Wolves' development takes a step back in ragged loss to Thunder

Anthony Edwards said Monday night he "didn't have that pep in his step."

Edwards had just 16 points on 6-for-16 shooting.

But his lack of pep could apply to just about anybody on the Timberwolves Monday night in their 112-103 loss to the Thunder.

The Wolves had acquitted themselves well following the All-Star Break winning games against New Orleans, Portland and Phoenix and being competitive even when they lost. Monday felt like a step back. In a ragged game for both teams, the Wolves couldn't figure it out offensively as they shot 41%, with Karl-Anthony Towns going for 33 points but requiring 28 shot attempts to get there.

The Thunder pulled it together early in the fourth quarter to bury the Wolves with a barrage of threes (they shot 21 of 37 on the night) and 31 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Wolves would make a late run, but they had too much inconsistency for which to compensate earlier in the night.

"We was playing sluggish. We was playing slow," Edwards said. "We couldn't find a spark. We were trying to but we couldn't find it."

Edwards wasn't on the floor late to try and give them a lift, as coach Chris Finch opted to run with a group that helped the Wolves cut an 18-point deficit down to six with under a minute left. That group included Towns, Ricky Rubio, Josh Okogie, Jaylen Nowell and Juancho Hernangomez. Edwards had been part of the crew that allowed Oklahoma City to gain the 18-point lead earlier in the quarter thanks in part to a 13-0 run.

When asked if he was OK with sitting out those final minutes, Edwards said: "No, I wasn't. I wasn't."

Then he left his postgame media session. Towns, who said he remembered many times his rookie year he didn't play late in fourth quarters, was also curious about the decision.

"We'll definitely need to have a conversation about it," Towns said. "He's superiorly talented. I just want to know the logic behind it."

Finch, who addressed the media before Edwards and Towns, gave his explanation.

"The team that was on the floor was making a little bit of a run and it started with their defensive effort," Finch said. "So at that point in time just got to ride it out."

BOXSCORE: Oklahoma City 112, Wolves 103

Towns had to ride it out despite banging his left wrist in the first quarter. Towns took a hard foul and fell to the floor and needed a moment before going back to the free-throw line while favoring his left wrist, the same wrist he injured last season and earlier this season.

"Today's incident was probably the most it hurt at any point after coming back, for sure," Towns said. "It was pretty bad, it was pretty bad, so it slowed me down."

And helped lead to Towns' tough shooting night. Towns added if he didn't feel like he could play he wouldn't, as he has played through pain since returning from a dislocation in the wrist in January. He praised Finch's gameplan but lamented that he missed too many "bunnies" Monday night.

"We didn't make shots, we didn't play to the standard that we had set ourselves, especially these last few past games," Towns said. "We just didn't do enough."

It's a feeling the Wolves know too well this season.

•  Finch said the Wolves are "ramping up" activity with D'Angelo Russell, who is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery he had last month. Finch said the Wolves hope to have Russell back in team activities this weekend or early next week. Russell is approaching five weeks since the surgery and had a four to six week timeframe for recovery, meaning he won't return until the later part of that timeframe or perhaps after.

•  The Wolves welcomed about 150 frontline workers in the crowd as they prepare to welcome a larger amount of fans to Target Center back in April.