Target Center in this era of Timberwolves basketball has sounded at times like the resurrection of a fan base. The passion, the ecstasy of seeing winning basketball last season took the building to decibel levels it hadn't experienced in years.
Timberwolves rally late in lackluster loss to Spurs
Their effort playing on the tail end of a back to back set of games wasn't there, and they trailed by 32 after the third quarter.
October 25, 2022 at 4:24AM
But the arena doesn't hide fans' emotions well. The angst and disappointment can manifest themselves in palpable tension — and when fans are upset, the booing is loud and clear.
Rarely was there as much of that in recent times as there was Monday. The Spurs, projected to finish near the bottom of the Western Conference, sewed some seeds of doubt in the Wolves with a 115-106 victory after leading by as many as 35.
"It feels crazy," Anthony Edwards said of the jeers. "I be wanting to say something, but the fans are not wrong. We look bad. I definitely don't ever want to get booed again at my home."
The Wolves' garbage-time fourth-quarter run made the score look passable, but that didn't make up for all that came before it. Most of the fans weren't around to see the final buzzer after having seen enough already.
"They just outpunked us in every way possible," coach Chris Finch said. "Outran us, outcompeted us, out-physicaled us. It was ugly and unacceptable."
There were multiple rounds of boos in the first half, when the Wolves (2-2) fell behind by as many as 20. There were more in the third quarter when the Spurs extended a 10-point halftime lead to 32.
The team figured there might be growing pains as this new-look lineup that features Towns and Rudy Gobert gets accustomed to playing with each other.
Few thought it would look this bad.
"That's two teams [the Spurs and Utah] that have come in here and played the game the right way and made more efforts than us," Finch said. "Those aren't things that we certainly can tolerate. But we got to figure out why and a lot of it is our connectivity right now has got to be better, both ends of the floor."
Perhaps it was just one game, but there were more than chemistry issues on display.
Their effort playing on the tail end of a back-to-back set of games wasn't there, which is a problem for a team that has designs on winning enough games to host playoff series.
Their transition defense allowed 24 fast-break points, all of those through three quarters.
"It obviously starts with me setting the tone defensively," said Gobert, who had 11 points and seven rebounds. "It's just running back. We know it's a back-to-back and all of that, but I don't think it takes more energy to just decide to, instead of just lingering, just running back."
Their lack of fluidity on offense helped amplify San Antonio's runs and the multiple rounds of boos inside the building.
A bad night is easier to digest when a team has established a track record of high-level play, which the Wolves have yet to do.
Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 27 while Edwards had nine on 3-for-15. When it came to offense, Edwards said Finch told the team it needed to play more "selfless."
"We're just playing for ourselves right now," Edwards said. "I think Finchy's gonna get us together in that aspect, for sure."
The Spurs had six players in double figures, led by Devin Vassell with 23. Apple Valley's Tre Jones had eight points, seven rebounds and eight assists. This same Spurs team will stick around Minnesota and return to Target Center on Wednesday.
The Wolves have less than 48 hours to figure some things out.
"Right now, this team's personality right now is we're kind of timid," Finch said. "For whatever reason, we are finding our way and it's not working, and we're not fighting through that right now."
The Wolves fell apart in the fourth quarter and have not won in Toronto in two decades.
