Do the Timberwolves have the offensive discipline to beat Denver? This season, and Game 1, suggest no

DENVER – Minnesota played beautiful offense in the first half of Game 1 on Saturday. The Wolves tallied 62 points while shooting 53% from the field. They recorded assists on 14 of their 23 made buckets.

Which is how it’s supposed to be for Minnesota against Denver. The Nuggets were a bottom 10 defense this season. They don’t possess the athletes necessary to stay in front of the Wolves, nor the rim protection to defend the paint.

The Timberwolves’ formula for offensive success in this matchup is simple. Swing the ball from one side of the floor to the other, play off the catch and punch gaps off the bounce. The end result of said process will regularly be layups and open threes, as demonstrated by Saturday’s first half results.

“Keep the ball moving. Simple as that, keep the ball moving,” Wolves center Rudy Gobert said. “We keep running transition, running for each other. We give ourselves great opportunities to get easy baskets, and for everybody to get going. I think that’s when we are the most dangerous team. We saw that in the first half. I mean, we scored 62 points in the first half, and it wasn’t like we were making hard shots, you know, it was just playing within the flow. We’re getting threes, we’re getting layups, dunks.”

So what happened in the third? That was the quarter that ultimately lost Game 1 for Minnesota, as it went 6 for 23 from the field and logged just two assists to four turnovers.

“Guys were trying to get themselves going a little bit there, ball didn’t move,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “Played a lot of shell offense, a lot of guys stuck on the perimeter, not punching in the gaps, no movement. I thought we had really good ball movement in the first half, too, and it just kind of dried up. It really cost us, because it led to a lot of easy baskets for them being able to run out of our poor offense.”

Denver won the quarter by 12 points, and while Minnesota was able to get as close as two in the final frame, it ultimately couldn’t overcome the margin.

Saturday’s result was eerily similar to many of Minnesota’s regular season matchups with Denver.

Oct. 27: Minnesota scored 65 first-half points, but just 49 in the second half – including 20 in the fourth quarter.

Nov. 15: Minnesota scored 60 first-half points, but just 52 in the second half – nine of which came in the final 94 seconds with the game already decided.

Dec. 25: Minnesota scored 55 first-half points, but just 23 in the third quarter.

Denver makes adjustments. Finch noted the Nuggets changed the matchups slightly in Saturday’s second half. Perhaps the Wolves get bored or complacent with the successful process and abandon it in favor of isolation.

Whatever the reason, it’s a bad trend for Minnesota – one that won’t lead to long-term success in this series should it continue.

Anthony Edwards logged seven assists Saturday – “that’s a lot of assists for me,” he noted. But five of those came in the first two quarters, with only two to follow. Edwards admitted he “may have” taken a few ill-advised shots, but said that was in an effort to find his own rhythm.