Minnesota Sports Forum

Yikes.

We often rip the Wolves for a lack of intensity and effort... but that Wizards team... that was depressingly bad.

The Wolves were playing with their food, searching for assists, taking wild chances, basically clowning the Wizards and still absolutely ran circles around them.

All while the Wolves were on the backend of a road back-to-back and the Wizards had a rest day at home.

I'd feel for Wizards fans if we didn't go through that same stuff for decades.

DNatagal wrote: ↑Sun Jan 04, 2026 9:04 pm Anthony Edwards says the Timberwolves don’t listen to their gameplan:

“Most of the time we don’t listen to the gameplan. When we listen to it we’re pretty good.”

That is a bizarre comment and says a lot about why we think this team is underperforming.

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Mon Jan 05, 2026 9:06 am Yikes.

We often rip the Wolves for a lack of intensity and effort... but that Wizards team... that was depressingly bad.

The Wolves were playing with their food, searching for assists, taking wild chances, basically clowning the Wizards and still absolutely ran circles around them.

All while the Wolves were on the backend of a road back-to-back and the Wizards had a rest day at home.

I'd feel for Wizards fans if we didn't go through that same stuff for decades.

Yeah. I actually thought they came out with the kind of energy you would expect from a young team that had won 4 of its last five. But late in the first quarter they realized they had no defensive answer for Ant or Ju and Sarr was no match for Rudy, and they mailed it in the rest of the game. As D'Natagal said (and the Wolves announcers also said), the Wiz fans were cheering for Ant in the third quarter.

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Mon Jan 05, 2026 9:06 am Yikes.

We often rip the Wolves for a lack of intensity and effort... but that Wizards team... that was depressingly bad.

The Wolves were playing with their food, searching for assists, taking wild chances, basically clowning the Wizards and still absolutely ran circles around them.

All while the Wolves were on the backend of a road back-to-back and the Wizards had a rest day at home.

I'd feel for Wizards fans if we didn't go through that same stuff for decades.

But the Wizards had won four of their last five games, so it's not like they just mailed it in before the tip. They have actually been playing some solid ball. So to FNG's point, may be once they saw how overmatched they were after the Wolves got off to a good start, they then decided trying harder just wasn't worth it.

This is a GOOD thing from a TWolves perspective after countless games against inferior opponents where we don't impose our will until the second half, at which point it might be too late.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Mon Jan 05, 2026 10:58 am

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Mon Jan 05, 2026 9:06 am Yikes.

We often rip the Wolves for a lack of intensity and effort... but that Wizards team... that was depressingly bad.

The Wolves were playing with their food, searching for assists, taking wild chances, basically clowning the Wizards and still absolutely ran circles around them.

All while the Wolves were on the backend of a road back-to-back and the Wizards had a rest day at home.

I'd feel for Wizards fans if we didn't go through that same stuff for decades.

But the Wizards had won four of their last five games, so it's not like they just mailed it in before the tip. They have actually been playing some solid ball. So to FNG's point, may be once they saw how overmatched they were after the Wolves got off to a good start, they then decided trying harder just wasn't worth it.

This is a GOOD thing from a TWolves perspective after countless games against inferior opponents where we don't impose our will until the second half, at which point it might be too late.

Sure. Good win. Easy win. Both of those are great and no apologies needed for being a far superior team.

But for whatever reason, the Wizards didn't seem interested in playing basketball in that game.


[Note: The Wizards have a top 8 protected pick in the draft for what it's worth. Not that the players on the court take that into consideration during a game, but I think it definitely lowers expectations and accountability for the entire organization.]

DNatagal wrote: ↑Sun Jan 04, 2026 9:04 pm Anthony Edwards says the Timberwolves don’t listen to their gameplan:

“Most of the time we don’t listen to the gameplan. When we listen to it we’re pretty good.”

Another example of professionalism from our supposed team leader.

FNG wrote: ↑Mon Jan 05, 2026 9:20 am

DNatagal wrote: ↑Sun Jan 04, 2026 9:04 pm Anthony Edwards says the Timberwolves don’t listen to their gameplan:

“Most of the time we don’t listen to the gameplan. When we listen to it we’re pretty good.”

That is a bizarre comment and says a lot about why we think this team is underperforming.

FNG, while bizarre, don't you think it's pretty typical for this team and Ant?

My wife, who doesn't follow basketball besides what I talk about, made the comment that Alex Sarr looked like a little brother who was tired of getting noogies from an older brother after the first quarter.

Sarr tried to take on Rudy and Ant, and just didn't have it besides that one dunk and point at Ant.

The Wizards coach was fed up after Ant went crazy in the 3rd. He kept looking at the bench hoping Jordan or John Wall was there to give some kind of resistance and will to win.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 05, 2026 1:03 pm

FNG wrote: ↑Mon Jan 05, 2026 9:20 am

DNatagal wrote: ↑Sun Jan 04, 2026 9:04 pm Anthony Edwards says the Timberwolves don’t listen to their gameplan:

“Most of the time we don’t listen to the gameplan. When we listen to it we’re pretty good.”

That is a bizarre comment and says a lot about why we think this team is underperforming.

FNG, while bizarre, don't you think it's pretty typical for this team and Ant?

I don't know. Ant is usually quite careful in the things he says about the team, and he had to know this would piss off Finchy. I think the context is important. If he meant to say "We're a bunch a knuckleheads sometimes, and we have a hard time paying attention when Finchy is talking", I might give him a pass. But it comes off sounding like the team is intentionally blowing off the coaching staff as they're going over the game plan. I'm guessing this comment resulted in another one on one meeting for Ant with Finchy (the last one being after he left the game early).

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 05, 2026 1:01 pm

DNatagal wrote: ↑Sun Jan 04, 2026 9:04 pm Anthony Edwards says the Timberwolves don’t listen to their gameplan:

“Most of the time we don’t listen to the gameplan. When we listen to it we’re pretty good.”

Another example of professionalism from our supposed team leader.

Meh.

While I think there's truth to the statement, and that Edwards is very likely very culpable for that... why are we singling out Edwards? Was he talking only about himself? Was he talking about the collective "we?" Was he adding himself to the mix to call out (but still protect) his teammates a bit? Heck, in that case, it was incredibly professional and leader-like...

We don't know the answer to any of those questions.

All I know is that we all have favorite players and players who bug us more than most... and it's easy to tell in our posts. (see what I did there?)