Minnesota’s Defense Is Terrifying…

Minnesota’s Defense Is Terrifying…

The Minnesota Timberwolves are just one game away from a second straight Western Conference Finals birth. And while we’re getting a huge series from Julius Randall, superstar moments from Anthony Edwards, and two-way awesomeness from Jaden McDaniels, they’ve been hanging their hat on defense for this whole playoff run so far. Now, they got a big break defensively with Steph Curry’s injury, but this is a team who have been firing on all cylinders defensively for a while now, and we got an absolute masterclass to break down in that gamedefining third quarter in game four. Minnesota is allowing just 103.1 points per 100 possessions in this second round series, which is a super strong defensive rating. But even that pald in comparison to the 70.8 points per 100 that they allowed in that third quarter. They kept Golden State to 17 points, six of 19 shooting, 0 of six from three, and six turnovers as they snatched this allimportant game away from the Dubs. Now, you could see that they flipped that switch into lockdown mode from the very first possession of that second half. And they did so by staying diligent on Golden State streaming actions. First, it’s Ant getting under this screen to cut off any back cut. Then, Mike Connley needs to get over this screen again because you don’t want Heel getting behind the defense here. So, now Butler is going to go into mismatch hunting. But instead of giving up this switch, Connley just hedges up to touch on Jimmy and then vacates the space to allow McDaniels to stay velcroed to Butler. Gobear comes off to wall off the rim. The defenders stay home on shooters and they force a shot clock violation to finish that possession. Those long drawn out defensive possessions have become a staple of this series for Minnesota and we saw them take it to another level in this third quarter with a defensive domination. Again, it’s just about nailing the basics multiple times throughout a possession. Randall slides over on point to take away the pod screen reject that immediately takes away option one and resets the offense. Then it’s Jaden McDaniel staying connected over the screen on Jimmy. And even though Gobear’s man clears out to give Butler a lane, Go sits in that hole to force Jimmy to go middle instead, which allows Minnesota to keep all of these matchups rather than compromising their defense to help on Butler and makes them play off the catch in isolation with time working against them. It kind of ends poorly here with the putback, but it was a sign of things to come for Golden State’s offense. Sometimes it was Minnesota’s perfectly executed help defense that stood out the most. Like here, Randall does get caught behind on the screen, but see how Doar keeps his man from getting behind while still pouring at Pajki to keep him guessing as well. And when he does have to switch out, Randall helps the helper by getting back to Gobear’s man again. They’re forcing Golden State to recycle possession. And when Gobear overcommits on that flyby, Ant now has taken the big man. Randall steps across to stop the drive and then still contests the bailout Draymond Green three-point attempt. And because Minnesota themselves are facing a really connected and dangerous defense, getting into their offense with pace coming off those missed shots allows less time for the Warriors to get into their shell and then opens up more lanes for someone like Anthony Edwards to puncture. If Minnesota has players who aren’t necessarily known for their defense, like Julius Randall, committing to dropping into these help gaps at the right time, they’re going to force the scoring load away from Jimmy Butler and funnel it into someone more manageable like Draymond Green. And really, the principles for good defense always remain the same. First, it starts with fighting over screens and mating life hard for offball actions like Connley does here by slipping under one screen, staying attached to a shooter like healed and then walling off this next screen. He knows Gobear is going to tag the back cut and keep scrubbing those options off the board. And Edwards trusts that Gobear can switch the next screen to force a bad shot and a bad miss. Again, that’s fueling their offense, which has kind of been stuck in the mud in this series. If they’re running off misses, they’re able to get Ant into a rhythm without having to wade through Golden State’s defense. And that’s when he can rip the heart out of teams with those home run shots. Now, it’s obviously easy to appreciate Ant’s shotmaking and the star power he has when he’s putting the hammer on a team like he did in this game, but McDaniels and Goar completely annihilating this straining action and forcing the miss is the key that unlocks some of those doors for Ant. And when Ant does get rolling offensively, that’s when you see him join the party a little more defensively as well. Now, his teammates are going to get the ball rolling with this perfect switch through the double drag action. And it’s underappreciated how Gobear is literally always in the right spot here to show a body on the drive. Those are things that you can’t measure in a box store, especially when he does it again here on Jimmy’s dive to the rim. And that’s when Ant has the platform to be the play finisher with his on ball defense. get Minnesota moving up the floor again with pace and find the good looks they haven’t been able to manufacture against Golden State’s set halfcourt defense. Even when Minnesota’s bench started filtering into this game, there’s a hunger from someone like Nquille Alexander Walker to chase and pester and grind over these handoff actions. And as a bonus, that allows McDaniels to sniff out passing lane pilers off the ball and handcuff Golden State’s offense in different ways. I think a lot of this series has come down to winning the Rock Fight. Golden State are scrapping tooth and nail to find ways to win without the greatness of Steph Curry to hold up their offense. And you can see that in the way they themselves defend with purpose and energy. So Minnesota has to get into the mud and get dirty with them. We’ve seen the Wolves do that pretty consistently throughout this series, but I don’t think we’ve seen them ramp it up to a level that we saw in game four. Without Steph there, Golden State just don’t have the star power to hang with Minnesota when the Wolves are at full throttle defensively like this. If the Wolves are throwing their best punch defensively and turning it into offense going the other way, they’re just too much to handle for a lot of teams, but especially an underdemand warriors unit. 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