Wolves defense was struggling. Coach Chris Finch says it is “up off the mat.”

Before the Timberwolves entered November, coach Chris Finch began sounding the alarm about the team’s defense, which was not like itself in the first week of the season.

“I’m very concerned about it right now, to be honest with you,” Finch said after a 127-114 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Oct. 27. “We have been extremely inconsistent defensively.”

So, how have the Wolves responded since then?

“I mean, it’s up off the mat,” Finch said after Wednesday’s practice. “Now we just got to start throwing more punches. That’s the best way to describe it.”

The Wolves (7-4) have the 18th-rated defense in the NBA through their first 11 games. Better than that first week, when they started in the mid-20s, but still nowhere near the standard they set the last two seasons.

The return of Anthony Edwards from a hamstring injury has boosted the Wolves’ success on that end of the floor, as Edwards has been more willing to take on matchups against the opponent’s top threat. It gives the Wolves another weapon on defense when he does that instead of trying to store his energy for offense. Teammate Jaden McDaniels, a top defender, can also stay out of foul trouble as a result, which is key as McDaniels is off to a strong start on offense (18.4 points per game).

“We talked coming into the season about trying to employ Jaden maybe off ball a little bit more,” Finch said. “... Every game could be a little bit different. We’re spoiled for choice to have both of them, to be able to put [them] wherever we want to position [them].”

“It’s just gone up — challenging Jaden and Rudy [Gobert] to be the backbone of our defense. They both responded to that,” Finch said. “Ant’s been really good. Julius [Randle] has been good. Everyone’s just kind of taking a step forward. We got to rebound better. We got to quit fouling. And when we do that, we take the next step.”

The schedule has helped them find their footing, with the Wolves piling up five wins in their last six games. The victories came over Utah (twice), Charlotte, Brooklyn and Sacramento. The Kings visit Target Center on Friday night. The one challenging opponent the Wolves had in that stretch, the New York Knicks, shredded them for a defensive rating of 141.2, the Wolves’ worst of the season.

“Our sense of urgency and our focus on the little things has been better,” Gobert said. “We realize that, for us, it’s a non-negotiable if we want to achieve our goal. This is something that we have to do every night, regardless of who is on the floor.”

If the start to the season has done anything, it has proved just how valuable Gobert is to the team’s defense. When he is on the floor, the Wolves have a defensive rating of 105.7, good enough for second in the NBA. But when he’s off the floor, it drops to 130.2, 3.9 points per 100 possessions worse than the last-place team.

Finch has been figuring out what might be the right combinations to play when Gobert is off the floor, with Jaylen Clark figuring into more of those lineups given his perimeter defensive ability.