Timberwolves offense is clunky, defense is slow and already fans are frustrated

The Timberwolves' honeymoon couldn't have been shorter had the wedding occurred at midnight in Vegas at a drive-through chapel featuring a chaplain wearing an Elvis costume.

In the second quarter of the Wolves' fourth game of the season, their fans jeered them. In the third quarter, they turned the volume on the jeers up to 11.

On Monday night at Target Center, the Wolves lost 115-106 to San Antonio in a game that the Spurs led by 35 points.

The Wolves have a slew of new players, but this loss had little to do with cohesiveness, and everything to do with effort and basketball sense.

Wolves coach Chris Finch did not hide his displeasure at his players' effort or decision-making. "They out-punked us in every way possible," Finch said. "They outran us, outcompeted us, out-physicaled us in every way. It was ugly and unacceptable."

Getting back on defense does not require years of experience playing together. Neither does getting into the flow of an offense, or making basic basketball decisions.

Early in the third quarter, Karl-Anthony Towns grabbed a defensive rebound and fired a hard pass toward Rudy Gobert, who was running near midcourt.

This is the kind of pass you teach second-graders never to make. Gobert couldn't handle the pass, but even if he'd caught it, he probably would have traveled or thrown it away in an effort not to travel.

The Wolves have played four games. They are 2-2. Both victories are over an Oklahoma City team that lost 58 games last year, landed the second pick in the draft, took Minnesota native Chet Holmgren, then lost Holmgren for the season. Victories against the Thunder should be expected.

In two home games against well-coached but less-talented teams that share the ball and play defense — Utah and San Antonio — the Wolves are 0-2.

Their offense is often as clunky as the unoiled gearbox of a 1970 AMC Gremlin. Their defense, particularly their transition defense, is much worse.

The offensive mistakes are myriad. Sometimes they're too unselfish, sometimes too selfish. At times, usually in the middle quarters, the offense reverts to hero ball, meaning players take it upon themselves to take quick shots or drive into the teeth of the defense instead of creating an offensive flow.

What has been more galling against teams not from Oklahoma has been defensive intensity, measured in an inability or unwillingness to get back on defense.

Monday, the Spurs consistently beat the Wolves down the court for easy baskets.

At halftime, the Wolves trailed 67-57. The second number wasn't horrid. The first number was.

In the first half, the Wolves gave up 40 points in the paint and were outscored on fast breaks, 15-2.

After citing his team's defensive woes, Finch said, "The willingness to share the ball tonight was not there. And that was a big step back."

You could assume that the Spurs' legendary coach, Gregg Popovich, spent hours breaking down Wolves game film to concoct a plan to expose their weaknesses.

You would be wrong.

Asked before the game what struck him about the Wolves, Popovich said, essentially, that he didn't particularly care what the Wolves did schematically, because most NBA teams do the same things.

He said the game is about competitiveness and talent, that all teams run the pick and roll, "try to get back on defense and take good shots. The principles are the same."

No matter how complicated the schemes, basketball remains a simple game, and the simplest and sometimes the most important act is making an effort on defense.

Sitting at a table for a postgame interview, Towns turned over the boxscore in disgust.

What went wrong? "Transition defense," he said. "Pretty simple."

Anthony Edwards blamed himself for playing poorly on the second night of back to backs. Towns said he needs to help Edwards with nutrition, that hearing Edwards joke about eating fast food doesn't strike him as funny.

The Wolves quickly need to ingest something that will make them faster in transition defense.