 12 shots in the first three quarters.
“We’re terrible,” Edwards told reporters in Chicago. “We’re terrible until we get down. When we get down, that’s when everybody wants to play defense. If we played from the beginning, we’d be the … best team because we got the guys.”
Finch has not pulled any punches in evaluating the defense. Before Friday’s game, he said their top defensive dawgs, Alexander-Walker excluded, have not played with the same snarl they did last season. Once Gobert, Edwards and McDaniels lock in, the team should be more recognizable.
“That’s the challenge that’s been made,” Finch said. “When those three guys start guarding at the level they did last year, then we’ll look a lot more like last year’s defense.”
The Blazers are a young team that is expected to lose a lot of games this season, but there was a different energy about the Wolves on defense Friday night. They held Portland scoreless for the first five minutes. Gobert, who grabbed his 9,000th career rebound, blocked three shots in the first quarter, and Minnesota held Portland to 17 points and 29 percent shooting in the period.
“I don’t think I’ve started the games the right way for my team since the beginning of the season, so I really wanted to change that,” said Gobert, who finished with 8 points and 15 rebounds. “I know when I play that way defensively, it sets the tone for the whole team. I’m happy that we did that tonight.”
Until that happens, Finch is embracing the offensive revolution. He has always had a reputation for being an expert on that end of the floor, which made last season’s mediocrity all the more unsatisfying. This version of the Wolves looks to be more equipped to play Finch ball: free-flowing, swinging it from side to side, cutting off the ball and letting it fly from deep.
Edwards is launching 11 3s per game, Randle is orchestrating from the elbow, and DiVincenzo, Alexander-Walker and Mike Conley Jr. can initiate offense as well.
“Everybody’s chipping in, in the flow,” Finch said. “People are doing a really good job of finding Rudy, working for each other, not forcing a whole lot of stuff. Even through the first part of the season, we’ve generated good looks, and maybe they all haven’t gone down yet at the rate that they will.”
At one point in the first half, the Wolves scored on 13 of 14 possessions, an avalanche of 3s, dunks and free throws that built a 27-point lead before the Blazers even knew what hit them.
ANT TO NAZ REID LOB
THINGS YOU LOVE TO SEE pic.twitter.com/vEwZ7LYGxb
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) November 9, 2024
As is wont to happen, the Wolves relaxed, turned the ball over a bunch and let Portland creep back into the game. But Edwards hit five 3s in the third quarter to put the lead back up to 26, and he got to rest for the entire fourth quarter on the second night of a back-to-back.
“Mike (Conley is) trying to tell me to get downhill,” Edwards said. “I’m like, ‘Bro, they’re going under.’ I work on my game too much to try to force going downhill if they keep going under. I really be surprised at this point.”
🥶🥶🥶🥶 pic.twitter.com/cZo59xQz9y
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) November 9, 2024
The Timberwolves have won three in a row, but victories over Charlotte, Chicago and Portland are hardly enough to convince anyone that the sluggishness they exhibited early in the season is behind them. Next up is the Miami Heat on Sunday, followed by two more in Portland next week, giving them a shot at a six-game surge. In a conference as difficult as the West is, teams have to take advantage when the schedule softens. If the Wolves can work through their issues and sharpen their play against lesser competition, it could be the springboard they need for when they step back up in weight class later this month.
After grinding through the early portion of the season and looking for things he could rely on, Finch said his feel for this team is starting to solidify.
“I feel pretty comfortable to go a lot of different directions,” Finch said. “That is exactly what you want.”
(Photo: Melissa Tamez / Icon Sportswire via AP Images)
