In Monday night’s loss to Spurs, Wolves were overwhelmed by Spurs’ transitions, conceding 24 points on the counterattack. “As soon as we went to the offensive rebound, they scored on the counterattack”noted Anthony Edwards. “We have to retreat, focus on it, so as not to be yelled at. Because we are fed up! »
For this revenge, the Minnesota players have therefore adopted a more cautious strategy. Despite the presence of Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns inside, they concentrated their efforts on the withdrawal and not on the offensive rebound.
A winning choice since the Wolves got the better of the Spurs, but without swallowing a single offensive rebound in 48 minutes! A rare performance since, for the record, winning a match without taking the slightest offensive had only happened twice, before this meeting, since the 1983/1984 season.
More work in defense
Inevitably, the effect on the Texans was immediate. Gregg Popovich’s troops were only able to score a meager 6 points on the counterattack…
“We saw the difference, in our way of playing, in our energy”, rejoices Towns for Pioneer Press. “I’m happy, we took control of the game. As usual, we lost the thread and our lead a bit, but we fought. »
To make things easier, in addition to limiting Spurs’ transition possibilities, Wolves were very, very skilful in this meeting. When shooting at 60% success with a 20 of 34 at 3-pts, it is naturally more difficult for the opponent to accelerate. He always starts from the baseline and can’t impose a big rhythm after the defensive rebound.
“That’s what we’re talking about, the basics: ensuring the withdrawal, taking the rebounds; play simple in attack, finding the unmarked player”, lists Chris Finch. “I really liked the movement of the ball even if I would like us to be a bit more aggressive in defence. I hope it will eventually come. »
After five games against teams announced as very weak (Oklahoma City and San Antonio twice, and Utah), the Wolves have indeed already shown signs of weakness in several important areas. In attack, they lose too many balls (16.4 on average), and in defense, they are far from the mark with 116.6 points conceded on average.
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Karl Anthony Towns | 4 | 34.6 | 41.0 | 31.8 | 96.0 | 1.5 | 6.8 | 8.3 | 4.8 | 3.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 20.3 |
| Anthony Edwards | 4 | 35.5 | 43.2 | 25.8 | 53.3 | 1.0 | 7.5 | 8.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 20.0 |
| D’angelo Russell | 4 | 32.8 | 46.3 | 36.4 | 94.1 | 1.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 3.3 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 18.5 |
| Rudy Gobert | 4 | 32.1 | 65.8 | 0.0 | 53.3 | 5.0 | 10.3 | 15.3 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 14.5 |
| Jaylen Nowell | 4 | 21.9 | 42.1 | 26.1 | 66.7 | 1.3 | 3.8 | 5.0 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1.8 | 14.5 |
| Jaden Mcdaniels | 4 | 31.4 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 87.5 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 11.0 |
| Taurean Prince | 4 | 15.7 | 61.1 | 63.6 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 7.3 |
| Naz Reid | 3 | 11.7 | 47.1 | 33.3 | 50.0 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 6.7 |
| Jordan McLaughlin | 4 | 16.0 | 38.5 | 14.3 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 2.8 |
| Bryn Forbes | 4 | 8.0 | 22.2 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| Kyle Anderson | 2 | 11.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Nathan Knight | 2 | 1.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| austin rivers | 2 | 4.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Wendell Moore, Jr. | 1 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
