New Orleans Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy blasts team after ’embarrassing’ loss to Minnesota Timberwolves

NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy turned on his team after a 135-105 beating at the Minnesota Timberwolves Thursday night, calling his defensive performance “embarrassing.”

“Look, I understand it’s on me and what we’re putting on the defense is embarrassing, quite honestly,” Van Gundy said. “We all have to make it our own. A big part of it is me and a big part of our players, and they have to take a part of it. We haven’t competed tonight, and that’s the bottom line.

“We didn’t compete. We didn’t help each other. We didn’t play on both sides of the pitch together. A really embarrassing night for us tonight.”

The Pelicans looked like a team tasked with making a playoff push for the first eight minutes of the game – taking a 16-point lead in the first quarter. They were outscored 125-79 in the last 40 minutes of the game.

According to research from ESPN Stats & Information, the Timberwolves have only become the second team in the past 25 seasons to win a 30-point or better game after trailing at least 15 points, joining the Chicago Bulls, who succeeded against the new ones. Jersey Nets on December 23, 1996.

Minnesota also became the third team to win a game of at least 30 points after entering the contest with a winning percentage of less than .200 30 games in the season, according to data from the Elias Athletic Bureau. The last team to succeed was the Cleveland Cavaliers in January 1971.

Van Gundy called it the worst offensive game the Pelicans have played in some time, but blamed their defense – ranked second-last in the league in terms of defensive standings – for the loss.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well and honestly we’re so bad defensively, we can’t have a bad offensive night,” said Van Gundy. “We can’t even have a poor night. If we have a bad offensive night, we’ll be crushed like we did tonight.”

The Pelicans shot 43.0% from the field and rose to 6 of 32 with a distance of 3 points. They also didn’t help each other on the free throw line, where they were 13 of 24.

It was a night’s rest for Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns – 16 points, 7 rebounds, 7 of 19 and 2 of 10 3-pointers – but great performances from Anthony Edwards (27 points), Jaylen Nowell (28 points, 11 of 13 shots, 6 of 7 deep) and Jaden McDaniels (20 points, 8 of 9 shots, 4 of 5 deep) helped them secure the victory.

It was Timberwolves coach Chris Finch’s first victory in six games since taking his first NBA coaching position last month.

“[The Timberwolves] well played and were inspired to play. We didn’t seem to care, “Van Gundy said.” We got what we deserved. When I say we, again, I don’t put everything on the players. I’m a big part of them too, but I don’t absolve them. It’s all of us. “

Van Gundy said he didn’t know why his team lacked the fight and energy they showed before the break, even when they lost. But he said it started on Wednesday when the team returned from the All-Star break.

“We also didn’t have the energy yesterday in training,” Van Gundy said. “It was one of the worst practices I’ve been involved with in my career. I don’t know. Sometimes the days off make you lazy. It obviously helped them and didn’t help us. It was a bad, bad performance. We’ll see if we can play a lot better tomorrow night. “

Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram said the team is removing the rust a bit after the break but, at 15-22, he knows the Pelicans are running out of time if they want to make a playoff run. playoffs.

“There are only 35 games left, and we want to be in the playoffs, so we have [to have] the urgency to understand it, ”said Ingram.