PHILDELPHIA – The Timberwolves have lost 23 games this season, but in very few of them have they questioned their effort on the floor. There have been problems defensively and injuries, but almost every night the Wolves had had consistent effort, which made Tuesday's 149-107 loss to the 76ers and former Wolves guard Jimmy Butler so baffling.
The Wolves looked listless, like they didn't care and they saw it too. The phrase "We have to look ourselves in the mirror" came from the mouth of multiple players.
"We're trying to make the playoffs," guard Jeff Teague said. "A 40-point loss is tough against a playoff team. But that game was different. I don't care what nobody says. The energy. The fans were different. They energy was different. They knew what time it was."
The Wolves lost their watches. Teague, in a candid interview session after the game, said it's up to the Wolves' leaders to help the team move past this and correct the issues. When asked who the leaders on the team were, Teague didn't mention other veterans like himself, Derrick Rose or Taj Gibson.
"We follow KAT," Teague said, referring to Karl-Anthony Towns. "This is his team. And then it's [Andrew Wiggins] and it trickled down from there. We go as they go. We're going to get them the ball and we just expect them to be dogs. They've been doing that. KAT's been a monster. Wigg's been playing great. It just wasn't our night."
Teague also said the onus is on "all of us" to clean up the mess the Wolves made against Philadelphia. And that may require getting a little dirtier than they have been lately.
"Collective unit. Come together. And we just got to be a rugged team," Teague said. "We can't be a pretty team. Right now, I think we're a pretty team. And pretty gets you beat by 40. We got to be ugly."
Added Gibson: "The effort wasn't there. When you don't have the effort and things aren't going your way, things like that will happen too."
