End the Green Army's 5-game winning streak! 29 points against the defending champions! The Timberwolves, who have three 200 million gentlemen, are finally going to rise
preface
Which teams in the NBA are in the championship in the 2023-24 season, Nuggets, Suns, Celtics, Bucks, Lakers, Warriors, there are many teams that can be listed, Minnesota Timberwolves are difficult to be discussed before the start of the season, who let them just get a thrilling play-off spot last season, a difficult breakthrough, and finally only ended up in a round of tours, but as the season deepens, the Timberwolves have become a competitor that the giants have to worry about.
The Celtics, who won five consecutive games in the regular season, were undefeated in the game against the Timberwolves, swallowing the first defeat of the season, and the Big Four scored 90 points, and five days before this game, the Nuggets also suffered the first defeat of the season with the Timberwolves, and the defending champion was abused by 29 points.
Is this still the Timberwolves who couldn't fight a tough battle before? It can be said that it has completely changed its appearance.
A top-tier defensive brigade of "toughness".
After 6 games in the regular season, the Timberwolves handed over a 100.7 defensive efficiency answer, limiting opponents to an average of 101.2 points per game, which is the first in the league in the same period, in the 2022-23 regular season, the Timberwolves have three DPOY winners, and the inside line Gobert is in the team, but the team's average points per game still reach 115.8 points, the 18th most in the league.
After the operation of the offseason and the run-in of the lineup, the Timberwolves have shown a new look in the 2023-24 season, new signings Sheikh Milton, Troy Brown and others quickly developed excellent chemistry with the old players, the Timberwolves' defensive rotation is well organized, very layered, and airtight, after the first 6 games of the regular season, as many as 6 of the Timberwolves' main rotation players ranked in the top 20 in the league in defensive efficiency, Reed, Milton, and Lee Kyle ranked 4th respectively, 5th and 6th place.
Competing with the Timberwolves this season, the team's chief outside scorer must first face Jaden McDaniels' close defense in order to complete the score, constantly being interfered with by his 2.13 meters long arm, although Jaden McDaniels has a forward height of 2.06 meters, his feet move very quickly, and it already consumes a lot of physical strength just to break through his level, and Lee Kyle, Edwards and other forwards make the Timberwolves' defensive rotation can quickly respond to various tactics, even if they can get to the basket, The final outcome may also be to plunge headlong into the "no-fly zone" established by Gobert and Downs, and eat a "hot pot".
Even if they are as strong as the Nuggets duo Jokic and Jamal Murray, in a game against the Timberwolves this season, they had a total of 8 turnovers, only 16 of 39 shots, and 2 of 10 shots from beyond the three-point line, as for the Celtics, who have Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday and Porzingis, their original shooting rate of about 50% per game was directly limited to 39.1% by the Timberwolves.
The young wolf king is up to the task, and the attack is fully guaranteed
This season's Timberwolves are not only outstanding on the defensive end, they have also shown considerable competitiveness on the offensive end, as many as six players in the Timberwolves team have averaged double-doubles in points per game after the first six games of the regular season, and more importantly, the young Wolves King Edwards has been up to the task.
In the first 6 games of the regular season, Edwards averaged 28.2 points per game, 9th in the league in the same period, with a three-point shooting rate of 47.2%, and the Celtics in a game, Edwards scored a team-high 30 points in regular time, and entered overtime, Edwards scored 8 points, which was the same as the Celtics' overall overtime score, he also handed out 1 assist, completed 1 steal, and won a scrum in the defensive round against Tatum, dominated overtime, and took away the game.
The 22-year-old Edwards' ability to deal with different situations on the court has become better and better, with strong physical talent, Edwards's ability to hold the ball is quite reliable, which makes the Timberwolves have more confidence to fight with the opponent when facing any opponent, in addition, with his strong impact to change the opponent's formation and distribute the ball to his teammates, Edwards has also improved, which makes him more difficult to defend in the game, with Reed, Jaden McDaniels, With the help of teammates with reliable perimeter projections such as Conley, Edwards can lead the Timberwolves to a sharper offense than in previous seasons.
The Nuggets, Celtics, and Lakers should all be careful
The Timberwolves were able to make a 1-for-10 exchange from the Jazz to Gobert, proving that they have ambitions to impact the championship, and the results achieved in the 2022-23 season are really unsatisfactory, the ranking once fell to the bottom three in the West, and the regular season ended only to get a play-off spot, and finally ended up with a first-round exit, an early holiday, and if you look back at the history of the Timberwolves, they always seem to be immersed in disappointment, during the Garnett period, it was difficult for the Timberwolves to form a sizable lineup, and one round was the norm, Entering the West is purely "eating dumplings".
In the past 20 years, the Timberwolves have made a total of 3 playoffs, but they have accumulated enough talent, and the new team general manager has made a lot of targeted operations after taking office, aiming to make the team more competitive, but there are problems in the communication between the team and the players, and the players and players, Towns even said that he only knew his position after playing for a long time in the season, Gobert did not run in well with the team, and he also clashed with Li Kaier, waving his fists, The Timberwolves didn't perform well last season due to a variety of factors, but things have changed this season.
The Timberwolves players' body language in the game is positive, there are positive interactions with each other, encourage each other, and the post-game interview is not stingy with praise for teammates, the lineup is reasonable, the ball handler has Conley, Lee Kyle, 3D players have Troy Brown, Jaden McDaniels, there is space on the inside, Gobert is the top frame protector, and the team boss Edwards is leading by example to do his best at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. The Timberwolves have almost become the most headache for the defending champion Nuggets, Jokic had to turn on his personal scoring mode prematurely in the game with the Timberwolves this season, and was cut off from his teammates, and this is something that few teams in the league can do, and the Nuggets, which are evaluated by the outside world as more than one grade higher than many championship teams, have been abused by the Timberwolves by 29 points, Celtics, Lakers, Warriors, Clippers, Suns and other teams with many stars are considered to be the favorites to be careful, the Timberwolves are coming.