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The Minnesota Timberwolves fell to 2-2 on Tuesday night after losing a Western Conference Finals rematch against the Dallas Mavericks 120-114 at home. The Timberwolves have had a scratchy start to the season after shaking up their roster in a major way this offseason, trading Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.
In this game, two of the biggest things that plagued the Timberwolves were issues that have popped up frequently in past seasons: rebounding and transition defense. In this game, the Mavericks scored 20 points on the fast break and got 12 offensive rebounds. Afterwards, Anthony Edwards admitted he knows the players have things to fix, according to Sneaker Reporter.
Anthony Edwards kept it 💯 in his postgame interview after the loss to the Mavericks.
Ant talked about the team still growing offensively with the addition of Julius, his ankle injury, and let it be known that the 3 point volume will continue if teams give him the open looks. pic.twitter.com/YVDHHl9V6G
— SneakerReporter (@SneakerReporter) October 30, 2024
“It's nothing where the coach is like, ‘F**k, what do we gotta do?'” Edwards said. “It's on us, especially myself. I'm big as hell, I've gotta be able to box those bigs out. They do a good job of getting those offensive rebounds, man, I've gotta figure it out. Maybe I've gotta ask Rudy (Gobert) what I need to do.”
The transition defense is especially frustrating for the Wolves because they have shown that their half court defense can be so good if they're able to get back. With Gobert in the middle and good defenders like Edwards and Jaden McDaniels on the perimeter, the Timberwolves have to get back in order to make it tough on teams.
“I gotta watch the film,” Edwards said of the transition defense. “I probably play a part in that too. Talking to the refs, falling on the ground and s**t. Just immature stuff.”
Timberwolves working through growing pains in first few games
It was always going to take some time for this Timberwolves team to gel after adding Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, and the first few games have been understandably sloppy. The Timberwolves aren't executing at their best on either side of the ball through four games, but they've still managed to scrap out two wins in order to remain at .500.
Offensively, Anthony Edwards has been incredible for most of these four games, but it's clear that the Timberwolves don't know exactly how they want to play yet. Randle's iso-heavy tendencies are difficult to blend in with the rest of the offense, and he's had a hard time getting into the flow of the rest of the unit despite having a few productive games. Edwards is also being forced into taking more threes because his driving lanes are clogged without Towns on the floor.
Defensively, any lineup with Gobert on the floor is going to be difficult to score on in the half court, but the pairing of Naz Reid and Randle is still figuring out its identity on that end. Teams will be able to beat Minnesota on the glass when that pairing is out there, and the Timberwolves aren't necessarily used to switching everything like they do when that group is on the floor.
These are all things that can get worked out with more reps together, and the Timberwolves should have no problem figuring them out sooner rather than later.
