The Minnesota Timberwolves continue to adjust to playing without their star Karl-Anthony Towns, following his calf strain injury last week against the Washington Wizards. However, the All-Star big man’s absence could afford this team an opportunity to focus on themselves and address some of their major flaws that have troubled them throughout the first quarter of the season.
Minnesota will miss Towns’ scoring versatility and the presence of such a centralizing player during the next month or so. However, this team will be put in a position where they have to come together as a unit and overcome some adversity, which could spark a fire under them.
The Wolves will need to rally together and generate some of that spark during this next month of basketball, as they will face off against some of the league’s best. They will face off against MVP candidate Luka Doncic in back-to-back games and Eastern Conference juggernauts in the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks. Therefore, the Wolves will be highly battle-tested in how they prepare both physically and mentally as they tackle these high-level opponents without KAT in the upcoming weeks.
Don’t overlook the Portland Trail Blazers, though. They are another intriguing and under-the-radar opponent that the Wolves will face in back-to-back games on Saturday, Dec. 10, and shortly after on Monday, Dec. 12.
The Trail Blazers sit two games ahead of the Timberwolves as the eighth seed in the Western Conference standings. Minnesota occupies the 11th seed. Given that they have relatively close records, the results of this upcoming back-to-back matchup with the Blazers could serve as a positive momentum shifter for the Wolves. But it could also move them back in the standings and put Minnesota in a deeper hole before a difficult upcoming schedule this month.
Unfortunately, the Blazers are excelling at something offensively that the Wolves have had real trouble addressing defensively – three-point shooting.
Portland currently ranks fourth in the league in three-point shooting (38.3%). In their recent wins over the Indiana Pacers and Utah Jazz this past week, the Blazers shot 42.5% and 40%, respectively, from beyond the arc.
The Blazers have five players shooting better than 37% from three, including Jerami Grant and Anfernee Simons, who have been deadly from deep this season. Grant is shooting 46.1% from three on 6.1 three-point attempts per game, which ranks him ninth in the league in three-point shooting efficiency and second among players that have shot at least 100 three-point attempts this season. Simons has built upon his emergence as a young prolific scoring guard last season. He’s shooting 39.7% on a clip of 10.1 three-point attempts per game.
The Blazers are shooting well, even though Damian Lillard isn’t having an efficient season. Lillard has only played in about half of Portland’s games this season due to injury and is only shooting 34.7% from three. That’s a down year for the career 37.2% shooter from three. Still, Lillard, 32, should improve his three-point shooting this year as long as he stays healthy.
Portland’s proficiency from three has led them to seek the long ball in myriad situations. The Blazers constantly make efforts to kick the ball out to the perimeter or swing it to get a three-point shot, and most of their players display little to no hesitation when letting it fly from deep.
On the other hand, the Wolves have not only been struggling to shoot efficiently from deep but have arguably had even more trouble defending the three. The Wolves are currently allowing teams to shoot 37.2% from three on over 36 attempts per game (36.4). That ranks them 25th in the league in three-point defense, and it hasn’t gotten any better in Minnesota’s recent losses. In their recent loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Wolves allowed OKC to shoot 42.3% from three. If that was bad, it paled in comparison to how the Wolves performed in their loss to the Washington Wizards. The Wolves allowed Washington to shoot 48.4% from three on 31 attempts.
While the Wolves have struggled on multiple aspects of their defense this year, their inability to close out on shooters and make more of a focused effort on contesting threes has led to many teams shooting a highly-efficient rate from three against them. There’s an old saying that you live by the three, you die by the three, and many teams have lived lavishly against the Wolves.
However, not all hope is lost for the Wolves. They still have capable defenders who can play important roles in these two games against the Blazers. While D’Angelo Russell has struggled a bit offensively this season, he has been effective in contesting opponents’ shots, holding them to less than 39% shooting from the field when he contests them. Wendell Moore Jr. could also be an interesting piece for Chris Finch to utilize against the Blazers following his impressive defensive showing against the Memphis Grizzlies last week.
In a last-second call to start for the Wolves, Moore held Ja Morant to just 40% efficiency from the floor and made several skilled defensive plays throughout the game. Jaden McDaniels has returned from injury and is one of Minnesota’s best defensive players. With the length and lateral quickness that each of these players shows, their presence on the perimeter defensively against the Blazers could be vital for the Wolves to force Portland to either miss more threes or resort to scoring inside.
For the Wolves, forcing Portland to score more from inside the paint and inside the three-point line could be their recipe for success. The Blazers have struggled to get easy points near the basket and have also struggled a bit this season from the free-throw line. With Gobert manning the paint for the Wolves, it will likely lessen Portland’s willingness to go inside. Thus, if the Wolves can close out strongly on the Blazers’ three-point shooting, Minnesota could increase their chances of taking down this Portland team in one or both of these games.
Facing the Blazers back-to-back this week will be a crucial test for the Wolves. Suppose Ant is ready to lead this team in the way he has mentioned, and Chris Finch and the coaching staff reemphasize to this team that they can shut down the three-point line and force opposing players to score from inside, where Rudy Gobert will be waiting for them. In that case, they can come out on the winning end of these matchups with the Blazers. Now, it will be up to Minnesota’s tenacity and efforts to keep the Blazers from catching fire against them.
