Wolves' Anthony Edwards: 'We gotta figure it out, we suck right now'

There was a clear message from the Timberwolves after losing to the New Orleans Pelicans Wednesday night, the first time they’ve lost consecutive games all season.

The message: Get back to what got Minnesota to first place in the Western Conference.

“We’ve done a lot of good things, we just got to find ourselves consistently doing those same good things every single night,” Karl-Anthony Towns told reporters postgame Wednesday.

The Wolves, 24-9 and still a game up on the Oklahoma City Thunder for first place in the West, have had similar issues in their back-to-back losses, many of which stem back even further. 

Wolves coach Chris Finch said postgame that they really haven’t played with much “pop and purpose” since a Dec. 23 victory over the Sacramento Kings.

“We gotta figure it out, we suck right now,” Anthony Edwards said.

Minnesota’s defense has slipped in recent weeks. Turnovers have remained a consistent problem. And in both Monday’s loss at the New York Knicks and Wednesday’s loss to the Pelicans, the Wolves have been significantly outrebounded — 49-34 against New York and 41-28 against New Orleans.

“We just need to get back to the basics,” Rudy Gobert said. “… There’s a million things we can talk about, but I think it’s, individually and collectively, just focus on the simple things that we have to do.”

That’s being disciplined and physical on defense, making good decisions with the basketball and playing the same way they did in the early part of the season that vaulted the Wolves to the top of the Western Conference.

Finch said the Wolves have gotten away from their identity — which is being physical, big and playing first-rate defense that wreaked havoc on the NBA in the early part of the season — and they need to fix the issues and get it back. 

“The coaches do a great job with brining the game plan and making sure we’re prepared, and the rest of it is on us,” Edwards said. “They keep asking us to play hard, just (expletive) they shouldn’t have to say. We gotta figure it out.”

Figuring it out was a theme from the Timberwolves after Wednesday night’s game. It’s new territory for Minnesota, which is off to a franchise-best start and having — to this point in the season — a type of sustained success the team hasn’t shown in recent seasons. And it's really the first time the Wolves have faced adversity this season. 

“When you get success, sometimes you forget what got you there. Get complimented from everybody, it can soften you up a little bit,” Gobert said. “When you get smacked, when you lose, it does the opposite.”

If the message from Gobert and the rest of the Timberwolves means anything, expected a fired-up and determined team to take the court Friday night in Houston. After all, the Wolves hadn’t lost two games in a row until Wednesday night. They certainly won’t want to make it three.

“We know what we can be, we’ve seen it in the beginning of the season, so we just got to get back to playing to that level,” Edwards said, “and it may take some time but as long as we get there, we’ll be alright.”