INDIANAPOLIS — The Timberwolves defense isn't what it was earlier in the season.
Why are the Timberwolves struggling on defense (even while they keep winning games)?
Over the past few weeks, the Wolves aren't posting the same numbers on defense that they were early in the season. Here's why that's happening.
February 15, 2022 at 12:34PM
Over the past few weeks, the Wolves aren't posting the same numbers on that end of the floor they were earlier in the season. That has been a frequent topic of conversation for them even as they've won six of their last eight games.
The Wolves have the 24th-most efficient defense over the last 10 games.
Part of that may be because the Wolves defense isn't what it was earlier in the season from a schematic standpoint.
As the season has gone on, the Wolves are incorporating some changes to how they defend. Over the last few weeks that has meant incorporating more switching into their repertoire. It's something guard Patrick Beverley said the players have been asking to do more; now the Wolves have to go out and do it better.
"You have to have everything in the tool shed to be successful, especially defensively in nowaday's game," Beverley said after Friday's loss to Chicago. "These guys are shooting damn near from half court, shooting at the logo, so you have to have a lot. You have to have switching, you have to have high coverage, low coverage. Coach [Chris Finch] is just preparing us for the end of the season."
Finch seemed more pleased with the defensive effort in Sunday's win over Indiana even though the Wolves still gave up 120 and looked lost at times, especially early, on the defensive end.
"We did a good job of doing a lot of switching," Finch said. "We sat down, guarded the ball for the most part. It was important because we just had to get them slowed down."
The Wolves have said the biggest issue with their defensive slippage have been containing the ball and not winning their one-on-one matchups. Switching can create different matchups, like in Friday's game when Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan would match up against center Naz Reid at times after a screen.
"I feel like it's been good for us," Reid said. "Me and KAT [Karl-Anthony Towns] have been able to guard the guards. Handling the ball is sometimes more of a challenge than other times. … It's a lot of challenges when you're guarding a guard. It's not something we can't get through though."
It can also create some rebounding issues in those matchups. The Pacers were able to get 22 offensive rebounds Sunday, though this has been a problem for the Wolves all season.
"It's hard, but that's the name of the game," Reid said. "It's not easy. It's something we have to do."
Finch has stuck with it even though it hasn't always worked over the last few games. The more varied the Wolves can be in their defensive coverages, the better they can match up with any opponent.
Anthony Edwards seemed excited that defenses aren't going to be able to take advantage of the Wolves the way they were previously. The Wolves have frequently played a high wall on the perimeter with their big men and try to recover and rotate around it as much as possible, often with one of the smaller defenders playing the part of the "low man" near the rim.
"I love that [switching]," Edwards said. "Because now they can't abuse our low man and our rotations and pick on them. I think Finchy is super smart, man. Best coach in the NBA. All credit to him. He knows exactly what he's doing."
The Wolves fell apart in the fourth quarter and have not won in Toronto in two decades.
