What did it take for D’Angelo Russell to bust out of his slump? More work.
Russell scored 30 points on 11-of-13 shooting and had 11 assists to lead the Timberwolves over the shorthanded Cavaliers 129-124 in Cleveland Sunday night.
“Extremely locked in in his preparation coming into that game,” said head coach Chris Finch, in an interview on KFAN Tuesday. “I’ve never had a player not benefit from extra work. D’Lo put the work in when he needed to and it paid off for him and for us.”
Finch elaborated on Russell’s extra work.
“Mostly just working out the rhythm and the kinks in his shot. Playing a little live 5-on-5 against coaches and against other players so he could feel a bit more of the rhythm of a game and how he wanted to play. I told him when he was playing to be very aggressive, shoot it all the time. Just shoot yourself back into a rhythm.”
The live 5-on-5 Finch mentioned was part of the Timberwolves “Stay-In-Shape League,” according to longtime beat writer Jon Krawczynski. The league is typically reserved for players who don’t play on a regular basis.
D'Angelo Russell has been playing in the Wolves Stay-In-Shape League, games for guys out of the rotation to work through shooting slump.
"It has less structure and things like that. It kind of allows you to just be free and things of that nature. It’s working out for me."
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) November 15, 2022
Signs of Russell coming out of his shooting slump started last week when he hit four 3s in back-to-back games against the Knicks and Suns. He went 0-of-4 and had just 4 points last Friday at Memphis, but he followed that up with his 30-point effort against the Cavs, when he also hit four triples. He’s 12-of-28 from 3 (42.8%) over his past four games.
When Russell is going good, that means fewer minutes for Jaylen Nowell.
“He has a consistent opportunity to go in there and impact. He’s done a good job,” Finch said of Nowell. “We never envision him to have a 30-minute role, but he’s going to play 15 or 20.”
Finch said Nowell is getting consistent opportunities, but it’s up to him to have “consistent performances in those opportunities.”
After averaging 12.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists while averaging just shy of 20 minutes per game in October, Nowell has seen his November averages drop to 9.0 points, 1.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists in about 16 minutes per game. But in his last nine games, which includes two in October, Nowell is averaging just 7.9 points per game compared to 16.2 points over his first five games.
Minnesota returns to action Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Orlando.
