Timberwolves gave us one reason to believe in them against Boston

The Minnesota Timberwolves had a big task ahead of them in facing the Boston Celtics on Sunday afternoon. Their second contest of a two-game East Coast trip, the Wolves needed to show something different against the defending NBA champions than what they brought in their ugly loss to the Toronto Raptors on Thursday evening.

Despite a 107-105 loss, that is exactly what Minnesota did. They hung tough with the team many would consider as the best in the association, going down 19 points but coming all the way back and having a shot to win the game as time expired in the fourth quarter. Naz Reid's game-winner rimmed out, but the Timberwolves' effort was leaps and bounds better than what we saw against the Raptors.

After looking lethargic and uninspired in Toronto, it was almost as if Minnesota realized how egregious their error was in losing to the 3-12 Raptors. Their overall process was much more smooth in Boston, and they truly gave the defending champs a hard time, something that is not easy to achieve.

Anthony Edwards was as blunt as possible about the outcome after the game. He told reporters that the difference in the last two games was simply that the Wolves just competed. "Playing hard," he said. "That's the number one thing. We just don't play hard. We came out and played hard tonight."

The Timberwolves can beat anyone when they lock in

His words call back to a prior sentiment Ant made after one of the Portland losses a week and a half ago. Edwards remarked that the Timberwolves had to come out with a chip on their shoulder, saying "We got to get the chip back. Whenever we get the chip back, we'll be back where we need to be."

He also confirmed that this team sometimes has a difficult time getting up for the games against lesser competition. But when there is a high-level opponent across from them, it is almost like a switch flips. Lacking that edge against inferior foes is clearly not the mark of a champion, but the positive here is that we do know this team can beat anyone when they are at their best.

The fix going forward will be re-discovering that edge against the teams that are far inferior talent-wise to Minnesota. Against the Celtics, the Wolves missed too many shots to come away with the win. But we saw that they still have the personnel to really make life hard for a team as talented as Boston, even in a post-Karl-Anthony Towns world.

That alone should give us optimism about this team moving forward. The Timberwolves clearly still have some big issues to iron out, but the reality remains that these problems are fixable.