Last season, although injuries plagued the Wolves in the regular season, their tendency to leave feathers hair against teams with less than 50% wins (17 wins – 18 losses), or against the seven worst records in the league (7 wins – 13 losses), also handicapped them throughout the year.
“ Some of [ces défaites] were immature defeats “, judged Chris Finchthe coach of Minnesota, last month. “ We needed to forge an identity, we didn't have one last season. [Les joueurs] were somewhat different each evening. »
“ We lost a lot of games that we were supposed to win last season and it hurt us at the end of the year », declared in this sense Anthony Edwards, also a few weeks ago. “ So the coach emphasized that during the training camp. We shouldn't miss each other with the teams we're supposed to beat. We're not here to have fun. »
This season, the Wolves have therefore decided to no longer let these meetings slip away a priori easy against negative teams and, so far, they are doing very well: 9 wins – 2 losses. Add their record against positive teams (8-2) and you get there reason why Chris Finch's players are posting such satisfactory results: 17 wins and 4 defeats.
A collective in great shape
The local collective is progressing, everyone knows their role in the squad and, as the weeks pass, the surprise at the start of the exercise is no longer really one.
“ Without lying, they are different players [qui apportent] nightly », said Anthony Edwards on this subject, in the middle of the week. “ It's never just one player, but always two or three who go on the field and deliver a big match like this. »
This same Anthony Edwards, hit in the hip, had to leave his teammates prematurely with the Grizzlies and, to compensate for his loss, Minnesota was able to rely on players like Troy Brown Jr. or Shake Milton (37 points in total).
“ We have a lot of guys who can contribute and score », confirmed for his part Rudy Gobert, coming out of his match with 16 points, 20 rebounds and 6 blocks against Memphis. “ We are a selfless team. When the ball is moving, we are a really, really difficult team to defend because you never know where the danger is going to come from. Everyone is shining and I think those are the Wolves we want to see and need to see consistently. »
Perilous calendar ahead
At the end of the season, it is not uncommon to look back at the results of previous months to determine what could have been done to avoid this or that situation. If the Wolves had learned to better negotiate “not-to-lose matches”, they could, for example, have faced a completely different opponent than the Nuggets, future NBA champions, in the first round of the playoffs.
Hence this emphasis on seriousness in all circumstances from training camp, beyond gaining defensive solidity, showing consistency and being better structured in attack.
“ The tone is really very serious. We talk about what needs to be done », rejoiced Chris Finch, in November.
Minnesota's good resolutions will also be put to the test for a month, since their next 16 matches will take place against teams with a minimum 50% victory rate!
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Anthony Edwards | 18 | 35.2 | 45.4 | 37.8 | 86.5 | 0.8 | 5.2 | 5.9 | 5.1 | 3.2 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 25.7 |
| Karl Anthony Towns | 20 | 33.4 | 51.0 | 42.6 | 90.2 | 1.1 | 8.0 | 9.1 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 3.4 | 21.8 |
| Rudy Gobert | 20 | 32.6 | 61.6 | 0.0 | 62.3 | 3.7 | 8.4 | 12.1 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 13.4 |
| Naz Reid | 20 | 21.8 | 50.3 | 37.9 | 90.6 | 1.1 | 3.2 | 4.3 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 12.7 |
| Mike Conley | 20 | 29.6 | 43.4 | 41.1 | 96.4 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 6.1 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 10.8 |
| Jaden Mcdaniels | 11 | 23.6 | 58.2 | 37.9 | 100.0 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 3.3 | 9.5 |
| Kyle Anderson | 20 | 24.1 | 49.1 | 16.7 | 68.8 | 0.8 | 2.9 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 7.3 |
| Nickeil Alexander-walker | 20 | 23.3 | 40.8 | 33.3 | 45.5 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 6.7 |
| Shake Milton | 20 | 16.1 | 35.4 | 21.1 | 80.0 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 5.3 |
| Troy Brown, Jr. | 16 | 14.5 | 40.7 | 35.0 | 85.0 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 4.9 |
| Luka Garza | 4 | 3.1 | 40.0 | 0.0 | 62.5 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 3.3 |
| Daishen Nix | 5 | 3.9 | 37.5 | 40.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.6 |
| Josh Minott | 9 | 2.6 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.6 |
| Jordan McLaughlin | 5 | 3.8 | 25.0 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.0 |
| Leonard Miller | 3 | 2.1 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 |
| Wendell Moore, Jr. | 1 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
