After his team's worst loss of the season, coach Tom Thibodeau said, again, that everything was going to be re-examined. That something was being missed. It's got to change, he said.
A few minutes later, in an almost-silent locker room, Ricky Rubio was a bit more direct. Welcome to the new rock bottom. "We can lose a game because we haven't done good things,'' he said. "But tonight it was all over. Bad offense. Bad defense. We didn't play with heart in the second half.''
There it is.
Friday's 117-90 loss to Detroit at Target Center was the worst of the season for a Wolves team that has now lost three straight and seven of eight. Once again it followed a familiar path. Minnesota was within three with four minutes left in the third quarter when the Wolves drove the car off the cliff. Less than two minutes into the fourth quarter that lead was 21.
Fans have seen all this before. But, perhaps for the first time, the postgame discussion included talk about attitude and energy, not just X's and O's.
Even Thibodeau talked around the subject, lamenting that the game became "low energy'' in a second half in which the Pistons (13-12) shot 60 percent, made eight of 14 three-pointers and scored 68 points.
"You can't pick and choose when to play hard," Thibodeau said. "That has to be constant.''
Led by Andre Drummond's 22-point, 22-rebound performance, the Pistons got double-figure scoring from six players, outrebounded the Wolves 42-37, outscored them 42-9 on three-pointers and 38-32 in the paint.
