After the Minnesota Timberwolves lost to the Chicago Bulls on Sunday (3/31), Rudy Gobert spoke to NBA reporters and said he would start “holding people accountable” for dirty plays.
Gobert wasn’t happy with Bulls guard Alex Caruso.
The Timberwolves lost to the Bulls by a final score of 109-101. Minnesota was outscored by Chicago 33-22 in the first quarter and 25-22 in the fourth.
“I thought they had way too many open 3s in the first half,” Gobert said. “We knew they were drive-and-kick, but I feel like we were overhelping a lot, especially with me in the paint most of the time.
“We gave them 3s. They had to shoot them. They were wide open. A lot of them were uncontested in the first half. It’s not who we are, especially when I’m there. We gotta stick to what we do.”
Gobert finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds versus the Bulls while shooting 8-of-9 from the field and 3-of-7 from the free-throw line.
The Timberwolves shot just 29.7% from beyond the arc against the Bulls.
“I thought we generated pretty good looks, pretty much all night long,” Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said. “There were some patches where we didn’t, but for the most part I thought we did a good job of generating good looks, and they just didn’t go in. To match their shooting, we needed them to go in.”
The Timberwolves are in second place in the West with a record of 51-23. They are 18th in the NBA in points per game, first in points per game allowed and third in net rating.
Minnesota owner Glen Taylor told NBA reporter Darren Wolfson that Karl-Anthony Towns is ahead of schedule in his recovery from knee surgery. Towns underwent left knee lateral meniscus surgery on March 12.
Towns is averaging 22.1 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.7 blocks this season while shooting 50.6% from the field, 42.3% from beyond the arc and 87.4% from the free-throw line.
A four-time All-Star, Towns has 22 double-doubles on the season. The Timberwolves look like legitimate title contenders for the first time since 2004.
The Timberwolves have never advanced past the first round of the playoffs in the Towns era. It will be fascinating to see how far Minnesota goes in the 2024 playoffs.
Minnesota drafted Towns with the first overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Towns has career averages of 22.9 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 0.8 steals and 1.3 blocks.
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