Subscribe
Follow Us
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo gave an NSFW reaction to his team's abysmal Game 1 performance against the Golden State Warriors. Anthony Edwards and company were a mess on Tuesday. After riding high off a phenomenal series against the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota looked like a completely different team last night.
The Timberwolves scored an abysmal 31 points in the first half and could not mount a credible comeback, with Warriors star guard Stephen Curry leaving the game injured. Golden State won 99-88, and head coach Chris Finch was subsequently furious with his team's performance. DiVincenzo, who's been disappointing offensively this playoff run so far, echoed that sentiment in a postgame interview.
“We weren’t ready and played like sh%%. We need to respond on Thursday.”
The Timberwolves have all their goals ahead of them, but need to respond on Thursday
Article Continues Below
This Game 1 performance was another example of the franchise struggling in the Anthony Edwards era when expectations are placed on them. Minnesota has been phenomenal over the past few years as the hunter. Chris Finch's team has knocked out numerous title contenders and looked like a serious threat more than a couple of times. However, when the public seems to acknowledge how great this team can be, it has a recent history of wilting. Such was the case when the Timberwolves entered the Conference Finals last season as the favorite over the Dallas Mavericks.
That being said, Anthony Edwards is still a very young best player on a contending team, and some of these growing pains are expected. But this team, including Donte DiVincenzo, needs to answer the bell on Thursday night. The former NBA champion was brought to Minnesota in a blockbuster trade for these kinds of games. DiVincenzo was the second leading scorer in the postseason on a competitive Knicks team last year. While Donte doesn't necessarily need to average 18 points per game, 8 points on less than 30% shooting from the field, and less than 20% shooting from three-point range is not going to cut it.
Donte knows he has to be better and has a track record of rising to the occasion when his back is against the wall. Overall, it's a long series, and now Stephen Curry is expected to miss multiple games with his injury. Minnesota can work its way back into this series, but it cannot take any game or possession for granted. The Timberwolves have a lot of doubters to prove wrong again.
