![\"Rudy](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NBA-Playoffs-Minnesota-Timberwolves-at-Golden-State-Warriors-26150048-scaled-e1770506814787.jpg\")
Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Friday night, the Minnesota Timberwolves laid yet another egg at home vs a bad basketball team. Same 2025-26 season<\/a> story, different opponent.<\/p>\n With newly acquired Ayo Dosunmu<\/a> watching from the bench, Anthony Edwards and the boys lacked motivation in a 119-115 loss to the now 14-40<\/a> New Orleans Pelicans.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested, I went way deeper into last night\u2019s loss \u2014 and the many troubling developments surrounding our favorite basketball team, of late \u2014 in an article I posted this morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Featured in my breakdown was a clip of Rudy Gobert from the home locker room at Target Center clearly frustrated from Friday\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n That frustration boiled over when Gobert called on the Minnesota Timberwolves coaching staff to start benching guys<\/a> who don\u2019t bring it on any given night, since his teammates can\u2019t be accountable for their own energy and effort.<\/p>\n \u201cIt starts with ourselves but it seems like we don\u2019t have that. So, I think at some point it comes from the coaches…It starts with me, if I\u2019m not showing effort, bench me, take me out of the game. And everyone else has to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt some point, if you\u2019re not veteran enough to [play hard] yourself, [benching] might be a solution. And I guarantee you that when you come back on the court, you will show effort.\u201d<\/p>\n Rudy Gobert after loss vs Pelicans (video<\/a>)<\/p>\n As I noted this morning<\/a>, Gobert (112) was the only Wolves rotation player vs the Pelicans who finished<\/a> with a defensive rating below 125. That\u2019s not winning basketball, no matter how well a team plays offensively.<\/p>\n Still, it takes some balls to *essentially* call out your head coach and the rest of his staff for their rotation decisions and\/or accountability process for teammates.<\/p>\n Chris Finch responds to Gobert; Explains MN Timberwolves law<\/p>\n Thus, it shouldn\u2019t have surprised anyone when Chris Finch met with reporters on Saturday with a VERY strong message for his center about how things work in his locker room.<\/p>\n To sum things up \u2014 \u2018Gobert is paid to play and Finch is paid to coach\u2019. Seemingly, that\u2019s how it will stay going forward.<\/p>\n Chris Finch on Rudy Gobert\u2019s comments after the Pelicans games calling for accountability <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m well aware of his comments, I\u2019d say a couple things one is anybody who knows how we do things here knows there\u2019s a high degree of accountability, secondly I handle all our\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/QsTuJQh4Yz<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Andrew Dukowitz (@adukeMN) February 7, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m well aware of his comments, I\u2019d say a couple things: One is \u2014 anybody who knows how we do things here knows there\u2019s a high degree of accountability. Secondly, I handle all our conversations with each other in house. <\/p>\n I\u2019m disappointing he felt the need to go outside, but nonetheless, that\u2019s been addressed already today. There has never been a team that\u2019s won anything meaningful that\u2019s substituted their way there.\u201d<\/p>\n Chris Finch on Rudy Gobert\u2019s comments<\/p>\n What I was intrigued by, during Finch\u2019s response to Gobert this afternoon \u2014 even more so than his not-so-subtle tonguelashing \u2014 was the head coach\u2019s summarized explanation for why he refuses to change the rotation.<\/p>\n Should we trust Gobert or Finchy?<\/p>\n As much as I\u2019d like to research how many NBA champions have had deeper rotations vs those that have not\u2026 I don\u2019t have two days to write this follow-up article. If he is proven correct (someone on the internet will find out for us) then I might open my viewpoint on this subject.<\/p>\n Because you can\u2019t tell me riding Julius Randle when he is refusing to care on defense is the best way to coach a basketball team. But I am always open to new ideas.<\/p>\n In the meantime, here is Jaden McDaniels \u2014 who finished with<\/a> 6 points and a 132 DEF rating vs NO \u2014 staying AS FAR AWAY from a question about Rudy Gobert\u2019s comments from yesterday as humanly possible.<\/p>\n Jaden McDaniels regarding Rudy Gobert\u2019s post game comments calling for more accountability <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know nothing about it(smiling). I don\u2019t even want to talk about it for real, I just try to do my job and try to do my job to the best of my ability\u201d pic.twitter.com\/nOgyIBx7ja<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Andrew Dukowitz (@adukeMN) February 7, 2026<\/a> More About:Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a><\/p>\n Add MinnesotaSportsFan as a preferred source on Google. \t\t\t![\"Rudy](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NBA-Oklahoma-City-Thunder-at-Minnesota-Timberwolves-28115692-788x525.jpg\")
Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned in this article: Chris Finch<\/a> Rudy Gobert<\/a> <\/p>\n![\"Add](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/google_preferred_source_badge.png\"){kind=icon}
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