Anthony Edwards spoke to reporters after the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ 133-107 blowout loss to the New York Knicks. Edwards was furious with the way the team played, tearing into them for their poor outing. He slammed the team for showing no bite on offense, having no identity at all, and being too reliant on him and Julius Randle. Edwards also noted that this isn’t on the coaches, but rather on the players.
“We don’t have sh*t on offense. We don’t have no identity. We know I’m gonna shoot a bunch of shots, we know Ju gonna shoot a bunch of shots, and that’s all we know. We don’t really know anything at all. It’s not on the coaches, it’s on us. We’re out here playing, but we gotta make it easier for each other. Coaches put us in great positions too. We just don’t do it.”
To say Edwards was frustrated with his teammates is an understatement. The Timberwolves were utterly disappointing on the night. Anthony Edwards had an uncharacteristically quiet night, putting up just 17 points (7-16 FG), five rebounds, seven assists, three steals, and one block. However, he did only turn the ball over twice.
Julius Randle played well against his former team, with 24 points (8-17 FG), five rebounds, and three assists. But he did have five turnovers, which didn’t look good.
Randle and Edwards were the only two Timberwolves starters to have points in the double-digits. The three other Timberwolves stars to put up double-digit points came off the bench were Josh Minnot (11 points, 5-8 FG), Donte DiVincenzo (15 points, 5-9 FG), and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (12 points, 5-5 FG).
The Timberwolves were playing against a very good Knicks team. But that is still no excuse for their starters to drop such poor stat lines.
Minnesota Timberwolves Must Turn Things Around
For the season, the Timberwolves have a 14-12 record and currently sit eighth in the Western Conference. If they hold this form for the rest of the season, the Timberwolves will find themselves in the play-in tournament. For a team that held a top seed in the West last season to fall to the play-in tournament would be quite disappointing.
It’s fair to say that the decision to trade Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks has not worked out well for the Timberwolves. While Julius Randle has played well, he is no comparison to Towns, who was an elite offensive player, and had made a lot of strides as a defender during his time in Minnesota.
Anthony Edwards is still playing brilliant basketball, averaging 25.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game, while shooting 45.3% from the field, 40.2% from the three-point line, and 80.7% from the free-throw line. But he alone cannot carry the whole team.
The Timberwolves must make sure that they make some trades before the deadline in February. It might be time for them to cash in on whatever remaining value Julius Randle has on an expiring contract, to give Edwards and the Timberwolves the best chance to compete for the NBA championship.
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