In the moments following the Minnesota Timberwolves Game 3 loss to the Denver Nuggets, Rudy Gobert sat down to address the media.
After being acquired from the Utah Jazz for five first-round picks and five players last summer, Gobert had been the lightning rod for a season that has fallen short of expectations.
Staring at a 0-3 hole in a best-of-seven series, Gobert could have discussed a lot of the things that have gone wrong such as a string of injuries and inconsistent play, but the Timberwolves center offered a much more macro view, citing the Timberwolves lack of detail and maturity as key reasons for their failures.
“I think the key for us is just to be consistent and building habits,” Gobert said. “We haven’t done that. It’s not really about who is on the court…I think it’s about us being ourselves regardless of who is on the floor. We’ve got to run back. We’ve got to take care of the ball, execute offensively [and] all those little things that really good teams do consistently regardless of who is on the court.”
A few moments later, Karl-Anthony Towns sauntered into the press conference. Clearly frustrated by the loss, Towns hunched over in his seat, looking away from reporters and even deflecting the first question to Gobert.
Body language. pic.twitter.com/4QRbHBvZBf
— Nadine Babu (@NadineBabu) April 22, 2023
When Towns was asked about the Timberwolves’ execution on offense, Towns deflected again, citing the need to win the game.
“It didn’t matter,” Towns said. “No matter what the shots were and if they went in or not, it’s all about the win. We didn’t really come out with the win, so I’m disappointed. I’m not really thinking about that. I’m thinking about the W or the L.”
While Towns doesn’t deserve all of the blame, it was a reflection of what has held the Timberwolves back. The Timberwolves have plenty of talent from an All-NBA frontcourt to a young nucleus that includes Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels. Yet they haven’t reached their ceiling mostly because of their maturity.
While there were some highlight moments this season, Minnesota was never able to string it together and become a power in the Western Conference. Injuries had something to do with this but so did a lack of maturity that squashed any continuity on the court.
The Timberwolves lost a total of 10 games to the six worst teams in the NBA this season and a different team showed up from night to night. They led the league in technical fouls, flagrant fouls and ejections. They were more likely to break out a tin foil hat than dominate an inferior opponent.
These things have held the Timberwolves back against a team like the Nuggets, who have more continuity but also play a more disciplined brand of basketball.
“Denver has been playing together for years, but it’s also a mindset,” Gobert said. “You can’t just say it’s chemistry if you don’t do the things that you need to do to win, so it’s a little bit of both for us to just learn, grow and mature.”
Gobert’s point about the Timberwolves’ maturity overshadows anything they could do schematically. Yes, Gobert’s attempt to punch Kyle Anderson in the regular season finale was a black eye for the franchise but so has the Timberwolves’ ability to self-destruct in key moments.
No Timberwolves player has been a poster child for this more than Towns. He fouled out of last year’s play-in victory against the Los Angeles Clippers and spent the majority of last year’s playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies in foul trouble.
As an encore, Towns is averaging 16 points and 9.7 rebounds in the series. By comparison, Nikola Jokic is averaging 20 points, 11.3 rebounds and nine assists in the three games against the Timberwolves.
While part of Jokic’s success falls on Gobert, he acknowledged the Timberwolves would have a fighting chance if they paid attention to details.
“Details can change the whole season,” Gobert said. “It’s the whole narrative to me and that’s why details matter. That’s why as a team, we’ve got to pay attention to details and that comes with its maturity. It comes with time but it also comes with building the right habits…Not to complain, but those things start building through the season…it’s a lot of things and not to make excuses…but those habits don’t happen overnight.”
Gobert’s assessment is correct in that the Timberwolves need to develop those habits. But it’s alarming they have not developed of the course of an 82-game regular season, a two-game stint in the play-in tournament and three playoff games.
Even more alarming is that this assessment appeared to fall on deaf ears as Towns continued to talk about the end result as opposed to the process to get there.
“We’ve got to win,” Towns said. “I mean, there’s nothing else to think about. We could talk about anything we want. [The] offense, me hitting shots or whatever the case may be. We just got to get the win.”
It may be too late for the Timberwolves to save the season, but if they want to find a way to reach their potential they need to heed Gobert’s advice in the future.
