Timberwolves Finch asks: “Were you really ready to play?” Finally, yes.

The Minnesota Timberwolves were not very good in their second game in Portland Oregon. In fact, this team has been a bit horrible through their last three road games, coinciding with a three-game losing streak.  After two losses, the question was posed to Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch, asking him to explain why the Timberwolves lost. His response was simple, but a stern admonishment aimed at his players:

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch does not mince words after the Portland Trail Blazers swept the Timberwolves, not in the least:

The Timberwolves roster would fall further depleted by injury. After the Trail Blazer thumping, PG D’Angelo Russell would be benched due to a knee contusion, a horrifically timed injury to a red-hot moment of D’Lo’s season. The Timberwolves would try to compete with the LA Clippers, but they would be outgunned and undermanned, leading to the team putting up their lowest point total of the season.

Challenge accepted

The Timberwolves coach challenged his team publicly, without excuses over a thumping. In the next game, the team struggled to score. But in the next outing, the team got heroic performances from the most unlikely of players:

Backup (X2) center Naz Reid led the Timberwolves with his best offensive output of the young 2022-23 NBA season. Backup (X2) point guard Austin Rivers was runner-up in scoring, but his long-range shots fell at will. And after shooting just seven from the perimeter all season, Rivers launched five from beyond the arc, sinking four of them.

A perfect win? Sometimes a team needs an imperfect win to truly align the team in the same direction. The Timberwolves roster has been a bit like a train so far this season, never a smooth and steady progress. More like the banging and clanging starts and stops of that train trying to pull away from the station or freight yard.

So how did the team do it? Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards delivered one of the best games of the season and did so by stepping up for his teammates. He nearly put up a triple-double: He scored 19 points, had 11 rebounds, and dished out seven assists.

Pretty? Not at all. But it was more evidence of the fact that Ant-Man is showing leadership of this team without fanfare or fuss. He is simply elevating the play of his teammates. And that is the answer that Coach Chris Finch has wanted all along.