Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 takeaways from Wolves win over Kings

1. Defensive intensity

The Wolves finally brought back the defensive intensity that was missing from the majority of the road trip.

The starting unit was solid early, although they dodged a few bullets on missed open 3-pointers by the Kings. But when the reserves entered the game, the defensive intensity was ratcheted up by the Jones-Okogie-Wiggins-Saric-Dieng unit.

Rotations were crisp, double-teams were fast, and passing lanes were clogged. And just as importantly, steals were immediately turned into open floor opportunities, leading to easy buckets and fouls committed by Sacramento.

Okogie and Saric were particularly impressive, each moving their feet and defending without reaching in and fouling. Saric and Dieng were both great on the glass, combining to pull down 15 rebounds on the night.

While the Kings ended up scoring 105 points, 28 of them were in garbage time. The Wolves defense is legitimately great when they play at Target Center, and they need to start bringing that same intensity on the road if they’re going to have a chance at making the playoffs.