Sometimes it’s hard to take positives from a loss. The Minnesota Timberwolves kept it close for the first three quarters on Sunday afternoon until the Oklahoma City Thunder pulled away in the fourth.
The Timberwolves can take pride on how difficult they made life for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the offensive end. Their perimeter defense is a strength that Minnesota needs to capitalize on if they want to make any type of postseason run.
Entering Sunday’s contest, SGA scored at least 20 points in 127 consecutive outings. It was extended to 128, but just barely. The reigning MVP finished with exactly 20 points on a rare, inefficient scoring night (7-for-22 from the field). Shooting 55.4 percent from the field prior to the game against Minnesota, the Timberwolves made Shai work extremely hard and contested nearly every shot.
What made the defensive performance on SGA stand out even more is that Jaden McDaniels didn’t get his full share of minutes. Due to foul trouble in both the first and second quarters, the 2023-24 All-Defensive member played less than six minutes in the first half.
The Timberwolves are going to make life difficult for the opposition's perimeter players
Anthony Edwards doesn’t always seem engaged on the defensive end, but we see it more often in the playoffs and big matchups. He clearly has moments where he looks like he can be a stopper, and Ant-Man gets up for games against the Thunder (even if his offensive game wasn’t up to par on Sunday).
Ayo Dosunmu is an elite screen navigator and shows his relentless motor while guarding perimeter players. With McDaniels' foul issues, it was often Ayo tasked with guarding SGA, and he did more than an admirable job. It’s become evident in his month-plus tenure in Minnesota that Dosunmu can be a player who can close playoff games.
There are numerous other perimeter players in the Western Conference other than SGA that can score at will that the Timberwolves might meet up with in the playoffs. Guys like Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, De’Aaron Fox, Jamal Murray, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker.
Yes, losers of four of their last five, the Wolves aren’t playing all that well of late. There were encouraging things to take from the OKC game, though, and they aren’t going to continue playing hot potato with the basketball as frequently as they did on Sunday. It’s the defense with Rudy Gobert down low, and the perimeter guys they have that can muck up playoff games when their shot isn’t failing.