The Timberwolves Have The Craziest Defense In The World…

The Timberwolves Have The Craziest Defense In The World…

Welcome to another hows and grows breakdown and today we’re talking about Minnesota’s loss to the Denver Nuggets last night Minnesota went in on the second half of a backto back without all three of their rotation bigs in Rudy goar KL Anthony towns and Nars Reed and

They left with what was an expected loss in the end the nuggets are awesome and they’re a tough team to beat for any team even if they’re at full health but wedged in between those facts was some of the best defense the Timberwolves have played all season that’s a big

Statement because they’ve held teams to fewer points and they’ve registered better defensive numbers but last night was a special defensive performance what this game proved is that Minnesota doesn’t rely solely on Rudy Gober to shoulder their defense he’s the defensive player of the year and he’s obviously extremely important but the

Foundation of Minnesota’s League best defense is their scrambling their help the helper mentality and their ability to consistently apply their principles no matter the Personnel or the opponent there was no better example of this than this short-handed defensive masterclass they put on in this game so let’s run

Through a long list of film because I think this game deserved it and we start with the basics because while the Wolves can really well defensively they’re great because they do the little things as well as any team Porter is coming off the pin down here and it’s tough to get

Over a yage screen so Gaza has to step up into here but rather than over chasing Alexander Walker peels back in front of jokic so instead of being able to drop this pass back to the MVP Porter has to take a tough contested mid-range jumper that’s a simple possession and

It’s easily unnoticed but both those quick decisions on switches and great angles from both Defenders keeps the Wolves turning a rolling finish for the Joker into a much more difficult look so that’s the kind of simple thing that Minnesota do night in night out but now

We get a real look at their help mentality and their ability to scramble out of that help so Gordon’s got the mismatch on Conley here in the post that triggers the top side double to come immediately and when he spins away from on the Baseline Anderson is already

Lurking in help to take that shot away at The Rim the smart pass goes to Anderson’s man so McDaniels helps the helper that means mlin has to do the same thing so he helps the helper as well Murray is dangerous off the bounce so Anderson steps up into the middle

Help while Alexander Walker spreads to the open shooter and even when Murray makes the right read again Alexander Walker is sprinting back to make a recovery close out and contest that shot so you kind of see what I mean when I’m talking about scrambling most teams can’t close down offensive advantages

Like the Timberwolves do and they seem to do it several times every game and I think what made this game so fascinating was because it came against Denver’s well-oiled offense it was like watching two Gladiators go at each other and while Denver ultimately won that battle I think Minnesota left STS on their

Offense that few other teams can so Denver run this split action where the two perimeter players cross over through here to give yic options from the elbow and look at how Minnesota blow this up Kyle Anderson calls the switch so he can jump out at Jackson they still squeeze

It to ytic so Morris is digging all the way down here to help and when they manage to get through that McDaniels is helping the helper again and using his length to get up and bat that away at The Rim again it’s a lovely offensive action on this next possession from

Denver but again Minnesota really show their defensive chops to shut off their scoring Avenues they actually mess up the initial switch here that’s supposed to put ant onto Murray and McDaniels onto Gordon that’s exactly what Denver want is to end up with two chasing the

Ball but the low man rotating down is so alert to stop the easy layup on that pass and then Alexander Walker is back out of low man help scrambling to run the shooter off the line so that’s three options already shut down and then Kyle

Anderson is going to step out and get in front of this little jumper to force a Miss great offensive rebounding instincts get Aaron Gordon to the line but you can see how Minnesota is on a string defensively against smooth offensive actions even when they do make a mistake like that blown switch to

Begin The Possession and what we saw a ton of in this game was Minnesota swarming yic and then scrambling back out of those double teams with really high Effectiveness so yic is in his sweet spot here and Conley is calling on McDaniels right away to

Get over and double the big man get the ball out of his hands and now the team can scramble Conley gets to the nearest pass Edwards comes from help in the middle to get out to the next pass McDaniel needs to high tail it to the

Corner to stop a skip pass coming over the top and they’re getting ready to go again with Conley coming back down to double but Kyle Anderson gets a hand in and PS the ball away to force the turnover anyway again Minnesota blows up the pick and roll with really hard and

Effective Gap help here from Morris so immediately they’re taking time off the shot clock and forcing Denver to battle the clock and their defense when it gets to y in the post again it’s a quick double from Edwards on the top side and a quicker help the helper rotation from

Morris to take away the easiest pass now Warren is out covering this shooter and Edwards quickly Maps the floor to rotate down and make that read a tougher one for Reggie Jackson that leads to the turnover and eventually Minnesota get out and find themselves a basket on the

Other end it’s generally thought of as bad practice to double yic because he’s one of the best Playmakers to ever walk the earth but he finished with zero assists in this game and that’s a rarity and mainly due to how great Minnesota did in these kind of situations here’s

Another really great example of this double team concept this time it’s in zone and yic has the mismatch on Morris once he takes a dribble it’s Gaza coming to crowd him as he often does yic makes the right but Gaza comes out of the double and jets back to help Edwards protect the

Rim and they force the ball out of jokic’s hands and force a Miss from his teammate now I don’t watch every Nuggets game so I could be wrong here but I’ve never seen a team double yic so effectively in one game the funny part is that he still had 35 points and

Ultimately did enough in the clutch to win his team the game because that’s how good he is but zero assists is like a solar eclipse for him and his inability to both score and facilitate is what kept the shorthanded Timberwolves in this game to the very end again Morris

Is coming over to trap him here Edwards is super alert and he’s pre- rotating over as the low man to stifle Brown’s potential slice to the rim through here mlin and Edwards both recover back to the shooters and they force Denver into a tough 30 foot look it’s really a shame

That Minnesota couldn’t find enough to win this game at the end because this defensive effort really deserved a better fate so it’s one more scramble out of the double team possession here the timing is so good for McDaniels as soon as jokic puts the ball on the floor

He Sprints into the Trap they’ve always got that one pass away read covered so Conley is getting out there to help the helper that forces a wild pass which allows Edwards to get back to the open man over here and I love how Anderson handed off yic to McDaniels so that he

Can slide into the low man spot and then be the one who comes across to block the shot at The Rim once again they shut off jokic’s playmaking but more importantly they are using this defensive brilliant to fuel their offense and find buckets at the other end so while towns is out

And that hurts Minnesota’s overall offensive Talent they’re also a faster team now and they’re really starting to adapt a defense to offense mentality rather than just grinding out games and this last possession speaks for itself I’d be here for an hour breaking down every rotation but sometimes it’s worth

Just watching it uninterrupted look at how they execute the switches on the ball so seamlessly to stay in front of Jamal Murray look at how quick they bring the double when the ball comes into yic in the post look at how they’re on a string when they scramble out of

That double team and look at how controlled the close outs are to stop Shooters but not give them a lane to drive past the defense into this is everything that I’ve been trying to analyze in this video all rolled up into one beautiful possession and they still

Lost basketball can be a funny game sometimes this was one of the best defensive performances by one of the best defenses of the modern era and shout out to the short-handed Timberwolves and shout out to the defending champs this is how the game should be played on both sides of the

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Even in a loss, it’s hard not to be in awe of this defense.