The Minnesota Timberwolves were heading in the wrong direction after losing four straight games. The surmounting frustration made superstar Anthony Edwards lose his cool. He was compelled to let everyone know how he was feeling as he said, “We’ve been trying to figure this out for the whole year, man,” talking about the team’s identity.

He went as far as to call the Wolves a “soft” team and that they lacked accountability. His words, not ours: “I think is we soft as hell as a team, internally. Not to the other team, but like internally we soft, like we can’t talk to each other.” However, Ant’s not the only one on the team who thought so veteran Julius Randle also shared the thought alongside him.

Well, they have managed to turn it around with back-to-back victories first a close one against the Clippers and then they rolled past the Lakers by 29 points! After which Rudy Gobert shared his thoughts by saying, “We lost a few games but had adversity and never kept fighting. We never stopped looking in the mirror, holding each other accountable, and knowing we had to refocus on who we are. Who we are is a defensive team and when we start the game with the mindset, we are going to be in a position to win every night,”

The Wolves big man was on a totally different page from Edwards and Randle stating the players always held each other accountable something the two others would beg to differ on. On the other hand, it could’ve been Edwards and Randle’s harsh words that affected the team and they actually looked themselves in the mirror and decided it was time to show up. Well, whatever might be the actual talks behind the curtain it certainly has helped Minnesota get back to winning ways as they look much more like themselves.

The Timberwolves re-discover their identity in a strong defensive show against the Lakers

Anthony Edwards and prior to him Julius Randle stated that the team’s identity was nowhere to be seen referring to their defensive prowess. However, it looks like Minnesota has once again found its identity with back-to-back wins, especially most recently against the Lakers where they won 109-80. The team was locked in on Monday night and started the game pretty strong on the defensive end something coach Chris Finch wanted the team to do.

Rudy Gobert and Co. managed to constrict the Lakers to just 20 points in the opening quarter and from there did not allow much room for LA to score. “It was the type of performance that we needed,” said Coach Finch referring to his side’s great performance. At the same time, offensively the Wolves were efficient, assisting on 32 of their 41 made shots.

Gobert and Reid were at the heart of the performance on both ends of the court, as Gobert finished the game with 17 points and grabbed twelve rebounds whereas Reid netted 15 points. Julius Randle was the leader in terms of scoring netting 18 points on a night which was a balanced effort by the entire Minnesota team. This performance was a great indicator that the Wolves are re-finding their identity once again something they missed when they lost four in a row.