Timberwolves trying to keep calm and play through troubling string of defeats

LOS ANGELES – Typically a five-night February trip to Los Angeles would be a chance for the Timberwolves to escape the bitterness of Minnesota winters and bask in some sunshine and 70-degree weather for a little while.

But who said it never rains in Southern California? The team arrived as the area is getting pelted with strong showers, a seemingly fitting backdrop given where the Wolves are at in their season — very little sunshine and plenty of storm clouds.

The Wolves have lost their past three games, which have been winnable in many ways. They have blown large leads, they have failed to score in the final minutes and they have failed to stop teams in crunch time.

If social media is any sampling of how a fanbase feels, Wolves fans have been apoplectic watching their team squander a chance to move up in the standings in a tight Western Conference playoff race.

The team, however, is trying to keep things as serene as possible.

"Just keeping the vibes high," point guard Jordan McLaughlin said. "We know it's a long season and we're looking to get after it every single day, whether that's in practice or whoever we're playing against. We keep the vibes high."

Nothing keeps the vibes high quite like winning, and despite their recent losses, the Wolves still have ample opportunity this week to make moves in the standings with matchups against the Clippers on Tuesday and Lakers on Friday.

This Wolves team seemed to respond best when it felt like its back was against the wall at the start of the new year after a loss to the Pistons at home. That was when they had a team meeting, and the Wolves came out of that refocused and had their best month of the season in January. Now, the Wolves are trying to reassure fans, and perhaps themselves, that there's no reason to panic despite recent struggles.

"Very positive. Still positive," guard Austin Rivers said of the team's collective mood. "Still the same where we were a week ago. Two games out, three games out. [Sacramento] and them have built a little bit of a cushion, but we're right there in the race. There's no time to be thinking about mistakes or panic."

Forward Kyle Anderson said the Wolves have to get back to a defensive-minded identity they had in January, when they went 11-5. He also felt like a lot of his teammates did — that the Wolves generated plenty of open looks in the final minutes of Sunday's come-from- ahead loss to the Warriors, they just didn't fall.

"We're staying in good spirits. It's a long season," Anderson said. "You never know what can happen. We never getting down on ourselves. Obviously it's frustrating losing games. We don't want to try to not lose at all. It comes with the territory. It's not going to be all sunshine. We got to roll with the punches."

Coach Chris Finch has always tried to maintain an even demeanor whether the Wolves are playing well or struggling. The hasn't changed recently even as the anger of the fanbase amplifies. Finch said the Wolves are still trying to figure out who they are, especially as it relates to integrating point guard Mike Conley into major minutes. Then will come the impending return of Karl-Anthony Towns and how the Wolves may work him back into his usual role.

"We're trying to, in the middle of an extremely tight race, trying to re-invent ourselves a little bit," Finch said. "So, it's not easy, but I've been in enough places in my career that it takes some time. We got to figure out how to close these games right now. That's the biggest thing. Either we can't get stops or can't score. One night or another it's different."

But lately, it has all ended with the same result.