The Timberwolves are having a successful year, by and large, on the defensive end of the floor. They rank 11th in defensive rating, a marked improvement over the past couple of years, when they were near the bottom.
The Wolves earned that rating largely by playing a high-wall defense on screens. That defense involves Karl-Anthony Towns playing aggressively on the person with the ball when the screen is set, and the Wolves rotate behind and cover at the rim or in the corners.
The Wolves have forced the most turnovers in the league with this defense.
But in the middle of the season, the Wolves tried switching things up and incorporating more coverages into their mix of schemes. That led to a drop-off in production. In the month of February, the Wolves had the 25th-rated defense as they went through the hiccups associated with it.
That prompted some questions — primarily, why wouldn't you just stick with what was working and not change it?
Coach Chris Finch's answer was that the Wolves would need varied defensive schemes come playoff time — and Wednesday's 125-116 loss to Phoenix was evidence to bolster Finch's case.
The Wolves led through three quarters playing their high-wall defense, even as DeAndre Ayton was on his way to 35 points.
But in the fourth quarter, the Suns made a few adjustments and scored 42 fourth-quarter points.
"I just think when they adjust, we got to adjust, like they did in the fourth," Anthony Edwards said. "Like the high wall. They would drag it out, hit the roller, have a cutter and have a dude in the corner. So we got to pick one and we just never adjusted."
The Wolves sometimes lost that numbers game with Devin Booker and Landry Shamet roasting them from outside and Ayton from inside.
"Once they see what our defense is, we do it over and over again, they just pick it apart," Edwards said.
That's the issue for a playoff series. Teams will see the Wolves' defense over and over again, and without a counter, the Wolves might eventually get shredded.
"Whole first half, I guess they was like, 'All right we just going to let them think it worked,' and fourth quarter they just drug it out," Edwards said. "Hit the roller. Got somebody cutting and put Shamet in the corner."
Finch's breakdown of Wednesday differed a bit from Edwards. He said the high wall "wasn't what hurt us."
"A lot of it was ball containment after rotation, boxing out after missed shots," Finch said. "There were a few blown high walls in there, but we could sit here and talk about whether that was the right coverage to be in or not, but the bottom line is I think we had 19 high walls, and we executed 12 of them fine."
Another issue with the defense was the resistance the low man offered near the rim in the scheme, Finch said.
"I didn't think it was very good," Finch said. "We didn't play with a lot of force when we met those guys there at the rim."
The Wolves tried to play a different coverage Monday against Dallas (their opponent Friday). They deployed a drop coverage to start, with Towns retreating to the basket on screens, but the Mavericks had few issues with it. Dwight Powell took advantage for 22 points on 8-for-8 shooting. The Wolves switched back to the high wall in the second half with more success and nearly won.
High wall is still their bread and butter defense, but they have to be more than that defensively — and able to execute at a high level.
