3 major takeaways from Timberwolves’ three-game winning streak

Takeaway No. 2 from Timberwolves’ winning streak: The defense is not regressing

If the Wolves had been defending in the same way as they have in every season in recent memory, the start to the season would have been much worse than the 4-9 that the Wolves were carrying a week ago.

Instead, the defense has improved in a major way, and the Wolves leaned heavily on that defense to remain competitive over the first month of the season.

Beginning with the second half of the win over the Sacramento Kings last Wednesday, the offense has begun to catch up. The Wolves scored 107 points in that victory and 115 the next night against a solid defensive team in the San Antonio Spurs. The Memphis Grizzlies’ defense isn’t the same caliber, but the Wolves hung 138 on them on Saturday, reaching 100 points around the midway of the third quarter.

But in this three-game stretch, not a single opponent has cracked the century mark. In fact, the Wolves have held five of their last six opponents below 100 points dating back to the blowout win over the Los Angeles Lakers about a week and a half ago.

The biggest reason for this is the updated pick-and-roll scheme, with the Wolves asking their big man to primarily play at the level of the screen instead of in drop coverage, as Minnesota has done for the past few seasons.

But in general, the point-of-attack defense has improved dramatically, and there are several players who deserve shoutouts for this improvement.

Yes, defensive stalwarts such as McDaniels, Vanderbilt, Beverley, and Okogie have been great when asked to take on difficult defensive assignments. But it’s the much-maligned individual defenders, Russell and Beasley, who have been particularly impactful. After all, the difference between terrible and average is sometimes just as significant as going from good to great.

The Wolves are also No. 4 in the league in both steals and blocks per game and No. 2 in opponent turnover rate. The only major bugaboos for the Wolves are related to defensive rebounding and defending without fouling, as we noted late last week. Minnesota is dead-last in both categories, but they’ve still managed to field the No. 11 defense in the league in terms of efficiency.