Is anyone really surprised?<\/p>\n
Just a few after an insane overtime loss to the Denver Nuggets on Christmas, the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> took on the Brooklyn Nets<\/a> in an obvious letdown spot.<\/p>\n While the Nets may appear to be an easy win on the surface, they have been playing a lot better basketball. After starting the season with a 3-16 record, they have rattled off wins in six of their last nine games, coming into the night on the back of the league\u2019s best defensive net rating in the month of December.<\/p>\n All of that culminated in one of the Wolves\u2019 worst performances of the year. Their defense was unable to stop the Nets at any point during the game, giving 66 total points in the paint, while Brooklyn shot 79.5 percent on their two-point shots.<\/p>\n Even when the Wolves would get a high-energy play, like a thunderous dunk by Jaden McDaniels over Nicolas Claxton, it would fail to affect anything on the other side of the court.<\/p>\n The game started like many have this month for the Wolves. They fell behind early, not playing with the requisite energy and execution needed to get a win against an NBA team. Unlike previous games, though, the Wolves did not find another gear late in the game to turn the game around as they outscored 61-44 in the second half.<\/p>\n Rudy Gobert went over why the Wolves seem to have a different level of play when they take on a team like the Nets compared to games against the Nuggets or Oklahoma City Thunder.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, who doesn\u2019t think that? Like I said, I think it\u2019s probably subconscious more than anything, but we have to be conscious about it. Once again, whatever switch we find that can make us realize that we don\u2019t just compete with OKC, Denver, anyone when we play them. We compete with them also when we play, everybody else. We also, more importantly, we compete with ourselves. At the end of the day, that\u2019s what it\u2019s about. It\u2019s competing with ourselves and every night is a challenge. No matter what anybody says, you know, in this league, every night is going to be a different challenge. It\u2019s on us to find it.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a pattern with the Timberwolves for many years that they do not bring the same level of intensity when they play a lesser team. Add in the fact that Brooklyn, as of late, isn\u2019t really even that bad of a team, and tonight was a perfect storm that caught the Wolves off-guard in the least surprising way for those that follow this franchise night to night.<\/p>\n Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch spoke after the game about the different level of play he\u2019s gotten from his team, saying, \u201cAt times, for sure that\u2019s been the case.\u201d When asked what he can do to help fix that issue, Finch responded:<\/p>\n \u201cWe address it. We try to recognize that this has been a habit of ours at times, but it\u2019s on them to be able to pull themselves out of it too.\u201d<\/p>\n The Wolves lost by a final score of 123-107, a deficit that would have been much larger if the Nets shot better than 27.5 percent on their shots from beyond the arc. Anthony Edwards had a solid enough night offensively, putting up 28 points and seven rebounds. Julius Randle struggled the most on the Wolves, scoring only 13 points, but he did have 11 assists.<\/p>\n The NBA season is long, and no single loss can truly define a team, but the level of inconsistency the Wolves have shown is just not sustainable. While the bad teams do go away by the time the Playoffs roll around, the habits a team forms during the regular season against any opponent do carry over into the postseason.<\/p>\n Edwards didn\u2019t have many answers when asked why the Wolves performed so poorly tonight, responding \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d to multiple questions. When asked how he and the team can fix the lack of energy at times, Ant laid out the issue plainly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got booed and shit by the fans today. I\u2019m with the fans. I would\u2019ve booed us too. But yeah, lack of energy, I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on. I guess this is just Timberwolves basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n Donte DiVincenzo gave a long answer in the locker room postgame when asked why it has been tough to sustain the same level of play every game.<\/p>\n \u201cI truly don\u2019t know. We can\u2019t have these peaks and valleys. It\u2019s frustrating. That team, you give them credit, you don\u2019t disrespect your opponent, but this is a team where we\u2019re supposed to come in and we\u2019re supposed to handle business and do what we\u2019re supposed to do. But they beat us to 50-50 balls, they beat us downhill. They just played with more physicality, they played with more energy. And that\u2019s the type of team that they are, but they are that. We have spurts that that\u2019s what we can do. That\u2019s not necessarily who we are, and that\u2019s what we need to become. We can\u2019t get too low on this. We have to address it like we have in the past and turn it around. But when we do turn it around again, we have to hold that. We have to hold that. Whenever we turn it around, we can\u2019t just get up for OKC and then come in for Brooklyn and just get punked. We have to look ourselves in the mirror.\u201d<\/p>\n Luckily for the Wolves, it\u2019s only December, and they still have more than four months to figure it all out. For now, though, it\u2019s impossible to even know what version of the Timberwolves you are going to get on any given night.<\/p>\n Wolves players often say the right things after losses like tonight. They take responsibility and address that they need to find more consistency night-to-night. At some point, though, their actions need to start matching their words. Finch said exactly that at the end of his press conference.<\/p>\n \u201cAknowleding you have a problem is certainly the first, but if you\u2019re really self aware, you\u2019ll do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Timberwolves now head out on a four-game road trip, their longest of the season so far and tied for the longest on this season\u2019s schedule. It starts in the Windy City against the Chicago Bulls on Sunday. The game begins at 7:00 PM CT, airing on FanDuel Sports Network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is anyone really surprised? 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