Minnesota Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns is not known as a defensive stopper, so it might sound strange hearing him harp on his team's issues on that end of the floor.

However, after the Timberwolves' 115-102 loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night, Towns pointed out the defense as a big reason for Minnesota's struggles as a whole this year, according to Chris Hine of The Minneapolis Star Tribune:

“Those guys have to be focused every single second of every single round. One time you’re unfocused, you get hit in the jaw and the night is over.”

Some people might find that quote to be pretty ironic, as many of the team's defensive issues can be traced to Towns' inability to guard the pick-and-roll or switch effectively, but let's be real here: Towns is not Minnesota's only issue defensively.

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Andrew Wiggins, for example, has labored on the defensive side of the ball ever since he entered the league during the 2014-15 campaign, and even he had something to say about the Timberwolves' defensive problems on Wednesday evening, per Hine:

“That’s on us. Just on the players. The coaches can coach, but the players who are on the floor, we see what’s happening so we have to make the decisions to call what we’re doing.”

The Timberwolves entered the game against the Celtics ranked 19th in the league defensively, and after Boston lit them up for 60 points in the first half, their ranking certainly did not go up.

After the loss to Boston, Minnesota is now just 17-21 on the year.