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Anthony Edwards: Wolves can't get down on themselves after two bad losses

It's been a rough few days for the Wolves, but it's also just two games in a long season.
Nov 12, 2024; Portland, Oregon, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards (5) drives to the basket during the second half against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center.
Nov 12, 2024; Portland, Oregon, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards (5) drives to the basket during the second half against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center. | Soobum Im-Imagn Images

It's been a rough last few days for the Timberwolves. On Sunday, they saw a three-game winning streak come to an end in a sloppy late collapse at home against the Jimmy Butler-less Heat. Two days later, in their first game of NBA Cup play, they lost in ugly fashion in Portland to a Trail Blazers team they had just beaten by 25 in Minneapolis on Friday night.

A common thread between the two losses was the Wolves' inability to take care of the basketball. They had 20 turnovers against Miami and then a season-high 23 against the Blazers on Tuesday night. "Been the story of our season, offensively," said head coach Chris Finch, who described the turnovers as "careless."

Despite two frustrating results in games where the Wolves were favored, Anthony Edwards believes they need to look forward, not back.

"I think we just gotta put 'em behind us," Edwards said of the losses. "We can't dwell on 'em."

"You know how it go, man, human nature, when you do some s*** that's not supposed to happen, everybody get down on themselves," he said. "And it's on me to make sure that we not down on ourselves. It was a big game, but it was game 11. We got a lot more games, so we can't get down on ourselves from two f***ing games. I mean, we can win ten in a row. We need to lock in on that (instead of) being more worried about the s*** that just happened. You know what I mean? It's over, we can't go back and change it. I think that's what we gotta do as a team."

Edwards leads the 6-5 Wolves with 28.1 points per game on over 45 percent shooting from deep. He had six turnovers against the Heat but only one against the Blazers, as it was four other players who had four TOs apiece in the loss.

Turnovers and lackadaisical defense killed the Wolves on Tuesday in a loss against a team that will likely end up near the top of the draft lottery next year. 11 games into this season, they've got plenty to work on as they continue trying to mesh following the Karl-Anthony Towns trade for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.

Fortunately, as they look to bounce back from a couple bad losses, they've got a rematch with the Blazers at the Moda Center on Wednesday night.

"Hell yeah, it's perfect that we play tomorrow night," Edwards said. "We can erase this s*** as quick as possible."


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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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