MINNEAPOLIS — Anthony Edwards does not have an answer.
His frustration obvious, his answers honest, Edwards sat at his locker Sunday at Target Center and tried to explain how a team with so much to play for as the regular season winds down could come out and play like this.
"I wish I could figure it out," he said. "I don't know."
The Timberwolves lost to the lowly Portland Trail Blazers 107-105. For the 19th time in 38 tries this season the Wolves (39-40) played a team with a losing record and lost. It was the third consecutive loss and second consecutive second-half debacle for the Wolves, who continue to fall in the Western Conference standings after previously winning four in a row.
Once again the Wolves let a bad team hang around. Once again their offense ground to a halt down the stretch. The worst part of it is that this team has done this so often this season.
"It's just a level of respect for the game," said Edwards, who led all scorers with 37 points. He was efficient — 15-for-30 shooting, 3-for-8 on threes. But he was also a part of an offense that Wolves coach Chris Finch said was a bit out of whack when it came to shot distribution. Edwards had more shots than the rest of the four starters combined (28); Karl-Anthony Towns took only three.
"You have to treat every game the same," Edwards said. "And that's something we lack."
That can be seen all over the final stats. Portland (33-45), which had lost five in a row and 11 of 12, scored 21 points off 18 Wolves turnovers. The Blazers had the edge in points off the bench, second-chance points, points in the paint, points on the break against a Wolves team that continues to struggle in transition with Towns and Rudy Gobert on the floor together.
"Turnovers, extra possessions, fast break," Finch said. "Things that we haven't been doing for a while and it kind of reared their head in the last two games. They just outworked us."
With three games left? With so much on the line?
"They just played harder than us," said Kyle Anderson, whose last-second attempt to tie the score went astray. "That's just what it comes down to. Especially this time of year, the team that plays harder — regardless of talent or names or things like that — they're going to win."
The Wolves had a 10-point lead late in the third quarter. But that was gone early in the fourth.
Two free throws by Edwards tied the score at 100-100 with 2:22 left.
Skylar Mays scored for Portland. After Mike Conley missed a three-pointer at the other end, Shaedon Sharpe, who scored 27 points, was fouled and made both free throws with 1:01 left for a four-point Blazers lead.
Edwards scored, was fouled and made the free throw to make it a one-point game with 42.4 seconds left. But that's as close as the Wolves got. Drew Eubanks hit one of two free throws with 14.4 seconds left to put Portland up two. The Wolves got the rebound of his miss and worked the ball up the court. Double teamed, Edwards got the ball to Anderson, who drove but missed.
"It's definitely a tough loss," said Gobert, who had 10 points and 15 rebounds. "Looking at the standings and what we're fighting for, it's a game at home against a team that shut down their best players. For us it was an opportunity."
An opportunity lost.
In their past two games, the Wolves led at the half only to struggle from there, getting outscored 119-89 in the second half.
"We have too many guys not playing well right now," Finch said.
