The Minnesota Timberwolves had a long night on Wednesday against one the NBA’s top teams in the Utah Jazz. The Timberwolves had a competitive first half, trailing by only one point at halftime. That competitiveness was short-lived, as the Jazz blew the doors off of them in the second half.
Utah outscored Minnesota 76-45 in the second half en route to a 136-104 blowout victory. They did whatever they wanted to on both ends of the court, as Minnesota’s offense tanked in the second half and they had no answers to slowing down Utah’s offense.
The Timberwolves have now lost four games, which followed a stretch in which they won seven out of eight games to get back over the .500 mark. This is the second losing streak of at least four games for Minnesota this season, as they lost six consecutive from October 30th through November 10th.
Following the loss to the Jazz, second-year wing Anthony Edwards was very candid with the media. He had a lot to say about the game, including something that will catch a lot of people’s attention.
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Edwards took a shot at Jazz’ center Rudy Gobert, who spent a majority of the game not defending Karl-Anthony Towns. The strategy worked for the Jazz, as they came away with the victory, but Edwards made sure to let his feelings be known.
“To me the best rim protector in the league is (Kristaps Porzingis),” Edwards said. “Anytime I go against Porzingis, I don’t get no layups. I don’t get why we couldn’t finish on Rudy Gobert. He don’t put no fear in my heart. I don’t know why.”
That is certainly a hot take. Gobert is a three-time Defensive Player of the Year award winner. He has been named to the All-Defensive First Team five straight years and is one of the most dominant defenders in the NBA.
Kristaps Porzingis, on the other hand, is not lauded for his efforts on that end of the court. He does provide some rim protection standing 7’3” but he is nowhere near as feared as Gobert is on that end of the court.
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Whatever Gobert and the Jazz were doing it worked as Minnesota shot only 40 percent from the field. Anthony Edwards, Towns and Patrick Beverley shot a combined 25-of-38 while the rest of the team was an abysmal 13-of-57.
