When Anthony Edwards scores 43 in a playoff game, Wolves fans should feel pretty good. But the scheme to launch him and others into space against the Nuggets was the tipping point.
The Minnesota Timberwolves stole — no, ripped — Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals from the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night. Anthony Edwards scored 43 points on highly efficient shooting in clutch time to lead the way, but the second-half contributions of the supporting cast kept Minnesota within striking distance until that point.
Not only did shots just start falling for guys like Mike Conley, Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid once the third quarter clock started running; the frequency and variability at which the Minnesota coaching staff put their ball-handlers and screeners into advantageous positions helped the Wolves employ sustainable offensive process pretty much all game.
Let’s dive into the offensive concept that unlocked the Game 1 offense: Horns Chest.
What is Horns Chest?
The “Horns” terminology involves two screeners for the ball-handler at the top of the key, creating a horn image. The ball-handler can choose to use either screen — which usually come from the 4-man and 5-man — and attack off of it.
Whichever player set the screen is not going to roll to the basket; instead, he’ll use a flare screen from the other screener who hasn’t been used yet and cut to the opposite slot at the 3-point line.
This could be to get the initial screener an open shot from deep, an angle to attack against a switch, or simply to clear space for the ball-handler.
You can see JJ Redick draw it up and talk more in-depth about Horns Chest in Episode 2 of the Mind The Game podcast with LeBron James.
How The Timberwolves Used Horns Chest in Game 1
The first instance of the concept Saturday was with unique personnel: Jaden McDaniels as the screener to receive the flare.
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Usually that’s Towns using the Rudy Gobert flare screen to get into a scoring opportunity; the Wolves don’t draw up plays like this to get McDaniels going. But it’s less about the basics of the action than aligning the floor to give Edwards the advantage.
McDaniels getting involved in the screen allows for two things to happen:
1) Kentavious Caldwell-Pope gets switched off of Edwards for Michael Porter Jr. (a significant upgrade in matchup for Edwards), and…
2) Caldwell-Pope is now in the help position at the “nail” — free throw line area — when Edwards attacks the Gobert high ball screen. Ant’s not afraid of a 6-foot-5 KCP at that spot.
It’s all Ant from there. Gobert’s screen gives Edwards the paint touch he needs in the middle of the floor to collapse the defense. He makes a great corner skip pass to Reid, who can’t finish the layup when he drives, but nevertheless it’s incredible process that hinted at more to come later in the game.
At the end of the first half the Wolves go back to Horns Chest with Gobert and Towns. They again force a switch that gets Caldwell-Pope in the nail help position, now guarding Towns. Aaron Gordon is on Edwards, which on paper isn’t the worst thing in the world for Denver. But paper is not the hardwood.
Nikola Jokić plays a half-hearted hedge defense against Ant’s pick-and-roll, which opens up an easy pocket pass to Gobert in the middle of the floor. You can’t say enough about how Rudy has fared as this short roll passer this season; it may not be fluid every time, but it’s pretty effective. He gets Caldwell-Pope to stunt to the corner and leave Towns by himself for an above-the-break triple.
When you put the right players in the right spots and your 22-year-old budding star is making all the right reads, it’s difficult to doubt the sustainability of a Timberwolves offense that was middle-of-the-pack all season, but is first in the playoffs (121.6 offensive rating).
We all know the first half was an Edwards show. Nobody else could score for Minnesota. So right away in the third quarter the Wolves fused the Horns Chest action with their patented empty-side pick-and-roll that Conley and Gobert run to perfection.
This is an awesome opening set design for Conley to get a different, unpredictable catch leading into the Horns alignment. Mike gets off the ball and cuts back to the opposite wing where Gobert is waiting and Towns can follow him into a ball screen. You don’t see the Horns Chest look initiated on the wing very often.
Once again, Gordon switches off of Towns and leaves Jamal Murray, with a bad wheel, out to dry on the wing against KAT. It’s an easy throw back to Towns, who has zero resistance from Murray and lets the triple fly. That was the definition of getting a specific guy going as soon as possible — Towns scored 11 points in the third quarter on flawless shooting.
Just 90 seconds later the Wolves went back to the same look on the other side of the floor. At this point it’s predictable that the Nuggets will switch anything close to a screen outside of Jokić, so removing Gordon from the Towns matchup is fairly easy. Now KCP has to deal with Towns on the wing.
It’s important to note the difference in the catch here for KAT. This is not a post-up from 18 feet out. This is an off-the-catch, squared-up action that Caldwell-Pope has to close out to. Towns has the advantage in size and strength to bully his way through and over a smaller defender with no help to be wary of.
Now it’s the fourth quarter, and time to assert Edwards again.
(I think it’s funny how both the Phoenix Suns and Nuggets didn’t find any kind of halfway decent matchup for Ant until the fourth quarter in Josh Okogie and Christian Braun, respectively. Not that those guys are shutting down Edwards, but coaches still seem reluctant to try unorthodox matchups even when the situation is dire.)
Conley ghosts this Horns Chest and just sets up shop in the slot with Murray guarding him. Ant manipulates some masterful screening from Gobert and sees no nail help from Murray, so it’s just him against Braun and a dropping Jokić. That’s eating time for the two-time All-Star. Aided by a beautiful “Gortat” seal by Gobert on his roll into the paint, Ant snakes through the defense for an easy lay-in. The amount of open lanes Edwards saw throughout the game, balanced with his incredible midrange success in the clutch, makes Wolves fans and national pundits alike drool at what could be possible for this team.
How will Denver respond in Game 2? Will they blitz Edwards earlier and more often to get the ball out of his hands? With the cross-court reads he’s been making, it’s hard to justify that being anything more than a marginally profitable option for the Nuggets. That’s how dangerous the Wolves are when they design advantages — and already possess one in human form.