After eight long days, Timberwolves basketball is back in action!
The Wolves will begin their final 29-game stretch of the season by hosting the Boston Celtics at 7 p.m. CT on Friday.
The Wolves enter Friday’s game with a 16-37 record and are currently 11 games back from advancing to the playoffs. With that in mind, what are the Wolves’ expectations for the remainder of the regular season?
Wolves head coach Ryan Saunders shared the checklist of goals he has for his post-All-Star break team after Friday’s shootaround.
First and foremost, the Wolves still want to win every game left on their schedule.
“That’s why we’re all in this business,” Saunders said. “We love to compete. That’s why you’re in it at the highest level.”
But beyond that, Saunders wants his team to play with a committed devotion to its game plans. When proper execution doesn’t result in a win, that’s where the checklist comes in.
Take the Wolves’ Feb. 10 loss to the Toronto Raptors, for example. The Raptors entered that game on a 14-game winning streak, but the Wolves held their own on the offensive end for most of the game. Yet, Toronto still claimed a 137-126 win at the end of the night.
“Then you have to look more at your checklist in those moments,” Saunders said. “Did you not turn the ball over? Were you a high-assist team? How were you generating your 3s? You got 49 3s up but were they a good 49? Defensively, how was your pick-and-roll defense?
“It’s little things like that that we can measure when maybe the outcome isn’t where we want it to be.”
Of course, Saunders’ checklist isn’t limited to just team goals.
I’d imagine every team in the league holds exit interviews with their players at the conclusion of every season. But I’m not sure how common it is to hold said meetings throughout the season as Saunders and Wolves President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas do with their players.
Saunders and Rosas held five player meetings on Thursday.
“We got to go through all the statistics with players,” Saunders said. “We allowed them to talk about what they feel they need to work on, we told them what we thought they need to work on, and we’re just trying to be transparent with them.”
Saunders did not specify whether Jarrett Culver was one of the players he and Rosas had a meeting with on Thursday, but he did share that he’d like to see the rookie get more comfortable playing off the ball now that All-Star point guard D’Angelo Russell is on board.
“It’ll be a transition, but we’ve been very adamant about where we are as a team and that we’re looking for growth from these guys,” Saunders said. “Being a young group, that’s what you ask of these guys.”
As expected, Culver has embraced the challenge and is excited to learn from Russell.
“I can learn from (Russell),” Culver said. “When I do have the ball, (I can) see the things he does when he comes off pick-and-rolls. When I don’t have the ball, (I’ll) be able to cut and use him to be able to get looks. He’s a great passer as well.”
Defensively, Culver and his teammates will continue to prioritize point-of-attack defending, especially with Karl-Anthony Towns, their top rim protector, out with a wrist injury for the time being.
“You’ve got to be a much better team guarding at the point of attack and guarding off the dribble along the perimeter,” Saunders said when asked about the challenges of defending without a true rim protector on the court. “Easiest way to hide maybe not having a great rim protector is to not allow the ball to get to the rim. It sounds very simple, but it’s hard to do.
“Tonight’s a good challenge for us in that sense because Boston has a number of guys who are very good at attacking the rim. As competitors, you look for these challenges and you want these challenges for our team and for our growth. We’ll be able to learn from it one way or another.”
James Johnson, who’s listed as 6-foot-7 on the Wolves’ roster, will share rim-protecting duties with 6-foot-9 Naz Reid while Towns recovers from his injury. On Friday, Johnson made it explicitly clear that he’s up for the challenge of filling in as center when called upon.
“I’ve got one of the biggest hearts in the league,” Johnson said. “I don’t think bench pressing or anything else like that is going to prepare me for the skilled big men in our league these days. I think I hold my own.”
Friday’s game against the Celtics will air on Fox Sports North and 830 WCCO. Tickets can be bought here.
Update On Layman’s First Practice After Injury
Wolves forward Jake Layman was cleared to practice on Thursday after missing three months of the season due to a sprained toe.
On Friday, Saunders said Layman “looked good” and that Thursday’s training-camp-like practice served him well.
“It was good for Jake too to be able to get involved in some of those types of teaching drills and some of those high-intensity drills, too,” Saunders said.