The Minnesota Timberwolves have surprised the NBA world thus far in the series, going up 2-1 against the highly favored Denver Nuggets. Their third game was especially convincing, with the game never being close at any point. The main catalyst for the Wolves' winning these games has been them turning up their defensive intensity, while exposing the flaws in the Nuggets' defensive system.
Nikola Jokic is the peak of these flaws. He's a generational offensive player, but his defense, specifically rim protection, has always been a weakness of his. He's not an above-the-rim player, so he isn't much of a deterrent when it comes to lobs and dump-offs. When it comes to screen defense, he's not mobile enough to catch up to the quicker guards.
The Timberwolves have been attacking the paint and succeeding all series
In this series overall, the Timberwolves haven't been world-beaters with shot-making. Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle have been fine, but their scoring outputs have been lower than what we're accustomed to seeing.
The Wolves as a team haven't exactly been snipers from 3-point range either. They're shooting 33.3 percent from 3-point land as a team over the first three games, but they're still generating good offense with rim pressure.
The Wolves have made it clear what the recipe for winning these games is. On one end, it's playing hard-nosed, physical defense, forcing the Nuggets into difficult shots. But on the other end, it's an extremely simple formula: Attack the rim and put Jokic in a pick-and-roll actions. Jokic has offered zero resistance at the rim the entire series, and it doesn't appear to be changing.
In Game 3, the Timberwolves as a team shot 20-for-27 at the rim when Jokic was on the court. A simply absurd number that encapsulates the formula for how the Wolves can advance to round two.
The Timberwolves need to stick to the game plan, even if it gets boring
The Wolves will likely win this series if they keep attacking the paint at the rate that they did in Game 3, but the big question is if they can continue to do that, or will they fall back into some familiarly bad habits, and launch 3s. Anthony Edwards will be the barometer of this. He loves to cook in isolation, leading to an off-the-dribble three. In this series, though, that isn't an efficient offense.
Anthony Edwards can beat any Nuggets defender one-on-one, and he knows that. But it will come down to him not settling for kill shots from three, but instead just imposing his will at the basket. The Timberwolves have a clear blueprint for how they can advance, but are they mentally disciplined enough to stick to it?
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