DENVER — Anthony Edwards went off to the tune of 41 points. Rudy Gobert was a legitimate offensive impactor, scoring 19 points on just 11 shot attempts. The Timberwolves shot 51 percent from the field and 45 percent from 3-point range.
Minnesota’s Game 2 offense Tuesday was efficient and effective in every respect.
“I definitely much preferred the rhythm and the preface of our offense (Wednesday) than I did (in Game 1 on Sunday),” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “So I thought that was a big step forward for us.”
And much of that success was rooted in a pick-and-roll offense. It’s the most common NBA concept, but it isn’t something the Wolves have resorted to much during the Finch era. The coach’s rhythm-and-flow offensive philosophy is centered on “randomness” in that you can run pick and rolls, but what occurs on a possession-to-possession basis is determined by the players and what they see unfolding on the floor.
But that seemed to shift Wednesday, as Minnesota was intentional about running copious amounts of pick and rolls — usually with Gobert as the screener, but also with Kyle Anderson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
“When you have a guy with Rudy’s gravity, you’ve got to lean into it,” Finch said. “And that’s one thing that we talked a lot about.”
But that has been the case all season, and Minnesota hasn’t opted to use the 7-foot center’s gravity to that extent. But this specific matchup seems to have pushed the Wolves in that direction. Nuggets star center Nikola Jokic is usually Denver’s worst on-ball defender, and involving him in pick-and-roll actions is the best way to expose him as such.
And it’s notable that when consistently using that strategy, Minnesota’s offense was more consistent and cohesive.
“You saw a lot of actions where guys were cutting off the ball, bringing two guys in the paint, and the guy with the ball is making the right read. Skipping the ball to the open man,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said. “We weren’t settling for a first-pass shot. We were going for a second drive. We had the lob to Rudy on one of those plays. Stuff like that we need more of. I think we saw that in the second half, and we’ll keep building at the start of Game 3.”
It’s easier to make the right decision when the decision is obvious. The pick and rolls Minnesota ran Wednesday often revealed the correct answer to the Wolves as the play unfolded. If Jokic came up to guard the ball handler, the pass went to Gobert. If he sagged back, the ball-handler attacked.
If an extra help defender came down to defend the paint, either the ball-handler or Gobert would kick to a shooter in the corner. When you have someone like Edwards or Conley attacking the paint with a dunker like Gobert also rolling to the rim and shooters like Towns or Taurean Prince spacing the floor from the wing or corner, Denver’s scheme couldn’t account for all of those options.
“We believe that it gives us an advantage. Then it’s all about how we take care of that advantage, whether it’s Ant driving, Mike making the play,” Gobert said. “I feel like every time we get two on the ball and get rid of it, we get something at the rim or we get a three. Just gotta do it more and more.”
The more the merrier for Minnesota. Because while the Wolves haven’t been a high-volume pick-and-roll team all season, it’s easy for NBA players to make that adjustment to running the action more often.
“Especially me. I love pick and roll. I‘ll run it all day, all game. That’s one thing we can do,” Conley said. “I know it’s one thing me and Rudy are used to doing (from their time together in Utah). We’re getting used to it with KAT. Getting used to it with Ant. If we continue to just run that action, we’re getting a lot of good looks off it, and hopefully we can create easier opportunities for our offense when things are slowing down.”
