What happened to Minnesota’s defense??

Where did that dominant, top-ranked defense go for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the playoffs against Denver? This detailed film breakdown & scouting report explores how the Nuggets have adjusted behind Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Jamal Murray and Coach Michael Malone to solve the Timberwolves defense during the 2024 NBA playoffs.

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Music by csus (instrumental)

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what a turnaround in the first two games of this series Minnesota held the Nuggets to a woeful 100 offensive rating with Nia yic on the floor forcing 17 turnovers per 100 but in the last three games Denver has an obscene 131 offensive rating with Joker against the very best defense in the NBA so how have the Nuggets gradually picked aart the Timberwolves and completely flipped this series we already discussed the importance of a healthier Jamal Murray back in game three but they also started to alleviate Minnesota’s ball pressure in that game by having Aaron Gordon bring it up so Denver’s guards wouldn’t be swarmed in the backourt remember in the last round the poor Phoenix Suns could barely dribble around Minnesota’s ball Hawking Wings this is a subtle but brilliant adjustment because Rudy goar is not going to pick up Gordon in the back court yet Aaron’s skilled enough to comfortably bring it up and initiate the offense then get joic and Murray into their actions so in game four the Wolves had Anthony Edwards pressure Gordon full court to disrupt him but jic sees it right away and sets a backcourt pick to set him free and this was a cat and mouse game where the Timberwolves also had Jaden m Daniels switch onto him but again he’s good enough with the dribble to bring it up and that leaves Rudy goar guarding a great shooter and they end up with a wideopen yic 3 anyway and so not only did all that backcourt pressure go away but the Wolves matchups were scrambled when Denver gets into its offense here goar is on the sharp shooting Michael Porter Jr so when Gordon comes off this handoff to attack the smaller Edwards bear is stretched out of the paint and Aaron can spin and finish without resistance the Wolves even tried Mike Conley on Gordon and remember they want to keep Rudy off of joic so he’s stuck out on the perimeter against another great shooter in kavus calwell Pope and that lets Murray turn the corner and finish into daylight and at the end of the game this caused issues for the Wolves McDaniels wants ball pressure on Gordon goar doesn’t want to chase him around in the back court and meanwhile Carl Anthony towns accidentally floated to the corner to guard Christian Brown so there are no big men left to guard jic and now Joker’s asking the Wolves if they’d like to come double or if he should cook Edwards in isolation and he goes for option C which is cook the double team anyway in game five the Wolves defense was back at square one like the rest of the league do you double yic or try to defend him oneon-one with goar on Joker Minnesota’s best help Defender was occupied so they played him straight up and there’s just no defense for that and with goar on the bench Nas Reed was on joic and again they never send help and that’s an and one and Joker feels Nas going for this steal and tips it to himself and that’s some classic Serbian Wizardry this time they break out in trans trans and joic has a mismatch with the much smaller Monty Morris so the wolves do send a second Defender and that opens this cut for brown and it’s a great pass by Gordon for the and one and on the very next trip Edwards tries to attack joic on defense but those deadly hands rip the ball out and joic runs right to the block to create another mismatch goar has to leave Gordon to help and this is a ridiculous no look pass and finish on the basine you know if I see someone’s coming to me I’m going to pass if I don’t see I’m just going to try to score so also look at how sneaky Gordon was there circling behind Edwards who just has no idea where he is and then he’s ready to power up on the Donk and on the very next play he brings it up again the guards aren’t being hounded anymore and now the Wolves even have the matchups they want with goar roaming off Gordon but now now they’re thinking about Aaron on that Baseline so he skips it to the wing for an open triple a minute later they give jic a ton of space to go to work out on the wing it’s the Serbian Smitty against goar and then he drives to the other side for this wild jump hook that wasn’t even his best hook of the game Gordon brings it up and runs the big to Big pick and roll to force a switch then yic does the mik and drill around goar and this time Gordon sets the screen for Joker to get that switch and if they aren’t going to send help Joker’s just going to twist goar to death and what is that again Minnesota has the matchup set the way they want yic is reading any help he spins around his man and ends up with free throws and he timed this up perfectly with goar clearing the lane to avoid the 3 second count and so his help was late and it was a foul and even when there isn’t any help yic still Burns you ant staring at the logo and bang it’s an open mpj3 you just can’t have any lapses against Nica or he’s going to make you pay this is a nice out- of bound shot that Edwards watches from the corner that lets Brown leak out and Morris doesn’t Sprint until it’s to late and they get more easy offense later in the game it’s deja vu ants watching a jumper instead of rotating back in the backcourt so yic just throws a touchdown to Murray for the easy dunk let’s do one more for fun Edwards does his staring thing instead of getting back Reed crashes the glass so he’s behind kcp and Magic Johnson I mean yic skips it ahead to callwell Pope and the defense is in shambles and you don’t always need an outlet either yic is way ahead of goar here calls for the ball and none of the Wolves want to pick him up so cat has to help and that’s another Gordon Jam Joker actually had a number of incredible passes in this game that would have been assists if it weren’t for goar’s insane ability to recover and protect the rim but he still hurt goar when he was roaming Anderson’s trying to pressure him here in the back court again that Springs jic and when Rudy comes to help he hits Aaron who attempts to baptize goar into the sect of gordonis yic actually did some damage away from the ball in this game giving it up here to Porter Jr then cutting right to the rim by goar for free throws and we also got yic Bingo when he faked setting a screen here just to cut by cat for the running kiss the nuggets have this pet play where Joker’s at the elbow Murray sets a back screen for the passer and then plays off joic at the elbow like this so I love this wrinkle from game five where jokic brings it up to get off the ball for that back screen for Murray and he can just seal in the post here and then abuses Reed in isolation and on the very next play jic fakes the cut to shake towns then decides not to pop the open three so they reset into the Twan game and speed is glued to yic on the roll and that Springs a bounci or Murray for a shooting foul so we’ve seen a healthier Jamal in this series we’ve seen the nuggets have success stretching actions toward an empty side of the floor and with the Big Ben bringing the ball up another way to attack is with jic getting a ball screen and that’s a slick behind the back pass and kcp rips the net this time the point guard sets the screen for him and that’s a nice roll pass for another bucket and when they run it again here Murray flips the pick at the last second goar is on the wrong side of it Edwards is just lost and put Joker in the dunk contest you know I’m a freak of nature and and uh why not to show my athleticism now compare that to how Denver defended an in game five he’s in isolation against Murray they send a d double he takes a while to move the ball that allows the defense to recover so there’s no Advantage from the double and then Porter stuffs towns this time they don’t double but Brown comes over to sit in the driving Gap Porter slides in front of ant as well and that pass pulls cat out so Murray can recover and they don’t really care much about Morris in the corner and on this trip in the fourth ant tries to go after MPG Jana’s switch but Brown suddenly traps and again there’s no Advantage here jic is ignoring Jaden McDaniels and they’re almost inviting him to shoot that three so Edwards is either seeing a double team or Denver’s sliding bodies into his driving lanes and instead of punishing the nuggets for helping it actually aided the Denver offense and here comes the freak of nature attacking yic in pick and roll wasn’t much better Edwards tries the In-N-Out here but Joker isn’t biting and it’s a turnover and I actually think the Nuggets defense is almost more comfortable helping and scrambling around or having jic briefly double the ball handler before they recover behind the play and in game five they had a number of textbook defensive possessions that either forc turnovers led to stops or even turn defense into easy offense so after being left for dead in game two the defending Champion nuggets have slowly and methodically solve Minnesota’s swarming defense to take a 3-2 lead in this amazing series and at the center of all these adjustments and all the counters is the three-time MVP Nico yic who’s averaged 33 points 10 assists and nine rebounds on 68% true shooting over the last three games and has the Denver Nuggets on the brink of the Western Conference Finals to support this channel check out patreon.com thinking basketball we have our Playoff stats board that updates regularly throughout the postseason and a ton more thanks for watching this one all the way through hope you’re enjoying this and this crazy series and that you are having a great day