When asked how his team responded to its defeating loss to the Sacramento Kings on Monday at Tuesday’s practice, Timberwolves head coach Ryan Saunders stated the obvious.
“Guys were disappointed; we all were — for a number of reasons,” Saunders said before Wednesday’s practice. “We all wore our emotions, but we also went through film, we addressed what went wrong and then we went through it on the court.”
It’s bittersweet that Monday’s overtime loss came before a four-day break from games. On one hand, the Wolves would have liked to have had an earlier opportunity to right their wrongs instead of letting the bad taste of Monday’s loss fester until Saturday’s afternoon, road game against the Los Angeles Clippers. But, they aren’t taking the extra practice time for granted.
Saunders said he led Tuesday’s film session but asked his players questions to create a dialogue on what went well and what ultimately led to Monday night’s collapse.
“In that Sacramento game, we look back and for three and a half quarters, we had a lot of good defensive possessions; we had a lot of good offensive possessions,” Saunders said. “We feel a certain way right now because of the end. That’s the bottom line. We can’t ignore that, but we also need to make sure we still stay solid in knowing we feel we are doing the right things up until the end.”
The first critique mentioned in Wednesday’s media availability was the Wolves’ handling of Karl-Anthony Towns being double teamed by Sacramento late in Monday’s game. When asked how his team can handle such scenarios in a crisper fashion, Saunders commented on the frequency of basket cuts.
“We’re cutting too much, and we’re bringing too many help defenders to KAT,” Saunders said. “We were actually just going over that as coaches. We’ll clarify with everything, and I’d expect us to see that a little more.”
Monday, of course, wasn’t the first time Towns has been met with two defenders in crunch time this season, and it surely won’t be the last. The Wolves will keep that in mind as they continue to rework Towns, who missed 15 games due to a knee injury and illness, into their lineup.
“A lot of times when you’re out for an extended period of times, it’s not just on Karl, it’s on everybody to get the rhythm of having someone of his talent level back in the lineup with everything,” Saunders said. “That’s why these four days are good for us to be able to practice and do things at a game-competitive speed.”
Defensively, Saunders wants to see his team become a better pursuit and contest team, finish plays and be more disciplined about executing game plans.
“We’ve got to make sure that we’re also being a team that is sticking to a game plan by forcing guys to what we’ve called,” Saunders said, “because that’s what’s going to make a difference on where the big is going to be.”
With those improvements, Saunders believes his team can become a top defensive team in the league just as it was mid-December to mid-January. As always, they’ll lean on each other as they attempt to overcome recent disappointment.
“We’ve got a good locker room,” Saunders said. “We’ve got a good group of guys, and we’re always available to communicate through things, too; if guys need clarity or if they need to talk through something, if they’re having a tough time. I feel like despite losing some games, this is a together group.”
Crabbe Injury Update
In the first half of Monday’s game, Allen Crabbe went down with what was later diagnosed as a left knee subluxation. Saunders said the Wolves are currently waiting for the swelling of Crabbe’s injured knee to go down and that he wasn’t expected to participate in Wednesday or Thursday’s practices.