Kings' Mike Brown: 'Pick your poison' against big Timberwolves
What do Erik Spoelstra, Rick Carlisle and Mike Brown have in common? They're all championship-winning NBA head coaches and they've all been blown away by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Spoelstra has watch his Miami Heat get dumped by the Timberwolves twice already this season. Carlisle has the Indiana Pacers scoring at a higher level than any team in the league but they ran into a brick wall in Minnesota, albeit they didn't have All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton. And Brown's Kings are the only team this season to win in Minnesota but a healthier version of the Timberwolves got revenge Saturday night in Sacramento.
"That's what they do. They're a great defensive team with all the length they have and athleticism. And then they're a team that scores it well in the paint, and we kind of played into their hands," Brown said after falling to Minnesota Saturday night.
Brown noted how difficult it is to match up against the big Timberwolves.
"You gotta pick your poison. And obviously the smartest thing to do is try to eliminate a dunk by a 7'2'' kid and then contest late to a guy like (Jaden) McDaniels or somebody else that's not hot on the perimeter," said Brown.
"You gotta give them credit. They're long, they're athletic and they fly around. You feel a little bit more pressure to get that shot off a little bit quicker even though they're not going to block, most times, a perimeter 3-point shot but they make it tough on you and this is a game that you gotta go in with a lot of mental resiliency because there's no telling what can happen throughout the course of the game with their length and the way they scramble and the protection they have at the rim."
Brown likened Minnesota's size to the dynasty Spurs that went big with 7-footers Tim Duncan and David Robinson.
"They got different personal than us. They got a center that's 7'2'' and was defensive player of the year, I know once, maybe twice before. So he's a high-level guy on that end of the floor. You've got some length and you've got some athleticism and you're talking about playing Naz Reid at your 4 and he's shooting 40% from 3. Kyle Anderson at 6'9'', Jaden McDaniels can guard 1 through 4 and some 5s at 6'9'', 6'10''. When you have that length and athleticism you can do a lot of things differently," Brown explained.
"When I was coaching in San Antonio and we had Tim Duncan and David Robinson back there, we started Danny Ferry at the small forward and we told Danny just to 'press up, press up' because we wanted their wings to drive by us because we got two guys, 7'1'' and 7'2'', protecting the rim. So there are a lot of things that you can do different with the type of length they have."
When Sacramento won at Minnesota earlier this season, McDaniels was out of the lineup with a sprained ankle. Brown noted how McDaniels' presence was the biggest difference between the first and second matchups with the Timberwolves.
"That young kid Jaden McDaniels, he's a special defender," Brown said. "He does a lot of things that don't show up in the stat sheet, especially on the defensive end of the floor."
"Defensively, his impact is a lot higher than what it may show in the stat sheet or even some analytics," Brown added.
Dec 23, 2023; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Harrison Barnes (40) drives in against Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels (3) during the fourth quarter at Golden 1 Center.
Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
