No matter the ups and downs of this season, the Timberwolves seem to find themselves back at .500. The pattern has been to hit .500, lose a few games, then win a few to get back to even or one game over, then dip back below it.
The challenge now is to get above .500 and stay there, and the 24-24 Wolves get to play the league-worst Rockets again Monday night in Houston as they attempt to go a game above .500 for the first time since they were 16-15.
There are a few constant troublesome issues the Wolves have, and if they improve in those areas, perhaps they wouldn't find themselves constantly on the treadmill around the .500 mark.
One of those areas is fouling. The Wolves commit 22.1 fouls per game, which entered Sunday tied with Golden State and Detroit for the most in the league. Opponents attempted 25.8 free throws per game against the Wolves, the third-worst mark in the league, while the Wolves were in the middle of the pack generating free-throw attempts (23.9, tied for 13th).
Their foul rate has been a thorn in the side of coach Chris Finch, who said this problem has not been getting better even with the Wolves winning eight of their last 11 games.
"I don't see improvement there," Finch said. "We talk about it all the time. We show them film. We work on our technique. A lot of defense is about poise. It's not a zero-sum game. It's not like I steal it from you or you score. Some of our guys kind of think it is."
Finch said he sees a lot of fouls happening after the Wolves try to to make up for a bad play on offense or a missed assignment on defense. They become extra aggressive in trying to compensate for their mistake, and instead they compound their error.
"They feel they have to make a great play, particularly when they've been beaten," Finch said. "They have bad habits, and it's evident. There are certainly guys who are big culprits, and a lot of those guys are coming off our bench, which means we're in the bonus when they come into the game or get us to the bonus quickly. Neither is great."
Watch any Wolves game and you'll see the silly fouls. A turnover leads to a foul 70 feet from the basket. Or the Wolves play decent defense, and then reach in at the last moment as someone is preparing to shoot, causing a foul. These are little things the Wolves can correct, and almost nobody on the team is innocent.
Forward Jaden McDaniels has improved steadily throughout his three seasons and has played some of his best basketball on both ends of the floor the last few weeks. His only impediment to more playing time is foul trouble. McDaniels was tied for the second-most fouls committed in the league with 155. But even while McDaniels is guilty of avoidable fouls as much as anyone, he has another excuse – he has to guard the other team's best players on a regular basis.
The Wolves also have players who come off the bench and commit fouls at a high rate. Naz Reid is in the 24th percentile among centers in terms of foul rate, according to the advanced statistical website Cleaning the Glass. Taurean Prince is in the 14th percentile among forwards, while centers Luka Garza and Nathan Knight are foul machines in their limited minutes. They rate just in the fourth percentile (Garza) and ninth percentile (Knight) among centers. Those are some of the worst foul rates in the league.
Finch also sees the fouling as an issue of the Wolves' physicality. If they play with more of that, their fouling will stand out less because it will look like just another play. Finch pointed to Thursday's opponent, the Raptors, as an example of that.
"They're extremely physical all the time. They're fouling you all the time," Finch said. "But they set the tone that it's going to be that type of game. When you just pick and choose when you want to be physical, it stands out, and the fouling is a little bit more illuminated, if you will."
The Wolves are trying to shine as bright a light on that issue as they can. That's one way they can stay above .500.
