After taking a commanding 2-0 series lead against the Denver Nuggets, ESPN recently spoke about the greatest strength of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are shocking the world in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. Despite them being on the road against the defending champs, the Timberwolves don’t look rattled at all.
With two straight wins on the road, the Timberwolves will be heading back home with the hope of closing out the Nuggets and avoiding having to go back to Denver for a Game 5. Recently, ESPN spoke about the biggest strength of the Timberwolves. Here’s what they had to say.
No team defended better this season, statistically or with the eye test than Minnesota. With the efforts of Defensive Player of the Year front-runner Rudy Gobert, the Wolves were the league’s stingiest club at the rim (in terms of the opponent’s expected field goal percentage) while also surrendering the third-fewest 3-pointers.
The defense of the Timberwolves has been on display in the NBA Playoffs thus far. In both games against the Nuggets, they held them to under 100 points. In a must-win Game 2 for Denver, they were held to only 80 points by Minnesota.
What might be the most surprising about that is that they did it without Rudy Gobert, who missed Game 2 for the birth of his child. The absence of Gobert, their anchor, showed that this is a team defense for Minnesota.
While their defense has certainly been a strength, the play of Anthony Edwards also has to be mentioned. Edwards is hitting his groove in the playoffs right now and drawing comparisons to a young Michael Jordan. That is huge praise for Edwards, but he seems to be taking it in stride and just playing his game.
With a big advantage in the series, the Timberwolves will be relying on their defense and Edwards to hopefully close out the Nuggets at home.
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