{"id":510742,"date":"2026-01-02T00:05:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T00:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/510742\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T00:05:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T00:05:21","slug":"a-team-thats-full-of-talent-but-doesnt-accomplish-s-t-rudy-gobert-takes-shot-at-timberwolves-after-blowout-loss-to-hawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/510742\/","title":{"rendered":"“…A team that’s full of talent but doesn’t accomplish s\u2013t” \u2013 Rudy Gobert takes shot at Timberwolves after blowout loss to Hawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a>, Donte DiVincenzo and Jaden McDaniels, out of the game with 7:52 left in the fourth quarter and the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> trailing the Atlanta Hawks, 109-80.<\/p>\n

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However, unlike Edwards<\/a>, Gobert saw the game through, took the 126-102 beating, and expressed his frustration afterward, where he did not mince words.\u200b<\/p>\n

\u201cIt forces us to ask ourselves, \u2018Do we care?\u2019\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves are now sixth in the Western Conference with a 21-13 record. They were inconsistent in the last seven games \u2014 winning three straight, then dropping two straight, bouncing back in the next, before falling again against the Hawks.<\/p>\n

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For Gobert, the recent play reflects a team that doesn’t look committed to winning the championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it just cool? Make a lot of money, we play basketball, do what we do and go home and be happy,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s the fine line between a team that\u2019s playing for a championship and a team that\u2019s full of talent but doesn\u2019t accomplish sh\u2014t.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves have no life<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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\u201cDidn’t seem like we had any type of urgency, any type of resilience,\u201d Gobert said. \u201cI don\u2019t even think it\u2019s physical energy. I think it’s any type of life. And that shows on both ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

Gobert said that the disconnect on offense and lack of defensive effort are something the team needs to fix immediately.\u200b<\/p>\n

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\u201cOffensively, it just seems like we\u2019re playing an individual sport, and defensively, it just feels like there\u2019s not any effort. I think the two are connected,\u201d Gobert said. \u201cAgainst any team in the world, we get smacked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: Austin Rivers wants NBA franchises to quit trying to draft the ‘next KD’: “People thought in their delusional minds they were getting another KD”<\/a><\/p>\n

Gobert expects accountability from everyone<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m just going to focus on what I can do better for the team and control what I can control and tonight I wasn\u2019t good to help the team so I\u2019m going to focus on that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat can I do to contribute to winning that might not show in my stat sheets?\u201d he said, stressing what type of mentality they need to be consistent. \u201cWinning teams have that. Do we want it? I don’t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Timberwolves are still one of the top teams in the West \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know. I think we have an amazing opportunity, but something has to happen,\u201d Gobert concluded.<\/p>\n

Related: “I didn’t interact with white people or Mexicans until I got there” – Lou Williams reflects on culture shock after moving to Atlanta<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on Jan 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Edwards threw away his towel and headed to the locker room after head coach Chris Finch pulled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3782],"tags":[375,208,7,2026,372,377,376,307,152,3954,6,373,308],"class_list":{"0":"post-510742","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-timberwolves","8":"tag-anthony-edwards","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-chris-finch","12":"tag-donte-divincenzo","13":"tag-jaden-mcdaniels","14":"tag-julius-randle","15":"tag-minnesota","16":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","17":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-rudy-gobert","20":"tag-timberwolves"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115822587035992394","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}