D'Angelo Russell sat a few feet away from the bench and in front of the media seating during the fourth quarter of the Timberwolves' 125-116 loss to Phoenix.
D'Angelo Russell explains why he sat away from Timberwolves bench in fourth quarter
Russell said sometimes during a rough night he needs some space to regroup so he doesn't take frustration out on teammates.
March 24, 2022 at 4:22PM
While teammates were huddling during multiple timeouts, Russell stayed away from the bench and out of the huddles. There was a reason Russell was doing so, and he explained in his postgame comments.
"Just depends on how the game goes, if I'm mad or something," Russell said. "I might be airing out some steam. If I didn't like the rotation or something, I'd rather get my space and re-evaluate and try to stay locked into the game."
Wednesday wasn't the easiest game for Russell, who had six points on 3-for-9 shooting, so perhaps the flow of the game for him was causing the steam to rise. The time away from the bench wasn't about disengaging from the team, he said, but instead can be about needing to mentally regroup during tough moments.
"You're a player and you feel like you're hot and you get subbed, you're not going to like that. It might be that or it might be not playing well," Russell said. "Don't take it out on your teammates, regroup, bounce back. Things like that, little mental notes. I don't think it's anything more than that."
Sometimes, being away from the game in that situation and removing himself from the heat of the moment can help Russell recalibrate before going back in, which he did with four minutes remaining.
"You get to watch it from a position of not being in the game," Russell said. "You get to see things, see how they guard, see what they're trying to do. It's almost like [being] a sixth man, not starting. You're watching how they play so when you step in you know how to attack. It's more or less things like that, what plays can I run, how they were guarding me, if you're trapping … just how am I seeing it from over here."
Layups an issue for Edwards
Anthony Edwards had multiple misses at the rim Wednesday in situations it seemed like he was going to have an easy layup or dunk.
The fact Edwards didn't dunk in those situations was part of the problem, coach Chris Finch said.
"He's just being too cute at the rim," Finch said. "He hasn't finished well for a number of games now. I'd like to see him get in there and dunk it. He doesn't get enough half-court dunks in my mind. Gets a lot of open-court dunks, but not enough in the half-court."
Edwards said the struggles at the rim have had nothing to do with his injured left knee, which Edwards is playing through and has said is fine of late. He said he didn't dunk the ones he missed because he was feeling a little fatigued.
"Just missing them," Edwards said. "Nothing crazy."
The players communicated through a group text chain to pull themselves out of a four-game losing streak. But the thread is used for other ways to bond and build camaraderie.
