Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 takeaways from 2018-19 season opener

1. The Timberwolves continue to play outdated basketball

The Spurs’ roster isn’t heavy on 3-point shooters, and their best players — DeMar DeRozan, LaMarcus Aldridge and Rudy Gay — are all extreme mid-range players. Yet somehow, San Antonio ended up taking 25 3s while Minnesota took only 19.

Maybe that’s because Tom Thibodeau’s pack-the-paint defensive scheme, revolutionary once upon a time, now resides next to the Triangle Offense in terms of usefulness.

You can see it here on this play during he third quarter: The Spurs run a DeRozan-Aldridge pick-and-roll at the top of the key and every Timberwolves defender other than Wiggins (defending the ball-handler) is either in the paint or one step from it.

DeRozan takes it to the basket and scores, but there was plenty of room for Pau Gasol, Bryn Forbes and Marco Bellineli along the arc to shoot if DeRozan had passed.

If the Timberwolves keep this up the whole season, their defense is going to rank near the bottom of the league again. Minnesota was 19th in both the frequency that opponents took 3-pointers and their defended 3-point field goal percentage last season, a big reason why they were in the bottom five in overall defensive rating. After allowing the Spurs — a mid-range heavy team — to outshoot them from 3, a turn for the better doesn’t look likely in this regard.

On offense, Minnesota’s 19 3s (which included two desperation attempts by Gorgui Dieng late in the shot clock) accounted for just 20.8 percent of their shot selection, a number that would have been dead-last by a mile last season. Yes, the team had 16 fast break points and 54 points in the paint thanks in large part to Jeff Teague‘s magnificent performance, but you won’t win most nights with such a lopsided shot chart.

Throw in being out-rebounded — including the Spurs grabbing 19(!) offensive rebounds — and empty minutes from Derrick Rose and Anthony Tolliver, who together had eight points on 13 field goal attempts in 50 minutes, and it’s no surprise the Wolves lost.

The sheer talent (despite Thibodeau’s curious bench usage) the Timberwolves have kept them in the game, but on the whole,  the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 2018-19 season opener was not encouraging.