Anthony Edwards threw away his towel and headed to the locker room after head coach Chris Finch pulled him and his fellow starters, Rudy Gobert, Donte DiVincenzo and Jaden McDaniels, out of the game with 7:52 left in the fourth quarter and the Minnesota Timberwolves trailing the Atlanta Hawks, 109-80.
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However, unlike Edwards, Gobert saw the game through, took the 126-102 beating, and expressed his frustration afterward, where he did not mince words.
“It forces us to ask ourselves, ‘Do we care?’” he asked.
The Timberwolves are now sixth in the Western Conference with a 21-13 record. They were inconsistent in the last seven games — winning three straight, then dropping two straight, bouncing back in the next, before falling again against the Hawks.
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For Gobert, the recent play reflects a team that doesn’t look committed to winning the championship.
“Is it just cool? Make a lot of money, we play basketball, do what we do and go home and be happy,” he said. “I think that’s the fine line between a team that’s playing for a championship and a team that’s full of talent but doesn’t accomplish sh—t.”
The Timberwolves have no life
After a sluggish first quarter, the Timberwolves were outscored 37-23 in the second. They shot 33.3 percent from the field and had three turnovers. The Hawks led 70-49 at halftime and soared from there, never trailing until the end of the game to end their seven-game losing streak.
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“Didn’t seem like we had any type of urgency, any type of resilience,” Gobert said. “I don’t even think it’s physical energy. I think it’s any type of life. And that shows on both ends.”
Edwards had 30 points, and Julius Randle tallied 19 points, while no other teammate scored more than 10 points. The Wolves only dished out 22 assists compared to the Hawks’ 38 and turned the ball over 14 times. They were outscored in the paint 64-36, with the Hawks grabbing 16 offensive rebounds, five more than them.
Gobert said that the disconnect on offense and lack of defensive effort are something the team needs to fix immediately.
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“Offensively, it just seems like we’re playing an individual sport, and defensively, it just feels like there’s not any effort. I think the two are connected,” Gobert said. “Against any team in the world, we get smacked.”
Gobert expects accountability from everyone
The four-time DPOY finished the game with six points, 11 rebounds, three assists and one steal. He shot 50 percent from the field on a measly six shot attempts and did not block any shots.
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“I’m just going to focus on what I can do better for the team and control what I can control and tonight I wasn’t good to help the team so I’m going to focus on that,” he said.
However, Gobert believes that accountability is a hallmark of great teams, and he expects his teammates to have it, especially after a terrible game like this.
“What can I do to contribute to winning that might not show in my stat sheets?” he said, stressing what type of mentality they need to be consistent. “Winning teams have that. Do we want it? I don’t know.”
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The Timberwolves are still one of the top teams in the West — they have been in recent years. They have reached the conference finals twice. However, if they continue to play like this, it will be challenging for them to make it all the way through this year.
“I don’t know. I think we have an amazing opportunity, but something has to happen,” Gobert concluded.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jan 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.