Anthony Edwards did not pull any punches after his Timberwolves suffered a 115-104 dwelling loss to the Kings on Wednesday night time — the staff’s fourth consecutive defeat and seventh within the final 9 video games.
In a profanity-laced tirade, Edwards referred to his Timberwolves teammates as “a bunch of youngsters” and blasted their lack of effort on each ends of the ground.
“We thought protection was our id however it’s not trying prefer it in any respect,” Edwards rued. “Our id proper now could be, I believe, is we’re delicate as hell as a staff, internally. To not the opposite staff, however internally, we delicate. We won’t speak to one another. Only a bunch of little children. Similar to we taking part in with a bunch of little children. We simply cannot speak to one another. And we have got to determine it out, as a result of we will not go down this highway.”
As Edwards alluded to, protection was the Timberwolves’ calling card last season once they completed first in most defensive metrics and rode these strengths to the Western Convention Finals. This season, although, Minnesota has fallen to twelfth in defensive effectivity, twenty fourth in paint factors allowed (51.6 per recreation) and twenty first in fast-break factors allowed (16.4 per recreation).
The shortcoming to get stops is why Minnesota has struggled to retain leads. This contains blowing a 12-point fourth-quarter lead on Wednesday, a day after an OT loss to the Rockets. Edwards known as his staff “front-runners” after Wednesday’s loss.
“We seem like front-runners for certain tonight,” Edwards stated. “We was down, no person wished to say nothing. We obtained up and all people was cheering and hyped. After which, after we obtained down once more, do not no person say nothing. That is the definition of a front-runner. We, as a staff, together with myself, all of us was front-runners tonight.”
Ouch. That is harsh. But it surely might be the precise dressing down the Timberwolves must return to successful methods. They began the season 6-3 and have gone 2-7 since.
The Timberwolves (8-10) will attempt to escape of their droop once they host the Clippers and Lakers on Friday and Monday, respectively.
