Space and Pace Offense: The Timberwolves and Lynx Have Something in Common

Space and Pace is the new offensive game and both Minnesota hoops teams are using it

No Minnesota Timberwolves fan was ready for the Shams Charania tweet that dropped at 9:27 pm CST on that random Friday in September (funnily enough on the date 9/27) which let the world know that Karl-Anthony Towns, a player that has been on the Timberwolves roster for just over 1/4th of its existence was being shipped to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop and a protected first-round pick from Detroit.

Personally, I was in my living room conversing with my roommates before getting the notification on my phone and blurting out what happened – completely disregarding whatever it was we were talking about beforehand. After some brief comments, many a text message from my other friends and family, and the initial shock subsided I took to social media to consume all of the immediate analysis, love, hatred, sadness, and appreciation that flooded my feed.

Through all of the reactions good or bad, one thing was for certain: things were going to change.

Photo by David L. Nemec/NBAE via Getty Images

It has been three weeks since that trade went down, and the feelings have at least somewhat subsided. We have some basketball (albeit exhibition) and the change has started to take hold starting with the on the court action.

Taking into account that Julius Randle has not played a minute for the Timberwolves as of yet, one of the biggest changes we have seen in the first few preseason games is that there has been more of a commitment to the “Space and Pace” style of offense that Chris Finch has been craving of his squads since he arrived in Minnesota in 2020. This shift in offensive process has made it look eerily similar to another basketball team that resides in the same state, city, and arena that the Timberwolves do: the Minnesota Lynx. Having been able to cover both teams, there have been analogous components that can be uncovered with a dive into the film.

Chris Finch has had this mentality for a long, long time but maybe coming in on summer mornings and peering across the Mayo Clinic Square practice court to see the Lynx, who ranked 4th in offense in the WNBA and are currently competing for a championship, only furthered his desire to institute this offense.

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

Spacing

Spacing was always the largest counterargument to the Gobert-Towns frontcourt pairing and while they were able to figure out a way to make it functional it was always a hurdle that the Wolves had to fight against to maintain good offensive process. While the two-man game between KAT and Rudy was good (and I thought should have been leaned into more) and also extremely cool to watch one seven-footer throw a lob to another seven-footer it led to a middling offense that struggled through many dry spells which are tough to work through when trying to win at the highest level.

We’ve seen throughout the preseason an emphasis on more of that spacing of four shooters around Rudy Gobert to facilitate a drive and kick game while also a desire to shoot more from beyond the arc. This is exactly how Coach Cheryl Reeve and the Lynx run their offense. The Lynx have the luxury of being able to space the floor with 5 shooters out there all at one time. All of their starting five are at least capable shooters if not better: Courtney Williams, Kayla McBride, Bridget Carleton, Napheesa Collier, and Alanna Smith.

Check out these two possessions and how similar the commitment to spacing is from both squads.

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Both have the four-out one-in setup, both start with a drive and kick game. Both have players that are spaced well beyond the three-point line to give their teammates room to operate. Now, this is not unique to just the Wolves and Lynx but if you watched the Timberwolves last year you know that there were times when the spacing would make drivers cramped. While the Wolves will never be able to space in the exact same way the Lynx do because of the lack of Rudy Gobert shooting, their commitment to this spacing and surrounding Gobert with capable shooters will get them closer to this space and pace system.

DHOs, Screening, and Roll Gravity

The Lynx offense is predicated on constant DHO action, great screens, and roll gravity. When you can effectively do that while also spacing the floor with knockdown shooters you become a very difficult team to guard. This was the easiest integration as the Wolves have a player who is extremely good at all three of these aspects of the game: Rudy Gobert. Now, this was a massive part of the Timberwolves offense last year, but the main difference is that instead of having KAT sometimes mucking up the spacing by being in the dunker’s spot or getting the defense in rotation to eventually find a wide-open corner three for… Kyle Anderson, you have DiVincenzo or another shooter occupying that corner spot.

The KAT to Randle switch is yet to be seen if Randle will be willing to be more of a spacer to the corner and stay out of the way of that PNR but if Finch can get him to buy into that role more often than Towns was then it could be a massive bump for this offense.

In the Timberwolves clip, we see a handoff into an empty corner PNR where DiVincenzo kicks it out to Ingles for the three as a result of Gobert’s screen and roll breaking down the defense. In the Lynx clip, we still have that empty PNR where Williams gets all the way to the rim because of Smith’s great screen and hard roll to the basket.

If you go back and watch any Lynx game this season, you will see hundreds of DHOs, ball screens, and hard rolls to the basket that create open shots. I guarantee you that with the new and improved commitment to spacing that the Timberwolves are buying into that you will see tons of similar actions creating open looks with the difference this year being that the Wolves have better spacing and similar caliber shooters that the Lynx have had this season.

Deadeye Shooter Sets

While the majority of these similarities have been more conceptual, this is a one-to-one comparison that is a big part of the Lynx offense and will be a much larger portion of the Wolves offense with the acquisition of DiVincenzo this season. Donte DiVincenzo and Kayla McBride both are knockdown shooters. Both Chris Finch and Cheryl Reeve know this is a weapon and the best way to access this weapon is by dialing up a few sets a game to get that shooter an open look.

The Wolves clip is a disguised pin-down action while the Lynx ran an elevator screen, but the goal remained the same: Get our shooter an open look. This is something that the Wolves have very rarely had in the Finch era and adding this level to the offense is something that will only add to their ability to improve on that end of the floor.

Different and yet Similar

There are two main differences that I see between the roster construction of the Timberwolves and the Lynx. The first is that their star players have very different skill sets and the second is that while the Lynx have a more 5-out setup where everyone can shoot, the Wolves have Rudy Gobert who clearly cannot shoot. Even with these big differences, the offensive process of the two teams is still extremely similar.

Napheesa Collier is a true Power Forward who uses her combination of strength and speed to post up smaller players and blow by bigger ones. Anthony Edwards is an electrifying Shooting Guard who uses his athleticism and strength to drive by and through defenders to finish at the rim – while also adding being a three-level scorer on top of this. While the difference between where they get their shots is extremely different, how they do it is shockingly similar. Both offenses start with this space and pace-flowing action but there are a good number of possessions where the goal is to create a 1v1 matchup for their best isolation player.

The first clip is more similar to what I was able to find from the preseason game against the Knicks: semi-transition where the rest of the team is just staying spaced and out of the way. In the halfcourt, the Lynx try to get the ball to Phee with her back to the basket 1v1 so she can use her footwork and post-game to get a good shot.

The Wolves let Ant go on the perimeter – get him a matchup they like, and he tries to drive right by the defender to the rim (or takes a pull-up mid-range or three). The shot chart for the two players is extremely different because of their playstyles but the offensive process is the same: get our player with a good 1v1 matchup and let them go to work.

The Rudy Gobert part of this is interesting as the offensive process is similar but the difference in personnel is more attributed to how the NBA and WNBA games contrast. The NBA is much more focused on athleticism and is played above the rim – having a roll threat like Rudy Gobert where you can throw a lob to him is a huge advantage in an offense.

The WNBA is all below the rim – having five shooters out there is huge for what the Lynx want to do with their motion and activity offensively and because the lob threat is not a thing, they supplement it with the shooting. Both offenses still have tons of screening, lots of DHOs and use roll gravity to attack a tilted defense.

The lob threat that comes with having Rudy Gobert has an equitable impact on what the Lynx have when they play five shooters: it’s a layer that the defense has to account for, otherwise, they will get torched. Both of these things are great elements in a space and pace offense that both teams are committed to running, they just reflect the differences between how the game is played in the NBA compared to the WNBA.

From the top down the Wolves have shown this commitment to the space and pace offense: The roster construction with Mike Conley, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and the acquisition of Donte DiVincenzo are all players who prefer to run this style. Chris Finch has said for years he wants to run more of a space and pace offense because he believes it is the best way to do things.

The players themselves – specifically Mike Conley and Donte DiVincenzo have said in their interviews that that is how they want to play. While I have to note that we have not seen a ton of sample size of how this all works with Julius Randle, it seems that the Wolves are committed to making this a part of their identity.

The Timberwolves knew they needed to be better offensively if they wanted to take the next step and win a championship. With the influx of players along with the changed offensive process, the Wolves are much better equipped to improve their offense and chase the ring they fell short of last season.

There are many intriguing similarities between how the Lynx ran offense this season and what it seems like the Wolves are trying to do offensively this season. And if the Wolves can copy what the Lynx have done this summer… we are in for a fun ride.

Special thank you to Timberwolves Clips for all the preseason highlights.