Wolves record: 4-22
But judging by the exasperation in his voice, Rambis didn’t see any positives. He ripped his players in the most polite way he could muster, but his point was clear: The Wolves didn’t give their best effort.
“Our weakside defense was awful. It was absolutely awful. We were unattentive, we didn’t anticipate, we didn’t read. Very poor,” Rambis said. “We didn’t root guys off the post, didn’t try to deny post opportunities, and our double teams were sporadic. Getting to cutters, rotating to shooters, the whole thing collapsed. That was a disappointment.”
From Jim Beilby/NBA.com:
While Minnesota has rallied from deficits of at least 11 points in each of their four wins this season, Los Angeles extended their halftime lead with the help of 10 third quarter points from Al Thornton. Minnesota didn’t get closer than eight points in the entire second half.
Minnesota’s downfall was a result of six turnovers in the second quarter along with sloppy execution on the offensive side of the floor. Much like they were trapped in quick sand, the Wolves never found an offensive rhythm that was so vibrant in Utah just two nights ago.
“You have to credit some of their defense [for our poor shot selection] to that,” Rambis said. “Our guys were doing too much of holding the ball, trying to force things, guys looking for their own opportunities rather than just move the basketball and getting double teamed, not sharing the ball, not moving the ball fast enough to beat their rotations, not reading the defense properly, hitting the right open man.”
“You have to credit some of their defense [for our poor shot selection] to that,” Rambis said. “Our guys were doing too much of holding the ball, trying to force things, guys looking for their own opportunities rather than just move the basketball and getting double teamed, not sharing the ball, not moving the ball fast enough to beat their rotations, not reading the defense properly, hitting the right open man.”
“We looked out of gas,” said Kevin Love, who led the Wolves with 19 points and 12 rebounds. “Defensively, we didn’t get back. We just had too many lapses.”
But Love was less concerned than his coach about what the ugly loss said about the Wolves. “I don’t think it’s a step back,” Love said. “It was a bad game, but as far as where our heads [are] at, we know we can play.”
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