Kevin Love Calls out Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been frustrating. They are the second-highest scoring team in the NBA, but give up 102.7 points per game (25th in the NBA).

The Timberwolves score a lot and haven't played much defense this season, and that's a big part of their 17-18 record. What's worse is Minnesota is 0-10 in games decided by four points or fewer. Last night it didn't get any better either, losing 104-103 at home to Phoenix. In fact, Minnesota led by seven with under three minutes, but couldn't close out the Suns.

Today, star forward Kevin Love told ESPN 1500 in Minneapolis that he was frustrated and disappointed with his teammates.

"We can't have two guys sitting at the end of the bench, who play good minutes, just sitting there and not getting up at timeouts. We all need to be in this together. That kind of pisses me off. We're supposed to be a team."

 

It's to a point that where those two guys, if and when I did that last year when maybe I didn't sit out for the game for 48 minutes and so on and so forth, they would have killed me. They would have aired me out. It's two guys we expect more from them, and I think they expect more from themselves.

 

I'm not trying to single anybody out, and I don't want to make it bigger than it is. That was a team we needed to beat tonight. Even guys that didn't play any minutes, we need to have a team on the bench that's really in it together."

Love was 4-20 from the field last night, and only scored 15 points. The star forward may not have had his best game Wednesday night, but all the starters disappeared in the second half. They were outscored by 12 points in 23 minutes. 

For the Timberwolves, Love does have a point. The Timberwolves are finally healthy with Love, Nikola Pekovic, and Ricky Rubio. They also got Ronny Turiaf, and Chase Budinger back this week to provide stability.

At 17-18, Minnesota is three games back of Dallas for the eight seed, and the midseason mark in February is approaching. That means it's time for the Timberwolves to step up as a team.

Minnesota plays next on Friday at home against Charlotte.