It’s Oscar week, which seems like the perfect time to flesh out NBA storylines and characters that could also be Oscar nominated. The Minnesota Timberwolves’ deceptive season has been one of the hottest topics in the West, so let’s start there.
Every conversation regarding the Minnesota Timberwolves comes back to one question: Are they real or a figment of our imagination during the regular season? The pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh used by American fiction Thelonius “Monk” Ellison will present audiences with an enlightening, trope-filled autobiography regarding the Timberwolves season. The fatalism attached to the Minnesota Timberwolfes is that of the 2024 NBA Pafology.
Outside of Minnesota, the Wolves’ pace in the Western Conference standings has been considered as misleading as Alex Rodriguez’s pigment during Black History Month or Karl-Anthony Towns generational code switch. This is the biggest headache in the NBA and his greatest redemption story.
I’ll leave it to the so convincing. They gave up more fourth-quarter leads than any team in the conference, but led the West from November to March. THURSDAY, they lost cities for the remainder of the regular season. If they’re lucky, he’ll return during the playoffs on a minutes restriction. Friday night, they gave up first place in the West to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Every few seasons a team emerges after years of futility, but the reception to Minnesota seems different somehow.
Their genre-bending roster is built on the bones of a back-to-back offensive foundation that is antithetical to modern status, while being led by an offensive-minded head coach who orchestrates a defensive juggernaut.
Tim Connelly and Chris Finch’s experience lacks floor spacers beyond Towns and Rudy Gobert’s reputation precedes him. He is one of four players to win three Defensive Player of the Year awards and is on pace to win a fourth. Minnesota is the best in the NBA at defending the paint and forcing teams to excluding filming evenings. However, the rapid evolution of the game has created a perception of their defensive anchor as an outdated figure. Unlike contemporary leviathans, it cannot stretch the ground and it does not rejuvenate.
The NBA’s best defense backs a scoring offense that attempts fewer triples per night than all but five teams and ranks 18th in the standings. offensive note. Behind Anthony Edwards, the backcourt is lackluster. Instead, they rely on the contributions of new-age greats Naz Reid and KAT, as well as an anachronistic rim rolling 7-footer in Gobert whose antics four years ago this week made him the player of the NBA. Patient zero of the pandemic.
Towns is the only remnant of the team that Jimmy Butler once shredded with backups during a legendary workout amid his trade impasse. Even before Towns’ torn meniscus, he was prone to the highest highs and lowest lows in the postseason. His 42 percent three-shooting percentage this season was a notch above his career average of 39 percent. However, in three playoff appearances, his numbers from beyond the arc dropped nine percentage points to .333, and his career passing percentage of 57.7 percent dropped six points in the postseason.
Finch reduced Towns’ role to make room for Anthony Edwards as the Alpha altered this team’s trajectory, but doubts remained. THE Finch’s immaturity called out during Towns’ 60-point night in January summarized concerns related to running the offense through KAT. On the one hand, how much second can options reach the boiling point needed to generate 60 points overnight? Lady, maybe Harden?
On the other hand, the tunnel vision Towns displays when moving on offense contributes to the perception of him as a stat chaser with a low basketball IQ. Before his knee injury, Towns led the league in turnover rate on drives towards the cup and was on his way to league leader in offensive fouls committed for the third time. He finished second to Demarcus Cousins in offensive fouls in two other seasons, which factors into how Finch designed the scheme around Boogie and Anthony Davis in New Orleans in 2016.
These reasons factored into the T-Wolves’ skepticism, leading Finch review last week“I’m not sure anyone in the league fears us…I don’t think we really fear anyone either.”
Minnesota’s fourth-quarter offense has been its Achilles heel, but Town’s left knee meniscus could ruin its season. His sudden meniscus surgery and lengthy recovery period mean we’ll never know what heights this iteration could reach. Naz Reid, the only JellyFam alum to reach the NBA, has been moved back into a starting role, where he’ll be able to showcase some of the silliest dribbling moves you’ll see this side of Wembanyama from a great. A year ago, he headed the league in points per minute last season after the 2023 All-Star Break.
Reducing the Timberwolves’ prospects to tropes based on past playoff results could be a mistake, however, if Anthony Edwards locks up. Hours after the revelation of Towns’ injury shook the team, Edwards went supernova, scoring 16 of his 44 points in the game. fourth quarter of a victory against the Indiana Pacers. In the final seconds, he rejected a pass from Aaron Nesmith in the Shadow Realm to secure a victory and their position in the West. Edwards jumped so high that he hit his head on the bottom of the backboard in the process.
Then, on the second night of a row, Edwards shot 7 of 27 in an overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were missing their only 2024 All-Star, Donovan Mitchell. Towns is out of the pressure cooker for now, but his burden now rests on Edwards’ shoulders. If he and Gobert can’t handle the burden, their quantum leap season will be remembered as a mirage.
Find DJ Dunson on X: @brain sport
