The Minnesota Timberwolves have fallen to 8-10 on the season and the No. 12 seed in the West after a devastating 115-104 loss to the Sacramento Kings. The Timberwolves blew a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter to lose this game, falling further behind the leading pack in the Western Conference after making the Conference Finals last season.
No. 1 option Anthony Edwards slammed his team for their demeanor and play style after the loss to the Kings, hoping to see a major change in the team’s attitude going forward.
“We got up and everybody cheering and f***ing hype. We get down again and don’t nobody says nothing. That’s the definition of a frontrunner. We as a team, including myself, we all were frontrunners tonight. It was some bullsh*t, for sure.”
“We’ve been trying to figure this out all year. I thought defense was our identity, but it’s not looking like that at all. The identity right now, me and Mike were talking about it, is that we’re soft as hell. Internally. Not to the other teams, but internally, we’re soft. We can’t talk to each other. It’s like we’re just playing with a bunch of little kids, the whole team, we can’t talk to each other. We got to figure this out, we can’t go down this road.”
Anthony Edwards kept it 💯 when I asked him about the teams defense. He said the identity of this team is “We soft as hell” pic.twitter.com/a9P9Mf4nX0
— SneakerReporter (@SneakerReporter) November 28, 2024
Edwards tried leading the team to the win but his 29 points (9-24 FG) weren’t enough on the night. Julius Randle chipped in with 21 points (8-14 FG) and nine rebounds while Nickeil Alexander-Walker had 17 points (5-6 3PA) and Mike Conley had 16 points (4-11 FG).
Anthony Edwards has had enough.
Love this leadership pic.twitter.com/Z7h9xVhjQp
— Bull Run (@run_bull_) November 28, 2024
The team’s balance looks off since they traded Karl-Anthony Towns for Donte DiVincenzo and Randle in the summer. Edwards hinted at chemistry issues for the franchise, which shows that they need to find a way to all get on the same page. Even with the Wolves potentially trading DiVincenzo this season, they need to maximize the 3-and-D production he brings to the team.
Edwards has been their best player easily but has also been a part of the problem with questionable shot selection and significantly cooling down as a three-point shooter after an electric start to the season. He’s averaging 28.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.8 assists this season on 45.9% from the field and 42.7% from three.
Towns was more than a complementary big due to his diverse offensive capabilities, he was the heart and soul of the franchise for nearly a decade. His getting traded might have affected the franchise more significantly than initially expected.
Edwards is trying to embrace being a leader, but it might take a while for everyone to get adjusted. Even Rudy Gobert took a year to adjust to the franchise, so a similar process might be in work with Julius Randle.
This team might be among the leading names in the trade market if their slump in form continues. The Timberwolves have won only two out of their last nine games as they’ve tumbled to No. 12 in the West. This can’t continue, and the franchise will be aggressively looking at ways to patch their form.
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