When the dust settled on a demoralizing defeat by the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference finals, the Minnesota Timberwolves made several roster changes to become more nimble and creative to keep up with Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving.
Out went Kyle Anderson and, eventually, Karl-Anthony Towns, two players who were big contributors in their successful season, but who also had playing styles that committed the Wolves to specific ways on both ends of the floor. In came veterans Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo and No. 8 pick Rob Dillingham, three bucket-getters who can create shots and boost the team’s offense.
Dillingham, 19, has yet to play as he acclimates to the league, but Randle and DiVincenzo have shown the ability to add new dimensions to the Timberwolves offense.
What has been most difficult for the Timberwolves in this young season is getting their defense together, a consequence few expected when Towns was traded to New York just before training camp. The latest example came in a 120-114 loss to the Mavericks on Tuesday night in a rematch of that 4-1 series loss in May.
The Wolves hit 51 percent of their field goals, including a blistering 19 of 39 from 3-point range, against the defending Western Conference champions. But Minnesota’s inability to slow the Mavericks in transition and keep them off of the offensive glass was its undoing. Dallas scored 20 fastbreak points, ran circles around the Wolves in semi-transition and had 23 second-chance points off of 12 offensive rebounds.
For the team that was the No. 1 defense in the league by a wide margin last season, it has been a startling change of character.
“Looks like the offense is starting to set into a rhythm a little bit, but the defense has got to be better,” coach Chris Finch said.
Anthony Edwards scored 24 of his 37 points in the first quarter, Randle had 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and Nickeil Alexander-Walker was good on both ends of the floor. But Edwards had five of the team’s 20 turnovers, which led to 25 points for the Mavericks, and the defense only forced 10 miscues from Dallas.
ANTHONY EDWARDS 😱
5 threes and 20 points in the first quarter 🔥 pic.twitter.com/sX8Eqw8cD8
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) October 30, 2024
In this very early portion of the season, the Wolves offense has improved from 17th last season to 11th, but the defense has plummeted from first to 13th. Who knew the biggest issue the Wolves would face after trading Towns was on defense?
“It goes to show how well we still played outside of that to even be in the game with 20 turnovers is pretty good. But can’t settle there,” said Alexander-Walker, who scored 11 points and went 3 of 5 from deep. “It’s still a loss and we got to sharpen those things up before April.”
In some ways, president of basketball operations Tim Connelly assembled last season’s team to beat the Denver Nuggets. They were the reigning champions with the best player in the world, the mountain standing in the way. And the supersized Wolves climbed it in the conference semifinals with a thrilling, seven-game victory. Their big frontcourt of Rudy Gobert and Towns was able to fluster Nikola Jokić just enough for the Wolves to get by the Nuggets.
The conference finals were largely uncharted territory for everyone on that Timberwolves roster, even the most veteran among them. Mike Conley was there as a youngster with the Memphis Grizzlies, but there was a 12-year gap between trips. Gobert had never been there before, and neither had any of their younger core, including Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Towns.
The euphoria of that 20-point comeback in Game 7 in Denver was quickly supplanted by the realization that they were only halfway to winning a title. The Wolves were physically and emotionally spent by the time Game 1 of the West finals in Minneapolis came around, and they were down 3-0 to the Mavericks before they could catch their breath.
Dallas won the first two games by a combined four points, taking advantage of Minnesota’s stumbles in late-game execution by utilizing two of the best pure scorers in the league in Dončić and Irving. The Wolves did not match that duo’s ingenuity. With Towns struggling mightily, Edwards was the only player equipped to create his shot.
More than five months later, Conley still shakes his head at some of the mistakes they made down the stretch. They led by four points with 3 minutes, 15 seconds to go in Game 1 and by five points with 1:o6 to play in Game 2, but lost both of them.
“If we just made the right decision, no turnovers or double-teamed when we should have double-teamed or certain things game plan-wise that we did correctly, we might’ve come out with a win,” Conley said. “It could have turned the series completely. I think the late-game situations were key for them. The way they handled that gave them the edge last season.”
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That top-ranked Wolves defense had no answer for Dončić, Irving and Dereck Lively II at the rim. Finch quipped before the game on Tuesday night that the “400 lobs” that the Mavericks connected on stuck with him more than anything from that series.
“It wasn’t our time. It wasn’t our turn,” Gobert said. “It’s about not dwelling on those losses but making sure next time we get there we will be more ready and be able to take that step, take that opportunity.”
The big trade did address that shortcoming in a significant manner. One of Randle’s biggest strengths is shot creation. The Wolves have already seen that in action in Sacramento last week when he propped up a struggling offense in the first half with a barrage of tough buckets in isolation. DiVincenzo also has shown more ability to make plays off the dribble to help when the clock is winding down.
The Wolves believe they’re a little bit tougher and a lot deeper after the trade, but they are not under any illusions that they have gained some sort of edge over the Mavericks.
“We didn’t put a roster together to beat Dallas per se,” Finch said. “Right now, we’re just trying to figure out who we are on a nightly basis, what we can do at a highly repeatable level.”
Finch is still experimenting with lineup combinations to see what works and what doesn’t. That is why Joe Ingles was on the court in the second quarter without Gobert to help him on defense. The Wolves were outscored by seven points in Ingles’ four minutes. But Finch also went to a small-ball lineup in the fourth quarter with Randle at center, and that worked well to help the Wolves trim a double-digit deficit down to three points in the final four minutes.
“We do feel like we have some physicality now in Donte and Julius. It gives us a little bit more defensive versatility, too,” Finch said. “That’s not to say we have all the answers right now even in that. We’re still trying to figure out some defensive chemistry.”
Edwards started the game on fire, setting a career-high with 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting in the first 12 minutes. But he did not score a point for the next 19 minutes of game action as the Mavericks, playing on the second night of a back-to-back, dug in. Edwards was 4 of 10 over the final 36 minutes. But he was more concerned with the rebounds the Timberwolves were unable to grab, especially when Gobert was off the floor.
“It’s on us, especially myself, I’m big as hell,” Edwards said. “I’ve got to be able to box them bigs out. But (the Mavericks) do a good job of getting those offensive rebounds. I gotta figure it out.”
Irving scored 35 points and Doncic had 24 points, eight assists, eight rebounds and another Target Center dagger.
LUKA 🤯 pic.twitter.com/TV0Rc6HCNF
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) October 30, 2024
The growing pains the Wolves are having were expected. The Towns trade was a foundational move. Randle and DiVincenzo have fit in nicely from a personality and mindset perspective. Now it is about finding the connection that can only be forged over time. Their conference finals nemesis reminded them of that on Tuesday night.
“Just transition defense and rebounding and we’ll be OK,” Edwards said. “I feel like we can beat anybody. If we get back in transition and we rebound, and if I rebound, we’ll be good.”
(Photo of Kyrie Irving: David Sherman / NBAE via Getty Images)
