Minnesota Timberwolves game preview: Oct. 20 vs. Utah Jazz
By Josh Bungum
Major Key for Minnesota: Sustained effort on the defensive end
A wise many once said that the word ‘lose’ is not a verb, but an acronym that stands for ‘Lack Of Sustained Effort’. Well, the Timberwolves have been fully utilizing both the verb and acronym forms of this word for what feels like an eternity now.
The first game against San Antonio flashed signs of bright spots sprinkled amongst a mostly lackluster effort. Jimmy Butler did not play anywhere near his capabilities, Karl-Anthony Towns looked like a kid who had just been let out of a time-out and didn’t know how to properly expend all of his energy and Andrew Wiggins showed offensive brilliance, but displayed the same defensive awareness issues that have plagued him throughout his career.
Minnesota Timberwolves
The rest of the roster also looked fairly uncomfortable as they attempted to become familiar with all of the new faces they are playing with.
However, all of these problems can be solved by clamping down on the defensive end with sustained effort and attention to detail (oh Lord, I’ve been watching too many Tom Thibodeau interviews, haven’t I?).
The team showed brief examples of being capable of this at various points throughout the Spurs game, but with nowhere near enough consistency to beat the vaunted San Antonio team in their own arena.
Facing another veteran team who will make the Wolves fight for every basket, it is of vital importance that the Timberwolves don’t allow a Jazz team without a go-to scorer to have a run of easy baskets and stay in the game.