One week ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ season was over. After a devastating loss to the Sacramento Kings on Black Friday, in which the Wolves led by 12 points in the fourth quarter but lost by 11 to cap a four-game losing streak and (hopefully) mark rock bottom for the team this season, I want to put the word out that the Timberwolves are back up.
Since the loss to Sacramento dropped the Wolves to 8-10, Minnesota has rattled off three straight wins to stay afloat in the stacked Western Conference. It’s just three games in late November and early December. Still, 21 games into the season, the Timberwolves are finally starting to look like the team that made it to the Western Conference Finals last year.
The Timberwolves had the league’s No. 1 defense last year. They had a perfect combination of hot, nasty, badass speed on the perimeter from Jaden McDaniels, Anthony Edwards, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and size and rim protection from the four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Naz Reid.
Minnesota lapped the competition with a defensive rating of 108.4, a full two points per 100 possessions better than the second-place Boston Celtics. The Wolves rode their world-class defense to a 56-26 record and national relevance for the first time since 2004.
The start of the 2024-25 season could not look more different. Towns left the only NBA team he had ever known in a trade that sent him to New York for a package that brought back Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. However, Randle and DiVincenzo have failed to fit into Chris Finch’s offense and defense system for the first 20 games of the season.
Through Thanksgiving, Minnesota’s defensive was 112.1, almost four points per 100 possessions worse than last year and 12th best in the NBA. The perimeter defense was non-existent, and the once-vaunted defense gave up the seventh-most points in the paint, 51.6 per game. Rudy Gobert had the three seconds heard around the world. Ant called the team soft in the throws of a four-game losing streak. And the Wolves looked dead in the water a quarter of the way through the season.
In the three games since Ant called everyone out, the Timberwolves are finally playing with their p— hot. Minnesota is riding an impressive three-game winning streak on the back of the three best defensive performances of the season. The first was a classic 90s street fight with the Los Angeles Clippers, which resulted in a 93-92 victory.
The next two wins were absolute ass-whoopings to get the Wolves back on track. They beat the hell out of the Lakers 109-80 and followed that up with a 108-80 win against the Clippers. During the streak, Minnesota’s defensive rating is 86.6 which is 11.8 points per 100 possessions better than the second-best defense over that period and 16.6 points better than the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder.
During the three-game winning streak, Edwards, McDaniels, and the rest of Minnesota’s perimeter players have turned up the heat on opposing ballhandlers, and Gobert and Reid have walled off the paint. In the three wins, the Wolves have vaulted up to third in points in the paint allowed and are fourth in steals per game, up from 14th across the whole season.
Even Randle and DiVincenzo are finally getting in on the party, playing some of their most aggressive defense of the season. The Timberwolves have reignited a season on the brink of being lost. They are playing with their usual swagger for the first time since beating the Denver Nuggets in seven games in the second round of the playoffs last season.
The wildest part of Minnesota’s resurgence is that the offense has been terrible during the three wins. The Wolves’ offensive rating is just 105.8, which is 24th in the NBA over that span and 6.2 points lower than the season-long rate of 112, the 17th best in the league. Anthony Edwards is averaging just 15 points per game on 31.3 percent from the field. Randle is leading the way on offense but averaging just 16.3 points per game, albeit efficiently. It’s even more impressive that the Timberwolves are beating the hell out of teams when their franchise player is in the midst of his worst shooting slump.
The schedule gods have helped the Wolves get back in the playoff picture. Minnesota’s first win against the Clippers came as LA finished a four-game road trip. The Lakers were on the second night of a back-to-back, and the Clippers were also on the second night of a back-to-back on Wednesday. Now, the schedule gets brutal for the rest of December.
Minnesota travels to the Bay Area to take on the reeling Golden State Warriors on Friday before a second go-around with the Warriors on Sunday. The Wolves play the Lakers, resurgent San Antonio Spurs, Towns and the New York Knicks, and Atlanta Hawks before a rematch with the Dallas Mavericks on Christmas Day.
The streak is a start and may have saved Minnesota’s season. Still, the Wolves must keep winning to prove they are still contenders. If the defense is back to form, this might just be the start of the season turnaround.
