We’ve Only Just Begun
After the Timberwolves lost their first game of the 82-game season against the Toronto Raptors, it of course led fans to assume the past months of gassing up this team was all pointless. Naturally, if Minnesota had won, JakesGraphs would have a sweatshirt available the next day with an 82-0 graphic on it. Watching the game left me with a handful of takeaways and eventually makes me believe it should work itself out…
Timberwolves scored 34 baskets on only 20 assists
The issue here isn’t the amount of field goals made (even though you won’t win much with these numbers) but actually the assists to these baskets. In the Pre-season, the Timberwolves led the league with overall assists - a big reason they went 4-0 (not using the international game apart here). In those 4 games, the Wolves had 118 assists on 165 field goals made, which results in 71.5% of made shots coming from passes. In the season opener on Wednesday against Toronto, this percentage dropped to 58.8%, which isn’t shocking looking at this game. Too much hero ball with Ant, players weren’t cutting nor really moving when they didn’t have the rock either. Although Anthony Edwards showcased his talents dominating the ball against the Nuggets in the playoffs, that play-style is not conducive for 48 minutes. End of games is a different story, but this squad needs to share the sugar more in order to start racking up W’s.
Anthony Edwards postgame Wednesday night.
Timberwolves shot 34% from the field and 25.8% from deep
Not a single player off the pine shot better than 38% and in fact only 2 starters reached above that figure (Gobert & Conley). The bench needs to develop a scoring mindset. The longstanding problem in Minnesota has been a starting cast that can build leads that get broken down when the bench unit appears. Once Nickeil Alexander-Walker rejoins the group, some synergy can begin to grow but I am weary of Kyle Anderson's fit at the small forward position. Just can’t win games in today’s NBA if you can’t make shots, it’s as simple as that. A season ago Minnesota shot 49% from the field (3rd) and 36.5% from deep (13th). It is safe to say this was just a fluke, and shots should start to land moving forward. If the passing improves, we can expect a jump in shot making as well.
Karl-Anthony Towns was 8 of 25 & Anthony Edwards was 8 of 27
Both players shot well under their career average. KAT has still been unable to find comfort beyond the arc (2 of 10 on Wednesday) dating back to last season where his worst since 2017. Assuming this gets corrected, these are the amount of three’s Minnesota needs him to shoot a night - which is a positive sign. Anthony Edwards on the other hand was quite effective in this range, shooting 4 of 7 from three. The improved shooting out of Ant is the necessary leap into stardom that he needs and the key to unlocking this offense. Both of these players attempted around 7 more shots than their careers’ highest marks and I like the look of shooting 20+ shots for each of them.
Toronto scored 35 points in transition, 2nd most in the league thus far
Karl had possessions looking at the refs instead of getting back. Wolves had far too many careless turnovers that led to easy buckets for the Raptors. More importantly, a general lack of spirit when it came to getting back on defense. These points in transition were pivotal for Toronto, each time fueling both the crowd and the team. Simply put, this type of effort will be a nail in the coffin to this team's chances of winning close games.
Timberwolves had 62 rebounds, 18 of them Offensive and out-rebounded TOR by 15
For the first time since the arrival of “the big 3,” each of them registered a double double in the same game. Granted there were a lot of shots missed by both teams so it’s unreasonable to assume this will happen every night, but if this trio can continue to rebound successfully and dominate the boards on both sides of the ball it will lead to W’s. Anthony Edwards being the first guard to register 9 rebounds or more in the first half of a Timberwolves game since Corey Brewer is by far the funniest stat-line of the night. Just to make it known, Rudy dominated the boards and had a great start to the season all around. Hopefully his aggressive play can continue.
All things considered, Minnesota shot which could end up being the worst FG% of the season for them, and only lost by 3. It’s not time to throw in the towel yet, Wolves may in fact, still, be Back.
