{"id":588655,"date":"2026-02-07T16:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T16:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/588655\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T16:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T16:52:14","slug":"minnesota-timberwolves-c-rudy-gobert-calls-out-team-after-collapse-against-pelicans-its-unacceptable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/588655\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Timberwolves C Rudy Gobert calls out team after collapse against Pelicans: \u2018It\u2019s unacceptable\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> suffered possibly their worst loss of the season on Friday night, when they allowed the New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> to fight back from an 18-point second-half deficit to win 119-115.<\/p>\n

The Pelicans (14-40) are closer a lottery pick than the playoffs, and surrendering a lead of that size on home court to a team with the third-worst record in the NBA left veteran centre Rudy Gobert<\/a> frustrated when speaking to reporters after the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should start with ourselves, but it seems like we don\u2019t have that, so I think at some point [it has to come] from the coaches,\u201d Gobert said to reporters after the game, when assessing possible ways to right the ship.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not an easy position for a coach to take guys out of the game. It\u2019s not something that you want to do, but I think if the players don\u2019t show any effort, at some point, no matter how talented we are as a team, if you don\u2019t have that, you just can\u2019t be a winning team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves (32-21) entered this season with championship aspirations after being eliminated in the Western Conference finals the past two years. With superstar guard Anthony Edwards<\/a> leading the attack on offence alongside Julius Randle<\/a> and the dynamic Jaden McDaniels<\/a>, this team \u201c[has] a real puncher\u2019s chance to win a championship,\u201d team president Tim Connelly said on Friday.<\/p>\n

They have looked like a championship-calibre squad at times this year too, with two wins each over the top two teams in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> and San Antonio Spurs<\/a>. Connelly made a trade to bolster the bench by acquiring Ayo Dosunmu<\/a> from the Chicago Bulls<\/a>, and gave up young talent to do so because he believes the team is on that level.<\/p>\n

But too many times, the Timberwolves have played poorly against inferior opponents including Friday\u2019s game against New Orleans, coupled with losses against the Memphis Grizzlies<\/a>, Chicago Bulls<\/a> and Utah Jazz<\/a> in the past three weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point, if the players don\u2019t have accountability, someone has to have accountability for the players,\u201d Gobert said. \u201cI\u2019m on straight effort. I\u2019m just talking straight effort. I\u2019m not even getting to the basketball side of things, like there\u2019s always mistakes are a part of the game, but the effort to me for a team that wants to play for a championship, it\u2019s unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gobert, who has averaged 10.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per game this season, his fourth in Minnesota, did not shy away from some of the blame for himself. A four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Gobert allowed Pelicans forward Zion Williamson<\/a> to dominate the paint with 29 points on 11-of-13 shooting in the loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt starts with me. If I\u2019m not showing effort, bench me,\u201d Gobert said. \u201cTake me out of the game. Everybody else will follow. Our best players, leaders, if we don\u2019t show any effort, it doesn\u2019t matter if you score 50, we\u2019re not going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the loss to the Pelicans, the Timberwolves – who have gone 7-8 over their past 15 games – sit sixth in the Western Conference, a half game clear of the Phoenix Suns<\/a> in seventh in play-in tournament territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be a championship team. We want to lift that trophy in June,\u201d Gobert said. \u201cThis is a lesson that we need to get right now. It starts at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Minnesota Timberwolves suffered possibly their worst loss of the season on Friday night, when they allowed the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3782],"tags":[23475,7,307,152,72795,3954,6,308],"class_list":{"0":"post-588655","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-timberwolves","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-minnesota","11":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","12":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves-sports-basketball-team-team-statscom-16","13":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-timberwolves"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116030389997007393","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588655","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=588655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}