-
Andrew LopezESPN
NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy ignited his team after drinking 135-105 in the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves Thursday night, calling his defensive performance ’embarrassing’.
“Look, I understand that it’s up to me and what we put defensively out there is an embarrassment, to be honest,” Van Gundy said. “We must all take ownership of it. A lot of them are me and a lot of them are our players, and they have to take ownership. We did not compete tonight, and that is the conclusion.
“We did not compete. We did not help each other. We did not play together on either side of the floor. A real embarrassment for us tonight.”
The Pelicans looked like a team that wanted to play a playoff game for the first eight minutes of the game – to jump to a 16-point lead in the first quarter. They were outscored 125-79 in the last 40 minutes of the match.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Timberwolves have only become the second team to win a game by at least 30 points in the last 25 seasons after trailing by at least 15 and joining the Chicago Bulls against the then-new Jersey Nets. on December 23, 1996.
Minnesota also became the third team to win a game by at least 30 points after participating in the game with a winning percentage of less than .200 30 games this season. The last team to make it was the Cleveland Cavaliers in January 1971.
Van Gundy calls it the worst offensive game the Pelicans have played in a while, but blames their defense – which is second in the league in the defensive rankings – for the loss.
“We did not shoot the ball well, and frankly, we are so defensive that we can not have a bad offensive night,” Van Gundy said. “We can not even have a mediocre night. If we have a bad offensive night, we will be crushed like tonight.”
The Pelicans shot 43.0% from the field and reached 6-of-32 from 3-point range. They also did not help themselves at the free throw line, where they were 13-out-24.
It was an exceptional night for Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns – 16 points, 7 rebounds, 7-of-19 shooting and 2-of-10 from 3-point series – but great performances from Anthony Edwards (27 points), Jaylen Nowell (28 points, 11-of-13 shots, 6-of-7 from deep) and Jaden McDaniels (20 points, 8-of-9 shots, 4-of-5 from deep) helped to win them.
It was Timberwolves coach Chris Finch’s first win in six games since taking his first NBA head coaching position last month.
“[The Timberwolves] played well and was inspired to play. We apparently did not care, “Van Gundy said. We got what we deserved. If I say again that I do not put it on the players. I’m also a big part of it, but do not exempt it. This is all of us. ‘
Van Gundy said he does not know why his team does not have the struggle and energy it showed before the break, even in losses. But he indicated that it started on Wednesday when the team returned from the All Star interruption.
“We also did not have energy in practice yesterday,” Van Gundy said. “It was one of the worst practices I’ve had in my career. I do not know. Sometimes the days make you lazy. It obviously helped them and did not help us. It was a bad, bad show. We’ll watch or we can play much better tomorrow night. ‘
Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram said the team had eased the rust a bit to get back to halftime, but at 15-22 he knows the Pelicans don’t have much time left if they want to make a playoff game.
‘There are only 35 games left, and we want to be in the play-offs, so we have [to have] the urgency to find out, ”said Ingram.