Rudy Gobert can see it happening in front of his own eyes as he stands in the dunker spot by the rim on offense.

The spacing tightens. The ball sticks. The players stand.

The Timberwolves’ offense screeches to a halt.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) works toward the basket as Los Angeles Clippers center Daniel Theis (10) defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, March 3, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

There have been stints of good offense throughout the season. But they’ve been outnumbered by the bad. It hasn’t mattered much for the first-place Timberwolves because the defense has just been that good; Minnesota’s defensive efficiency (108 points per 100 possessions) is 2.2 points better than the next-best defense.

But it’s concerning that the offense appears to potentially be getting worse in the final quarter of the regular season. And it’s starting to cost the Timberwolves games. In their recent seven-game homestand, they dropped all three games they played against quality foes. Specifically in the losses to Milwaukee and the Los Angeles Clippers — a game in which Minnesota surrendered just 89 points and still lost — the offense was almost solely to blame.

Minnesota ranks 22nd in the NBA in offensive rating since returning from the all-star break.

“A lot of it comes down to both Anthony (Edwards) and KAT, guys who want the ball early. They are trying to play into the teeth of the defense too much,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “We gotta get back to trusting our early structures, things that we’ve been doing well at times. Just playing out of that a lot more.”

From there, it does just boil down to making strong basketball plays — screening, cutting, spacing. Towns and Edwards have to be just as willing to do those things as their teammates.

“They’ve got to be able to put the work in without the ball. It’s a responsibility for everybody, whether it’s Rudy rolling. It can’t be just Jaden and Nickeil cutting. It has to be everybody,” Finch said. “When the defense dicates, you cut. You roll the switch, and you respace for the guy coming into your area. We get caught watching the ball a lot. When you watch the ball, we don’t move.”

It’s starting to disrupt even the offense of Towns and Edwards. Edwards is shooting 46 percent from the field and 32 percent from 3-point range since the all-star break. Towns — who is listed as “out” for Thursday’s game in Indiana with left knee soreness — is at 41 percent from the floor and 33 percent from deep. Those numbers are significantly below what both generally average.

“They’re just chasing the game too much,” Finch said.

Gobert said the lack of those extra things on offense can be a product of fatigue — but that can’t be the case. In fact, cutting and screening and spacing could be what gets Minnesota’s two best offensive players ignited.

A prime example of that has been the second unit, as Kyle Anderson, Monte Morris and Naz Reid have gotten going offensively of late, seemingly as the reserves have picked up their ball and body movement.

“I think it comes a lot from the energy that they put into it. Naz, Kyle, Nickeil (Alexander-Walker). You see how fast they move, how much they cut. They screen, they get off of each other really quickly and create space,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said. “I think we can, with that first unit, be a bit slower. We have guys who can post, guys who can move inside and out, so there’s a lot of different opportunities there. So it might make us a little bit slower as a group.

“But this group has to figure out how to get that from our starting unit to play with a little bit more force, more pace, to open things up quicker for Ant and everybody else on the team to make easy plays.”

The chase to consistently achieve that offensively continues. Minnesota looks to find its way as it embarks on a six-game road trip, which opens Thursday in Indiana. Finch was looking forward to Wednesday’s film session in hopes of “starting to build things back in a better way.”