The Timberwolves Just LOCKED UP The Sacramento Kings

The Timberwolves Just LOCKED UP The Sacramento Kings

Welcome to another hows and grows postgame breakdown today we’re talking about Minnesota’s defense in their Road win over the Sacramento Kings there were a lot of directions we could have taken this breakdown but I want to talk about the defense because against the Kings that’s always going to be the most

Important thing in particular teams need to shut down their pick and roll and dribble handoff actions if they want to stop them from scoring a ton of easy points and that is exactly what the timber will did they kept Sacramento to 98 points their fourth lowest scoring output of the season on just

43.5% shooting from the field and 24.2% shooting from three and that 24.2% number was their lowest three-point clip of the season so let’s take a look at what Minnesota did to drive those numbers down and right away we get to see how dangerous the Kings can be with their handoff actions herder

Gets a step on Conley coming around here so Gober has to step up to the ball while Edwards gets in here to take away the rle man the Kings will skip this pass out to the top when that defensive coverage happens and now go has to step

Up into here to give Edwards time to recover on Murray Go’s presence forces Murray to stop short and Edwards is able to get that block from behind this whole game is just going to be a battle between great offense and great defense you see McDaniels get tagged by this

Screen but when go just shuffles over it’s going to force muray to take that one little hesitation step right here and that’s going to give McDaniels time to recover and eventually go be time to do the same back to sabonis from that original position with McDaniels way

Behind the play it’s just one simple rotation that makes life easier for everybody but now we get the Kings getting into their really fun offensive stuff again it’s a bonus as the Hub in the high post instead of coming around these two picks Murray is going to Jet

Back door and you see that really smart recognition here from Conley to get a hand up and stop sabonis from dumping it into the back door cut but the kings are ready for that counter and now Conley has a long way to go to get reattached

To herur the ball eventually is going to find him after they detour it to LS on the Block but against Minnesota you’re always dealing with two bigs and they’re digging in here to make this aack shot at The Rim again that’s just a great offense and a great defense going at

Each other as it was often in this game the great defense came out on top L is coming off this away screen and all the way into the corner and again it’s going to be Hera who fakes to come around here but actually goes back door through here

Instead go and Reed are alert and rotating into here to stop him and then Reed is going to make that second rotation out to the corner to get a hand up on that shot as well again it’s great offense but it’s better defense and we keep seeing that Murray turns this curl

Into an away away screen so that herder can use it and curl around it himself con is calling for the switch to try and make life a little bit easier for the defense but Edwards doesn’t recognize it and when it eventually turns into a pick and roll Minnesota has the best pick and

Roll defender in the league waiting to swallow up the shot and Kickstart a bre at the other end so we just keep this rolling on this one Murray is going to get downhill but Edwards does a great job hassling him off the pick and roll and then go is coming off the non

Shooter in the corner and making this shot at The Rim just that little bit harder to make his presence alone on those rotations is usually enough to do that especially late in the shot clock and now you get Jaden McDaniels doing his thing look at the way he gets this

Lead leg over the top of the screen allowing him to get skinny through it and stay connected to the super fast Fox he snatches the ball away to put a bit of icing on that cake and you see what these dominant pick and roll defensive possessions can do live ball turnovers

Equal transition opportunities and transition opportunities equal easy points the kings are going to go on a run in this fourth quarter making things tighter than they should have been and it kind of culminates in this blown switch when muray comes around here off the pin down L is going to slip the

Screen here and go to the rim Anderson comes up here to switch Edwards stays on Murray and lyes ends up wide open standing under the rim that brings what was a 20-point lead back to just five points and Minnesota need to tighten up if they don’t want to blow this game so

It’s just going to go back to that sturdy pick and roll defense Fox comes off this screen goz steps into the paint to stop stop him from driving and then Edwards is able to spin away from the ball screen and get a sick contest up on Fox’s jumper forcing a really important

Miss on one of the most clutched players in the entire league and we’re going to finish this off with an even better pick and roll possession I think the kings are trying to force the switch here to get Conley on Fox and McDaniels off him and onto Barnes instead but McDaniel

Slides through all of this closes up the space and then stays connected to Fox all the way through he finishes It Off by blocking the jumper again it’s a filthy contest and then the Wolves are off and running a sick finish by Edwards and that’s the final nail in

Sacramento’s coffin it’s another really great win for Minnesota and it’s another night built off the back of their defense that’s becoming the norm for them now and you can see the results that are following that defensive philosophy thanks again for watching how and GRS happy holiday pleas and please subscribe for more

The Wolves keep suffocating teams. It’s the new normal.

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