MINNEAPOLIS -- For all his relentlessness, Charles
Linwood Williams was a realist.
In several early-'90s postseason skirmishes with Karl
Malone, the Blazers power forward didn't expect to completely bottle up the
Jazz Hall of Famer. But Williams stayed within himself, gambled only when the
odds were in his favor, and mastered the art of limiting a top offensive threat
just enough to alter the outcome of games and series.
Williams' crafty-yet-mulish defensive ways helped push
Portland into the 1990 and 1992 NBA Finals and overcome Malone and Utah in the
1991 and 1992 playoffs. His coach from back then still sees Buck, as he's more
commonly known, as a standard-setter when it comes to stopping.
"Buck used to tell me, 'Coach, I know he's gonna
score,'" said Rick Adelman, now the Timberwolves' head man, '"but
he's gonna work his ass off for every basket he gets, and by the end of the
day, maybe I'll just wear him down a little bit.'"
Therein rest the keys for Minnesota's defense, with four
games to use as a barometer. So far, Adelman's desire for mitigation has been
fulfilled more often than not.
It was the pervasive inquiry surrounding the Timberwolves
heading into 2012-13: will this machine built to score also prevent opponents
from doing the same?
With at least 78 games in 4 1/2 months of basketball to be
played, that's still an unknown. But it's clear they're capable.
Coming off their first road swing of the season, the
Timberwolves (3-1) rank third in the NBA with a point differential of plus-8. Three
straight 100-plus-point outings to open the campaign are behind it, but so are
a shutdown of one of the league's top two scorers of a year ago, a decisive
limiting of the other and adherence to principles that can make for "some
long nights for other teams," according to swingman Corey Brewer.
"If we can play team defense, our offense is going to
be there," Brewer said. "We've just got to play team defense and stop
them."
The only proven defensive specialist in Minnesota's starting
rotation, Brewer served as the ringleader in holding Oklahoma City's Kevin
Durant to 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting Friday. Two days later in New York,
Brewer harassed Carmelo Anthony into a slow start that allowed the Timberwolves
to create an insurmountable lead.
Anthony went on to score 22 points, but he also shot
8-for-21 and rushed shots late in Minnesota's 109-100 win. The Timberwolves led
by as many as 23, and Anthony -- the league's scoring champ last season -- had
six points at halftime.
It's what Minnesota signed Brewer as a free agent this
offseason to do: hound the opponent's top scorer on the wing, at least long
enough for assistance to come his way.
Brewer's new teammates didn't have to wait long to see how
the former Timberwolves draft pick stacks up.
"He's one of the best defenders in the game,"
backup forward Derrick Williams said. "He denies the ball, he's active. I
just pick up little things from him when he's guarding me every day in practice
and I'm trying to guard him."
Said Brewer: "You've got to face the best. I'm off to a
good start, I guess you could say.
"You've just got to make it tough on them."
Brewer hasn't made it tough alone. Adelman's kept things
fairly simple defensively -- lots of switching in the backcourt, with a help
defender sliding toward Brewer's charge almost always. Big men Kevin Love and
Nikola Pekovic spend much of their time sagging in the paint, keeping one eye
on their men while looking to thwart drives and pick-and-rolls toward the
basket.
Williams and Dante Cunningham have spelled Brewer at times,
too, allowing him to stay fresh and be the "energy guy" he takes
pride in being.
Team-wide, the Timberwolves have heeded Adelman's call to
push the pace offensively but hurry back to the other end just as rapidly.
They're allowing 8.8 fast-break points per game, second only to the New Orleans
Pelicans. Oklahoma City scored in transition once all night Friday, and
Cleveland had just eight fast-break points Monday.
But that loss and a near-miss against Orlando in last
Wednesday's opener revealed some vulnerabilities.
Rather than try to outrun Minnesota, Cleveland often worked
through Mike Brown's Princeton offense progressions until a high-percentage
shot arose. The Cavaliers also attacked the rim more, outscoring the
Timberwolves 26-10 in the paint during the first half before the Timberwolves
rallied from a 23-point deficit and lost by a point.
With Oklahoma City missing Russell Westbrook, Kyrie Irving
was the first premier point guard the Timberwolves have faced. He scored 15
points on 7-of-15 shooting, and C.J. Miles came off the bench to score 19.
In the opener, Magic guards Aaron Afflalo and Jameer Nelson
received too many open looks. So did Nikola Vucevic, who battled against
Pekovic for 22 points and helped erase a 17-point deficit.
The defensive rotations weren't as crisp that day or Monday
in Ohio. That could be chalked up first-game rust and road back-to-back wear,
but the whole thing remains a work in progress, Brewer said.
"We're getting there," he said. "We're
learning. We're gelling."
With Ronny Turiaf (elbow fracture) sidelined for the
immediate future, Minnesota is without a sufficient rim protector at the
moment. First-round draft pick Gorgui Dieng has been given a chance to fill
that void but has seven personal fouls to one block in 17 minutes of work.
The Timberwolves have denied 11 shots in four games, tied
for 26th in the NBA.
They also need to finish more defensive possessions. Too
often Monday, they were in the right position until Cleveland made an extra
pass, and Minnesota appeared too tuckered out to defend its receptor.
But just as the Timberwolves' defensive successes are skewed
by a tiny sample size, so are their shortcomings. This early of evidence is
something to draw upon, not bank upon.
"I think we have the ability to defend people,"
Adelman said after the Oklahoma City game. "If we follow the game plan and
everybody works at it and they stay within what we're trying to do, we'll be
OK."
