Early in the third quarter of Saturday's game at Dallas, the Timberwolves allowed the Mavericks to get a pair of offensive rebounds following missed three-point attempts.
Instead of working for a layup, the Mavericks just kicked the ball back out and tried again from three-point range, this time resulting in a pair of makes from Luka Doncic and Dennis Smith.
The Wolves failed to secure those long rebounds and in a game decided by three points, a sequence like that could mean the difference between a win and a loss.
The Wolves have recognized that cleaning up the offensive glass — and dealing with long rebounds on missed three-pointers — has to be a point of emphasis going forward.
"Of course it comes down to bigs. But we need everybody to get in there," Taj Gibson said. "It's really tough to get to sometimes, but it's all about just being ready, attacking the ball."
The Wolves have been among the worst teams in the league early this season on the glass. They entered Monday 29th with a defensive rebounding percentage of .625. That statistic means of all the potential defensive rebounds the Wolves could have grabbed, they only secured 62.5 percent of them. The only team worse was the Wizards at 59.5 percent. The Jazz led the league at 81.8 percent.
"Sometimes you have to remind yourself not to stand and stare, to turn and check if your man is going forward you have to hit him," Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau said.
The Wolves aren't as bad when it comes to the other end; their offensive rebounding percentage of .300 is 12th. By comparison, they were 25th in defensive rebounding percentage last season at .720. Thibodeau echoed what Gibson said, saying the entire team has to be aware of rebounding and not just the players in the post.