3 major takeaways from Timberwolves’ three-game winning streak
By Ben Beecken
The Minnesota Timberwolves have won three consecutive games for the first time since April 24 to 29, and only the second time in the past two seasons.
No, the competition wasn’t the stiffest, but the Wolves will take them where they can get them — especially after a few brutal losses to losing teams earlier this season already.
Let’s take a look at three things the Wolves have done extremely well over the past three games.
Takeaway No. 1 from Timberwolves’ winning streak: 3-point shooting
The Wolves have finally begun to make 3-pointers. As it turns out, that’s an important part of winning today’s NBA — but especially so when you lead the league in 3-point attempts per game.
Heading into play last Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings, the Wolves led the league in long-range tries per game but were No. 24 in percentage. Now, just three games later, the Wolves are No. 16 in the league at 34.2 percent. They’re still first in attempts per game at a whopping 42.9.
As yours truly has been noting, the Wolves were always going to be a much better 3-point shooting team than they were over the first month of the season.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Malik Beasley, and Patrick Beverley all have career 3-point shooting percentages north of 38, and in Towns’ case, just a shade under 40 percent. D’Angelo Russell and Taurean Prince each shot career-best marks last year, at 38.7 percent and 40 percent, respectively.
In fact, the only rotation players who wouldn’t be expected to hit 3-point attempts at a league-average rate would be Josh Okogie and Jarred Vanderbilt. Even the likes of Naz Reid, Jaden McDaniels, and Jordan McLaughlin should be able to carry their own weight when it comes to long-range shooting.
The offense itself is flowing much better, of course, but so much of the first few weeks of this season were dotted with wide-open shots that simply weren’t falling. There was certainly some flukiness to it, but things seem to be progressing back to the mean for Chris Finch’s bunch.