Another look at the Timberwolves' fourth-quarter issues

Not surprisingly, Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau has spent a lot of time analyzing his team's recent fourth-quarter struggles. He shared some thoughts after the morning shootaround today:

--First, he liked the shots his team got in the fourth quarter against Orlando Wednesday. The Wolves were a combined 4-for-23 in the fourth quarter, in which they were out-scored 38-18. But the team got nine shots in the restricted area (going 1-for-9), and while going 1-for-7 on threes, most of those were open shots. As far as finishing close to the basket, the key, Thibodeau said, is to finish stronger.

--More on the offense. One problem of late is the tendency for the Wolves to get deep into the shot clock before getting a shot late in games. One reason? To Thibodeau, with NBA teams going smaller and with the versatility of wing players, teams are able to switch in the pick and roll without giving up an obvious mismatch in the post. Thibodeau things the Wolves are trying too hard to find a mismatch that the ball stops moving. "The tendency is you're looking at the mismatch instead of just keeping the ball moving.''

--And then the defense. To Thibodeau, that's the bottom line. "The primary thing is our defense,'' Thibodeau said. "We're giving up a high percentage, we're giving up a lot of points. We're not getting stops, so we're not getting into the open floor. That's the big thing. The defense has to improve.''

Here's one final interesting note:

According to NBA.com's John Schumann, the combination of Jeff Teague and Towns is one of the most potent so far this season. Entering Friday's games, Teague had assisted on 46 baskets by Towns.That is the second most proficient combo in the league; Portland guard Damian Lillard has 53 assists to Jusuf Nurkic to top the league.Teague, so far, has assisted on a full 1/3^rd of Towns baskets."He's a great passer, a facilitator while being a great scorer,'' Towns said.To look at it another way, 46 of Teague's 135 assists – 34.1 percent – have gone to Towns.