On Monday, the Minnesota Timberwolves won an incredible, hard-fought 114-109 overtime victory over the Boston Celtics. Not only have the Celtics been a perennial title contender for several years with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but they were also one of the hottest teams in the league entering Monday night’s game. Boston was 5-0 before losing to the Wolves. While the New York Knicks and Miami Heat were the best teams they beat, the Celtics put up 155 points against the Indiana Pacers last week. They have some of the best top-end talent in the league, with a legitimate Big 4 in Jayson, Jaylen, Jrue Holiday, and Kristaps Porzingis.
Boston entered the week in first place in the NBA’s power rankings, making Minnesota’s win incredibly impressive. Last year, the Wolves mainly had the same roster and lost to the Celtics twice. However, they came within two points of winning in their second matchup. Boston has significantly improved their roster since then by adding Porzingis and Holiday.
The way the Timberwolves beat Boston was exhilarating, too. Anthony Edwards stole the show in overtime, scoring eight of Minnesota’s 13 points. He also assisted on Mike Conley‘s clutch 3 that gave the Wolves the lead. Ant also got a nearly game-ending stop on Tatum. Edwards walled him off from driving into the paint, which forced Tatum to retreat and fall backward onto the ground. Ant tied up the ball, which forced a jump ball that Edwards won even though he’s four inches shorter than Tatum. That effectively turned Ant’s defensive stand into a forced turnover. It was a truly spectacular performance by the ascending superstar, who put up 38 points on 60% shooting, nine rebounds, and seven assists.
Even more exciting? That’s the second time this season that the Timberwolves have given a team that is an early-season title favorite their first loss of the year. The defending champion Denver Nuggets were 4-0 before losing in Minneapolis. At 7-1, the Nuggets still have yet to lose another game. Not only did the Wolves beat them, but they won by 21 points and held Denver to only 89 points. The Nuggets have averaged 117 points per game this season, and they’re fifth in the NBA in offensive rating at 119.2. That’s up from their incredible 116.8 offensive rating last year. That means the Wolves held them almost 30 points below their average, which is truly impressive.
The Timberwolves are early-season giant slayers, and the throughline between these two huge victories is that their defense has been top-tier. The Wolves are first in the league in defensive rating at a smothering 100.7. The second-place New York Knicks are 2.5 points behind them. As a point of reference, that’s over 9.0 points better than the Cleveland Cavaliers first-place defense last year, who ended the season at 109.9.
The last time a team ended a season with a better defensive rating than the Wolves’ current 100.7 was the 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs, who had a 98.2 defensive rating. That Spurs roster was absolutely loaded. They had one of the best players of all time in Tim Duncan, future Hall of Famer Kawhi Leonard, and LaMarcus Aldridge in his prime. Plus, they had all of their legendary role players and, let us not forget, a young Kyle Anderson in his second NBA season.
Minnesota’s defensive rating is a small sample size, of course. It’s unlikely that the Wolves will maintain a defensive rating of around 100 for the rest of the season. Even though it’s only been eight years since that Spurs squad had a defensive rating of under 100, offenses have improved in that time. In 2015-16, the league’s top offense was the Golden State Warriors, with a rating of 113.5, and they were one of only three teams with an offensive rating above 110. Last season, 22 teams had an offensive rating above 113.5. The Wolves just missed the cut at 113.3. Only three teams in the NBA had a rating below 110, and those teams held three of the four worst records in the league.
Still, small sample size and potentially outlandish defensive numbers aside, these solid defensive performances against title-contending teams should give the Wolves and fans reason to believe they can and should be a top-five defense all season. They have the talent and have gelled together this year. The Wolves are now 4-2, mainly because of their incredible defense. There’s also reason to believe these aren’t just empty numbers. Instead, it is a true sign that this could be the strongest Wolves team since they made a Western Conference Finals run with Kevin Garnett in 2004.
The Celtics currently have the second-highest offensive rating in the NBA at a blazing 119.9. Boston also has two superstars in Tatum and Brown, who can get a bucket at any time if their team truly needs it on most defenses. Although both stars got their points, Jayson had 32 and Jaylen had 26, the Timberwolves held them to 101 points in regulation and only 8 points in overtime. When both teams locked in defensively at the end of the game, and buckets became hard to come by, Ant imposed his will. He hit tough shot after tough shot while Minnesota’s defense shut down Boston’s stars in the last few minutes of the game.
Minnesota’s defense isn’t perfect yet, of course. In the first game of the season, the Toronto Raptors showed us that the Timberwolves are still susceptible to fast breaks because of their size. When Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns are on the court together, it can be hard to keep up with hyper-athletic, speedy teams who thrive on forcing turnovers and making you run in transition. However, some of the blame rests on the offense. If the Wolves take better care of the ball, which they have since their first game for the most part, then teams will have fewer opportunities to force their hand. Minnesota’s half-court defense has been more than capable of making up for their lack of transition defense in most games. Still, the question remains open as to whether or not this will be a long-term problem for the team.
The Atlanta Hawks game was also alarming. The Wolves gave up 127 points to the Hawks in a winnable game if the Wolves had been able to lock in on defense. They put up 79 points in the first half alone. Minnesota’s perimeter defenders struggled to guard Dejounte Murray, who got to his spots and got open looks all night. Murray killed the Wolves in the midrange, hitting 7 of his 9 midrange shots.
However, it’s challenging to determine how alarming this is. On the one hand, when the Wolves play drop coverage, their defense is susceptible to mid-range shots because Rudy is focused on being close to the rim and protecting it. Thus, if an offensive player gets past the first line of defense, there’s room in the mid-range to shoot because Gobert has dropped deep. If Rudy moves up to contest the shooter, his man or a cutter will be open for a lob or a dump-off pass with no one to protect the rim. It’s part of the give and take of prioritizing protecting the rim. Most drop coverages are susceptible to mid-range shots. That could continue to be a problem for the Wolves against teams like the Hawks and the Phoenix Suns, who have several players capable of doing damage in the midrange.
On the other hand, drop coverage is popular for a reason and is based in analytics. Not many players can shoot mid-range shots efficiently, especially not efficiently enough to justify taking it over a three. Drop coverage stems from the theory that if teams prioritize protecting the most efficient ways to score, they can live with giving up the least efficient buckets. If a player like Dejounte Murray gets on a heater and makes 7 of his 9 shots from the mid-range, you might lose that game. However, prioritizing protecting the rim and threes throughout the season will still be more effective. Additionally, the Wolves will theoretically get better at playing multiple types of coverage later in the year. They get more time to diagnose the problems with their team and install countermeasures to attempt to prevent them from happening.
Besides the 127 points the Wolves gave up in Atlanta, the 101 points the Celtics scored on them on Monday is the most they’ve let a team score in regulation. Led by Gobert and Jaden McDaniels, Minnesota’s defense has been absolutely suffocating. They have held two of the best teams in the league well under their season average of points. Their defensive rating is currently on pace to be one of the best of the decade. Given all the high-powered offenses in the modern NBA, it may be unlikely to stay there. Still, it looks like something that the Wolves can rely on every game to help them get wins and establish themselves as a true threat in the Western Conference.
