With 20 wins for 5 losses, the Wolves have the best record in the league, tied with the Celtics. And are comfortably seated at the top of their conference. Chris Finch still finds a way to keep his team mobilized by identifying an area of progress: the start of the meeting.
“ This is worrying. We must do better. Tonight, we lost the ball seven times in the first quarter, so we couldn't do better on offense, then our defense let us down too. We must be better “, asks the Wolves coachat the end of the match won in Miami.
His team missed its start by finding itself trailing by 11 points after 12 minutes of play (33-22). The debates were more balanced in the second quarter, but the visitors still started the second half with a deficit of 12 points to make up (66-54), after having counted up to 17.
It was on the basis of a strong third quarter in defense (best team in the league in this regard) that the Wolves were able to turn the tide. Which in no way corrects this unfortunate tendency to start meetings too slowly. “ I would say that we became aware of it. It’s something we need to work on, that’s for sure. We will look into it and find how to start matches better. We can't be two different teams “, says Mike Conley.
Big reactions in the third quarter
Since the start of the season, the Wolves have only posted the 20th best “Net Rating” in the league (-1.5 points per 100 possessions) in the first quarter. Among the teams with a negative record, only the Lakers are doing worse, much worse even (-13.5 points!).
The Minnesota players, who started their matches much more seriously last year, on the other hand have a fairly impressive reaction capacity in the third quarter, where they score, on average over 100 possessions, 18 points more than their opponents. . Only the Sixers are doing better in this period (+22!).
“ It wouldn't be fun if there wasn't anything to fix. This is definitely something we need to improve on as it can cost us games », Warns Rudy Gobert, whose last defeat for his team, against the Pelicans, took place despite a tie in the first quarter.
The Frenchman adds: “ We need to be punched in the face to wake us up and do what we have to do. Every time we do what we're supposed to do, especially on defense, we put ourselves in a position to win. » Same speech for Anthony Edwards who says he doesn’t like “ that at all. We have to find ways to start better, and that's what Finchy insisted on when he came into the dressing room after the match. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Anthony Edwards | 21 | 33.6 | 44.7 | 39.4 | 84.9 | 0.7 | 4.6 | 5.3 | 5.1 | 3.2 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 24.2 |
| Karl Anthony Towns | 24 | 33.2 | 51.6 | 43.0 | 90.1 | 1.5 | 8.0 | 9.5 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 3.3 | 22.4 |
| Naz Reid | 24 | 22.6 | 50.8 | 40.0 | 92.1 | 1.1 | 3.5 | 4.6 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 13.5 |
| Rudy Gobert | 24 | 32.0 | 61.7 | 0.0 | 60.8 | 3.7 | 8.3 | 12.0 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 2.9 | 12.7 |
| Mike Conley | 24 | 29.4 | 45.0 | 42.7 | 94.6 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 6.2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 11.3 |
| Jaden Mcdaniels | 14 | 23.5 | 55.8 | 36.8 | 75.0 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 3.2 | 9.5 |
| Nickeil Alexander-walker | 24 | 23.8 | 41.2 | 36.4 | 60.0 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 7.1 |
| Kyle Anderson | 24 | 23.5 | 46.4 | 10.5 | 69.2 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 4.1 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 7.0 |
| Troy Brown, Jr. | 20 | 16.0 | 45.5 | 37.7 | 85.0 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 6.0 |
| Shake Milton | 24 | 15.4 | 38.0 | 24.4 | 82.9 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 5.7 |
| Luka Garza | 5 | 3.2 | 36.4 | 0.0 | 62.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 2.6 |
| Josh Minott | 11 | 2.4 | 57.1 | 0.0 | 66.7 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.8 |
| Daishen Nix | 6 | 3.5 | 37.5 | 40.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.3 |
| Jordan McLaughlin | 8 | 4.1 | 40.0 | 66.7 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 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. | 5 | 2.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
