Who Will the Minnesota Timberwolves Play Again Smashed

Nick Wosika-USA TODAY Sports

The Minnesota Timberwolves are a completely new team

In 2018, the Minnesota Timberwolves made the playoffs for the get-go time since 2004. On the back of some keen play by guys like Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and yes, even Jimmy Butler, the Wolves broke 1 of the longest active playoff droughts not merely in the NBA, simply in all of professional sports.

Now, in 2021, just one histrion remains from that team, the 1 that was arguably the nigh successful version of the Wolves since 2004. That histrion is Karl-Anthony Towns, who, in his time with Minnesota, has been through 5 head coaches and no less than 65 different teammates.

This flavor, the Timberwolves are bringing back 11 players from 2020-21. That number, while encouraging, is almost unheard of among this organization. The amount of turnover that they normally experience, and the almanac rebuilding of chemistry, seem to take been put to a halt. Minnesota, on the exterior, seems to exist about the same team that they were terminal year.

And yet these Minnesota Timberwolves are completely unlike.

For the get-go time in a long fourth dimension, the Minnesota Timberwolves are markedly improved.

The biggest identify this comeback has been, past far, is defence force. If there is any aspect of the Wolves' game that has taken a spring to the side by side level information technology has to be that. Last flavor especially, Minnesota's defense was horrendous. Their opponent's averaged 49.8 points per game (24th in the NBA), 14.5 second-chance points (28th in the NBA), and shooting 48.2 pct from the field and 39.2 percent from three-point range (28th and 30th in the league, respectively).

In this kickoff game of what feels like a completely new flavour, the Timberwolves held the Houston Rockets to 58 points in the paint, 17 second-hazard points, and 45.v percent shooting from the field and 33.three percent shooting from deep. Insufficiently, the Timberwolves recorded fifty points in the paint, xv 2d-take a chance points, and shot 48.3 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from deep.

The numbers, nonetheless, don't do this game justice. The sheer effort and determination that the Wolves were showing on the defensive end was outstanding. For my coin, the most impressive stat is that the Wolves starting 5 along–D'Angelo Russell, Anthony Edwards, Josh Okogie, Jaden McDaniels, and Karl-Anthony Towns–had almost three times the amount of blocks that the entire Houston Rockets had, outnumbering them 8-iii.

Minnesota was too able to force 24 turnovers from the Rockets and converted them into 38 points off turnovers, compared to Houston's 18 and 21 respectively. The cerise on top? Minnesota, the second smallest squad (albeit, the Rockets are the smallest) in the league corralled 33 defensive rebounds and converted some of those boards to additions to their total of 31 fast-break points. Minnesota also outrebounded Houston on the offensive end, winning that battle thirteen-12.

Towns actually looked like he was improving on the defensive end as well. Someone who normally struggled on that side of the court, Towns ended up with 2 blocks and two steals and shot a great 11-15 from the flooring. Over the offseason, Towns contacted defensive smashing Ben Wallace, who told him to lose some weight and gave him advice on playing defense.

If in that location was going to be one word to draw this game, it's intensity. The Wolves laid the pressure on Houston for three and a one-half quarters, only letting upwards towards the terminate of the game when the result was no longer in question. Anybody was diving for loose balls, clawing for boards, and keeping the offense in bank check with quick hands (Minnesota came abroad with 18 steals in the game). And intensity could describe this squad likewise. The squad, in recent interviews, has left us with some pretty insane quotes. The first is from D'Angelo Russell, talking about his mindset this flavor:

Kill everyone in front of us. I don't care who information technology is. I don't care what team it is. Just try to win the matchup. Win the night. Win the quarter. Win everything.

And the other has come from Karl-Anthony Towns, talking well-nigh his new pre-game ritual:

I actually have but been watching two gorillas fight earlier every game. I've been addicted to that. I desire to run into who is the best in the laws of nature. I'm watching gorillas fight all day. I know if I'm in that video, I'm leaving out alive. Someone gotta die. Ain't gonna exist me.

Many have attributed this ritual, which I'one thousand sure another i of Towns' mentors in Kevin Garnett would corroborate of, and the overall increase in intensity to Patrick Beverly joining the team, and information technology'southward hard to disagree. Beverly is an irritant for opponents, and if he's on a team, it'southward probable that he's imposing a "kill what you eat" sort of mentality.

However, there's another better word to describe this new and improved Wolves team: unity. Late in the game, the Wolves lost the ball, and the Rockets took off on a two-on-none fast suspension. Instead of just sitting dorsum and letting the Rockets score some meaningless points, Malik Beasley sprinted down the courtroom, swatted the brawl out of the Rocket Player'south hands, and so dove to the baseline to endeavor and go along information technology in bounds. The ball went out, but this was the bench'southward reaction:

It's so important to see this, peculiarly in a young squad, early in the flavor, and definitely at the end of a great defensive play, which Beasley would and so lucifer a few plays afterward:

The plays were amazing, and the team'south reaction was even better. To top it all off, at the cease of the game, as some players had already gone into Minnesota's locker room, Anthony Edwards called everyone back out onto the court, and there was a brief squad huddle. At the end, they chanted "i-2-3 Family unit." Towns after commented on that chant, and on the bench reaction to the outset Beasley play mentioned, saying:

The culture nosotros're trying to build hither is special and it requires everyone to be agile … Nosotros're supposed to be brothers. We gotta act like it. We say '1-2-3 Family', we got to act like it.

It'southward difficult to say Minnesota Timberwolves basketball is back, not because it isn't, but because for and then long that phrase, "Minnesota Timberwolves basketball", has carried with information technology some negative connotations. Information technology meant losing, and moving frontwards without a direction, for so long. Just that'due south not the instance anymore. At least, non judging by this game. Minnesota Timberwolves basketball is not back.

The NEW Minnesota Timberwolves basketball is here.

lynasfrooking45.blogspot.com

Source: https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/21/minnesota-timberwolves-new-team/

Share this post