Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman sounded like a man more than upset with the effort his team put forth in the moments following Wednesday's home loss to the Denver Nuggets.
Two days later, after a lengthy film session and a solid practice, Adelman had calmed down. At least a little. "We just went through some things to try to get back to the basics," Adelman said on Friday. "We showed 'em film, and went through it on the court. We'll see if it carries over."
It had better.
The schedule only gets more difficult for the Wolves, mired in their first three-game losing streak this season and losers in five of their past six games. Immediately after practice the team boarded a plane for Dallas. They will play at Dallas and at Oklahoma City on Saturday and Sunday, fly to Mexico City to play San Antonio, then come home to play Miami. The Spurs (13-2) and Thunder (10-3) are first and third in the Western Conference, respectively, and the Mavericks (10-6) are sixth. Miami (12-3) is second in the East.
For the Wolves to stop their recent streak, their effort and defense will have to improve. And that's why defense was the main course at Friday's practice.
"Our defense was terrible [Wednesday]," point guard Ricky Rubio said. "We have to play harder. I mean, we know we're not good defenders one-on-one. But we can be a good defense as a team. We showed that in our first few games. … We have to help each other out. We're not talking."
It remains to be seen whether one good practice can get the Wolves back to playing good team defense. But veteran Kevin Martin said nobody was about to panic.
"This is one of those times in a year that teams go through," he said. "We worked on a lot of defensive stuff today, mixed in with a little offense. Defense is our weakness right now. So we have to turn it around here."