Timberwolves Roundup: Podcasts, rankings, Wolves defense

With just one game to play in November, the Timberwolves’ record stands at 12-9 after a deflating home loss to the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night. Here’s today’s roundup from around the NBA Twittersphere and beyond.

The Timberwolves had a legitimate chance to improve to 13-8 on the season prior to a tough two-game road trip, but a late collapse against a John Wall-less Wizards squad on Tuesday night at Target Center dropped their record to a relatively disappointing 12-9.

In the grand scheme of things, sitting in the fifth spot in the rough-and-tumble Western Conference after the first six weeks of the season — especially for a franchise with 14 straight non-playoff seasons — isn’t too terrible. It only feels that way, with a handful of putrid losses on the ledger that have decidedly dampened the mood in the Upper Midwest.

Let’s take a quick spin around the NBA blogo-sphere and see what folks are saying about the Timberwolves on this Wednesday.

Earlier this week (prior to the loss to Washington), ESPN.com slid the Wolves back from No. 6 to No. 10 in their power rankings after a 2-2 stretch last week. The Wolves have gone 1-2 since Jeff Teague and Nemanja Bjelica have both been out, as the increased reliance on the starters and Aaron Brooks has bit the Wolves hard.

Here at Dunking With Wolves, our own Jake Paynting released his weekly Timberwolves power rankings, which explores each player on the Wolves’ roster and where their individual seasons currently sit.

Also earlier this week, and also before the Washington loss, yours’ truly appeared on the 3 In The Key podcast.

The Timberwolves segment starts at about the 31:00 mark, but I’d encourage you to check out the pod in it’s entirety and consider subscribing if you enjoy the content and debate.

Lastly, as you prepare for Wednesday night’s visit to New Orleans, you may recall that the last time around ended in a six-point win but also what was arguably the worst game of Karl-Anthony Towns‘ young career. He was scoreless in the first half and finished with two points in just 23 minutes due to foul trouble. Towns shot 1-of-7 from the floor.

Ben Alamar at ESPN Stats & Info shared some interesting information today regarding the Wolves-Pellies matchup: the Anthony Davis–Jameer Nelson pick-and-roll has been the best combo in that play-type thus far this season in terms of points per pick. But equally as interesting is that Jimmy Butler and Towns have been the fourth-best defensive combo when it comes to stopping the pick-and-roll.

Turns out, Jimmy Butler is a great defender. And for all of Towns’ defensive failings (see: the game-winner from the Wizards’ win over the Wolves on Tuesday at the end of this video), he still possesses the length and athleticism to be a very good pick-and-roll stopper. He just needs to react quicker and show the consistent desire to stop the opponent.

At any rate, Wolves-Pelicans should be fun. Here’s hoping that the Wolves’ starters can overcome a ridiculous number of minutes played from Tuesday and that KAT can get the Pelicans monkey off his back (confusing, but I think that makes sense?) after his rough showing a few weeks ago.

Next: On the Wolves offense limping to the finish line

We’ll be back with a wrap following the game. Enjoy.