Things have been going well for the Minnesota Timberwolves ever since Christmas Day. That was when their three-game winning streak began, when they bulldozed the Dallas Mavericks through three quarters before staving off a comeback to take home a 105-99 victory. It felt like a desperation win, as they came into the holiday having lost their previous three contests.
After that, the Wolves erased a 16-point deficit in the final five minutes in Houston to get one of the most improbable wins for any team in the league this season. Then, Donte DiVincenzo helped seal the win over San Antonio on Sunday. But in all those games, Minnesota still struggled with their offense at times.
The most notable and consistent offensive struggles have been coming in the first quarter for the Timberwolves. When their starting five is on the floor, points have generally been hard to come by. The element of not having five or even four reliable shooters on the court has messed with Anthony Edwards' flow just a bit, and when he looks out of it, the rest of the offense has followed.
The starters struggle to put points on the board
What this leads to is the reserves that come in later winding up in a hole they need to help dig the team out of. While the lineups employed later in the game are clearly more than capable of helping make a comeback, it is not a position Minnesota should be seeking to put themselves into continually. Lineups that include the likes on Donte DiVincenzo, Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker are clearly more adept at generating good offensive possessions than the starting group.
Logic would say that this simply means the starting lineup should be tweaked, and perhaps it will be. Chris Finch has stated that everything is on the table. But in the meantime, it seems he has at least one additional thing he would like to see from his starting group - and that is Mike Conley stepping up as a scorer.
"We need him to score in that first six minutes," said Finch after Sunday's win. "I got to talk to him about that, every time we have asked him he has responded. We got to get him on the ball a little bit at that time.” With that in mind, we know that Conley is more than capable of doing what Finch is suggesting here. This is not a suggestion that Mike go out there and average 18 points per game, but just to be a bit more aggressive in the opening minutes.
That can be achieved if his shooting numbers revert to the norm. This season, Conley's averages of 34% from the floor and 35% from three are down significantly from his respective 45% and 44% marks from last season. Find Mike some easy shots and clean these numbers up, and perhaps the Wolves' offense can stay afloat in the opening minutes again.