3 keys for the Minnesota Timberwolves for the rest of the season

3 keys for the Minnesota Timberwolves for the rest of the season: Their newest foil is consistency

For years and years, the biggest problem with the Minnesota Timberwolves has been their defense. As exciting as the offensive units have looked over the previous iterations of the team, their defensive effort always left something to be desired.

That isn’t so with this year’s team, or at least, that’s how it seems halfway through the season. The Timberwolves are 10th in the league in Defensive Rating (108.2), 6th in the league in steals (8.7), and 5th in the league in blocks per game (5.7). They’re also 13th in opponent field goal percentage (45.0) and lead the league in opponent turnovers per game (17.0).

However, they rarely, if ever, can carry that to the fourth quarter. In the final quarter of games, Minnesota ranks 22nd in Defensive rating (111.9), 19th in opponent field goal percentage (45.2), and fall to ninth in the league in opponent turnovers per game (3.7). Additionally, while Minnesota normally ranks 14th in the league in Net Rating (0.8), in the final quarter they rank 26th (-7.1).

Basically, for all the work Minnesota does to gain an advantage over their opponents through three quarters, it all seems to fall apart in the final quarter.

This could be because more experienced teams tend to pace themselves, so they’ll play the hardest in the final quarter, while Minnesota plays their level of play no matter what, but that likely isn’t it.

If it was, there wouldn’t be such a big dip in their stats. Through their first halves, Minnesota averages 1.08 points per possession. However, in the fourth quarter, they only average 1.04. While it may seem minimal, the difference is enough to move them from 19th in the league to 24th.

Instead, the reason for Minnesota’s fourth-quarter struggles is likely just consistency. They simply can’t seem to play at the same level throughout a game.

Whether or not that’s because of fatigue, or because an intense starting energy often leads to foul troubles (or a mix of the two), is yet to be determined. What is certain, though, is that Minnesota seems to experience a drop-off in production every time the final quarter starts.

The good news is that consistency is often a problem that plagues young teams, and the Timberwolves are the league’s fifth-youngest team. Even their most recent opponent, the Memphis Grizzlies, had consistency struggles their first season with star point guard Ja Morant.

And while that can be comforting, it’s also important that Minnesota realizes and figures out exactly what is going wrong and why before things begin to slip away.