Ricky Rubio on Timberwolves: "We're way worse than 2-2 right now"

LOS ANGELES — Even though the Timberwolves won their first game of the season, point guard Ricky Rubio didn't hold back that night when he said the Wolves could either be really good or really bad.

The last two games have shown what it can look like when the latter team shows up.

The Wolves lost another lopsided affair in Los Angeles, this time 124-101 to the Clippers on Tuesday on the heels of a 36-point loss on Sunday to the Lakers.

Rubio again didn't hold back his thoughts after Tuesday's game even with the Wolves being down Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Okogie.

First, he said the Wolves were playing "selfish" after they jumped out to an early lead.

"When things weren't going our way, everybody goes playing selfish," Rubio said. "We have to learn. There's a lot of excuses. We're young, blah, blah, blah, this and that, but once you step on the court, you're playing for an NBA team and the last two games it's been ridiculous bad. There's no other words to put it and we have to get better. I think we didn't learn from the game against the Lakers."

Then Rubio was asked if he thought the Wolves were competing with enough intensity. He thought they were, but not in a productive way.

"It's like a snowball. You make one mistake. It leads to another, and to another. There's not a way to stop that. We lost two games by 20-plus, 30-plus points and we have to show some pride."

Then much like Rubio said the Wolves weren't very good when they won their first game, he didn't think their current record reflected how they were playing.

"We're 2-2, which is a good record, but it doesn't show exactly where we're at," Rubio said. "We're way worse than 2-2 right now."

Vanderbilt a bright spot
In mop-up duty reserve forward Jarred Vanderbilt had a productive run. The third-year player had nine points and six rebounds in 15 minutes, 38 seconds of playing time.

With Juancho Hernangomez and Jake Layman struggling to start the season, it's worth keeping an eye on Vanderbilt to see if he played his way into minutes Tuesday night. His rebounding, which was his calling card out of Kentucky, could help the Wolves and their lack of size with Towns out.