Just before tip-off on opening night, Jim Petersen, as he always does, gave us his keys to the game, and one of the things he mentioned was limiting the lob dunks to the Nets’ big men Jarrett Allen and DeAndre Jordan.
Sure enough, the Wolves’ first defensive possession of the game wound up with a side DHO into a screen-and-roll between Allen and Kyrie Irving. In past years, Towns might have jumped out too far on Irving, leading to an easy lob for Allen. This time, he sank to take away the straight drive to the basket, and was in position once Allen received the pass in the lane to contest.