Rudy Gobert Calls Out Teammates' Lack of Effort in Loss to Pelicans

Inconsistent defensive effort has been a theme of the Timberwolves' season. It's part of who they are, dating back multiple years. And Rudy Gobert is sick of it.

The Wolves led the lowly New Orleans Pelicans by 18 points early in the third quarter on Friday night at Target Center. Then they let their foot off the gas. They let the Pelicans hang around and tighten the game up, and ultimately got burned in a 119-115 loss where Minnesota was outscored 63-45 in the second half.

Afterwards, Gobert let his frustrations be known in a locker room interview with media members. He called out the Wolves' issue with defensive effort more forcefully and directly than anyone has all season.

"We played the right way in the first half, for the most part," Gobert said. "We played hard. And we up 18 and come out to the third and we jog back, we don't contest shots. Just no effort. We've seen that many many times this year, the last few years since I've been here. We always know it's coming. And when it comes, there's no sense of urgency, no accountability. So I think at some point, if the players don't have accountability, someone else gotta have accountability for the players. I'm just talking straight effort. I'm not even getting to the basketball side of things. Mistakes are part of the game. But the effort, to me, for a team that wants to play for a championship, it's unacceptable."

The Pelicans have more talent than their 14-40 record would indicate. Zion Williamson, who always give the Wolves trouble, scored 29 points and had a huge and-one finish in the final minute that gave New Orleans the lead. Saddiq Bey put up 30 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. Trey Murphy III scored 26 points and his six threes, five of which came in the Pelicans' third-quarter surge. Rookie center Derik Queen hit a career-high four threes.

But make no mistake, the Wolves should've won this game. They're deeper and more talented. They were playing at home. And when they were up by 18, they could've kept their foot on the gas and buried a Pelicans team that was 5-21 in road games coming into Friday. But they didn't. Mentally, they may have thought the game was in hand at that point. That's how you lose in the NBA. The Wolves have a habit of getting up for big games and overlooking lesser opponents. That can't happen, considering the importance of every game on seeding in the tightly-contested Western Conference.

"These games matter," Gobert said. "These games impact the way we're gonna finish the season, who we're gonna face, if we're gonna make the playoffs. And this is who we are, as a team. We have to start understanding that. The barometer for our success is our defense, effort. And when we have that, we win almost every night. I mean, it's insane how much like, when we just do that, we win every night. So it's crazy that we're not able to just focus on that. ... It's gotta be everybody. No one should get a pass for not playing defense. ... If we're tired, we should ask for a sub. And if you're not tired, if you have the energy to play, we should put the effort in."

Effort wasn't the lone reason the Wolves lost. Jaden McDaniels, Donte DiVincenzo, and Naz Reid went a combined 7 for 27 from the floor with six turnovers, including two bad ones from DiVincenzo in the third quarter that sparked the Pelicans' run. But effort was a big part of it — and not for the first time.

Anthony Edwards | Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

It was just four days earlier when head coach Chris Finch called out his players for their effort in a loss to the Grizzlies. The Wolves could easily be riding a three-game losing streak right now, had Anthony Edwards not saved them in clutch time on Wednesday in Toronto.

It's no secret that effort has been a problem for the Timberwolves at times this season. And yet, games like this one continue to happen, which suggests the players who have issues with effort either don't realize it or don't care enough to fix it. Gobert thinks that if the players can't have accountability, it needs to come from the coaching staff.

"It starts with ourselves, but it seems like we don't have that," he said. "So I think at some point, from the coaches. It's not an easy position for a coach to take guys out the game. It's not something that you want to do. But I think if the players don't show any effort, no matter how talented we are as a team, if you don't have that, we just can't be a winning team. So it starts with me. If I'm not showing effort, take me out the game. And everybody else gotta follow. Our best players, leaders. If you don't show any effort, no matter if you score 50, we're not gonna win. At some point, (if) we're not mature enough to have that accountability in ourselves, that might be a solution. And I guarantee you that when we come back on the court, we'd show effort."

Really, it starts with Edwards and Julius Randle, the Wolves' two leading scorers. The "no matter if you score 50" line from Gobert hints at that. They're not alone, but Edwards and Randle seem to be the most frequent culprits. Too often, they lose their assignment on a backdoor cut or leave too much space for an open three. What that happens, benching them to send a message might be needed, but that's a tricky line for Finch to walk.

DISPLAY BY TREY pic.twitter.com/MrEeiGUuez
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) February 7, 2026

The bottom line is that the Wolves are capable of playing hard on defense. They do it when the Thunder or the Spurs are on the schedule. But they have to find a way to do it every single night, and that clearly isn't happening.

"We've done it," Gobert said. "Back to back conference finals, it doesn't happen magically. We've done it. But I think this is the next step for us. We want to be a championship team, we want to lift that trophy in June, and this is a lesson that we need to get right now. Starts at the top."

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