The Minnesota Timberwolves entered the 2023-24 season with mild expectations. They spent the past couple of years building a nice foundation for the future in acquiring guys like Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Rudy Gobert, and they have qualified for the playoffs in each of the past two seasons after making it just once in the previous 17. But there weren’t many who pegged them to be one of the top teams in the Western Conference, and them being at the top of the overall NBA standings is a surprise to pretty much everyone.
Timberwolves Have The Best Record In The NBA
The Minnesota Timberwolves are now 17-4 on the year 🐺🐺🐺 pic.twitter.com/WxeJtoxtQe
— SneakerReporter (@SneakerReporter) December 9, 2023
They’ve done it with defense. Gobert is the leading candidate for the Defensive Player of the Year award during the early going, and he is the anchor of the league’s top unit. No team in the NBA allows fewer points than the Timberwolves, and their opponents shoot at a .428 clip against them this year, which is also the lowest that any team allows.
Offensively, Edwards has been the star of the show. His 24.4 per game average is within the top-20 in the league, and Towns is at 22 per. They rank just 19th in points per game, and actually shoot fewer shots per game than any other team in the league. But they are top-10 in free throw attempts, which, combined with their stellar defensive efforts, cause a nearly +8 point differential for the top team in the NBA.
Schedule Through December Is Tough For Minny
Rudy Gobert over his last 4 games:
18.5 PPG
15.5 RPG
3.0 BPG
71% FG
+55BIG reason why the Timberwolves are currently the best team in the NBA pic.twitter.com/BBLdvelakD
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 7, 2023
Through the first seven weeks of the season, or roughly 20–22 games, there has been no team that has performed better than the Timberwolves thus far. They are sitting on top of the Western Conference with a 17-4 record by way of winning 9 of their last 10 games, and are already three games up on every other team in a convoluted race for the postseason. Only the Boston Celtics have enjoyed similar success through the first part of the NBA season, as the leaders in the East have a record of 16-5.
Can they keep it up? It won’t be easy sledding through the holidays, so don’t be surprised to see the Wolves fall back a bit as we climb through December. Every single one of their remaining opponents for the month currently has a winning record, as well as their first six opponents in January.
For their game against the Pelicans on Monday night, the Timberwolves are actually listed as 3.5 point underdogs.
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