In 2014, the Golden State Warriors stumbled into a lineup that changed the NBA forever. Their death lineup consisted of Draymond Green at center, Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala at the forwards, and Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry at the guards. It sparked the small ball trend. The lineup was incredibly successful due to Green’s ability to play center and match up with much taller and bigger defenders, and the other four defenders’ ability to switch and rotate to provide excellent defense.
On the other side of the ball, Green could be the lone non-shooter, surrounded by four shooters, including Curry. This lineup was so successful that every team in the NBA started to abandon the traditional center position for the next eight years. That makes it much more ironic that the Wolves were forced to deploy their version of the death lineup Monday night in Utah due to injuries to Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, and Naz Reid.
Minnesota’s version of the lineup has a much smaller sample size of only 21 minutes of play. Kyle Anderson is thrust into the center role, joined by Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jaden McDaniels, Anthony Edwards, and Mike Conley. For the Wolves, discovering this lineup may add a new wrinkle that Chris Finch can use in the playoffs, although it should be noted this would require Towns, Gobert, and Reid to sit on the bench. The similarities between this lineup and Golden State’s vaunted death lineup are remarkably clear.
In the 21 minutes this Anderson lineup has played, they have an incredible 139.1 offensive rating, meaning if this lineup played 100 possessions together on average, they would score 139.1 points. That offensive rating is 24.5 points better than their season average. Their defensive rating is equally impressive, at 88.9, 19.5 points better than Minnesota’s first-place 108.4 defensive rating. These two combine for a net rating of +50.2, suggesting that per 100 possessions, this lineup outscores opponents by 50.2 points.
With such a small sample size, it could be assumed that the Anderson lineup may benefit from hot shooting, causing the rating to be much higher. However, this does not seem to be the case. The Anderson lineups’ shooting percentages are improved from the season averages of 48.4%, field goal percentage, 38.6% three-point percentage, and 59.3% true shooting. However, the change hasn’t been drastic, sitting at 48.9%, 40.9%, and 63.6% after the Utah Jazz game.
The difference in true shooting seems significant, though. Upon closer inspection, the lineup where Anderson plays center has not missed a free throw yet, which artificially boosts the true shooting because that metric includes free throw percentage. It’s unlikely this lineup, given more time, will continue to be perfect from the free-throw line. Therefore, while the Wolves are shooting 0.5% better from the field and 2.3% better from three, it doesn’t account for the 24.5 increase in offensive rating.
The main reason the offense is so elite with the Anderson lineup seems to be the lack of turnovers and ball security. The lineup posts a 7.0 assist-to-turnover ratio and a 4.3% turnover percentage. Minnesota’s season average in assist-to-turnover is 1.86, and it has a 14.4% turnover percentage.
That means the Wolves are essentially turning the ball over ten times less per 100 possessions with this lineup. Meanwhile, they maintain their superb ball movement, shown by a 63.6% assist rate of their made baskets (Minnesota’s regular-season assist percentage is 63.8%). That’s mainly because Finch is having Anderson and Conley run the initial action of the offense before swinging it to Edwards to finish the play or make the second read.
Defensively, it’s much easier to determine why the Anderson lineup has been so elite. They only allow opens to shoot 31.4% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range. A vast improvement from an outstanding regular season in which the Wolves only allowed a 44.8% field goal percentage and 35.2% from three.
It could be argued that these percentages are artificially inflated due to the Wolves playing Utah. But it should be noted that the Timberwolves only used this lineup for ten minutes against the Jazz compared to 11 against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday. That highlights that the Wolves shut down Denver’s elite offense and the Jazz.
The opponent’s shooting percentages decreased so much because of the Anderson lineup’s switchability. That means that all five players on the floor are fast and stout enough to guard all the positions on the floor adequately. That essentially means that during any pick-and-roll or off-ball screen, the Wolves switch who they are guarding rather than fighting through the screens.
With Alexander-Walker, McDaniels, and Edwards guarding players at an exceptional level, Conley and Anderson are the weak spots in the defense. Both of them grade as above-average defenders for the season. That has resulted in the Jazz and Nuggets trying to force one-on-one matchups rather than running their traditional offense.
The only weakness the Anderson lineup may see is its smaller size. The lineup has held its own through 21 minutes, though. They have a 51.0% rebound percentage and only 30.4 points in the paint per 100 possessions. Minnesota’s rebound rate is only slightly lower than their season average of 51.4% rebound percentage. The points in the paint are a vast improvement from the 51.8 points in the paint allowed on their season average. The improvement is not likely to last if the Wolves continue to use the Anderson lineup. However, Finch was willing to use it for 11 minutes against the Nuggets.
Golden State rode its death lineup to a championship and a finals appearance before ultimately metamorphosing into a super team by adding Kevin Durant. Minnesota’s death lineup with Anderson was born out of necessity, and they probably will use it less when players return from injury. However, it should be noted that Minnesota’s Anderson lineup has been one of their more successful lineups of the season.
“I think it’s a sneak peek of how we might have to play in different matchups, different games in the playoffs,” he said, responding to Dane Moore’s question about small ball after Tuesday’s game. “Hopefully, it’s another lineup for our group. It’s one night, but I thought we did a really good job of adjusting to who we had on the court.” When things slow down in the playoffs and offense is harder to come by, it will be fascinating to see if Finch deploys a death lineup.
