Something’s not clicking in Minnesota! After a historic run last year, their season is off to a very shaky start, currently ranked eleventh in the West. And they fell below .500 last night with a tough overtime loss against the Rockets. Obviously, one reason behind their struggles is the departure of Karl-Anthony Towns and the adjustment period for Julius Randle. However, the latest recruit and Rudy Gobert exposed one glaring issue that might be hurting them the most.

The Wolves got outscored by six points in the first quarter yesterday. Something similar happened during the recent Raptors game as they got outscored by five points in the opening quarter. Notice a pattern? Well, Randle surely did as he said postgame, “We gotta start games better. Quarters, halves, all those different type of things better.” Yes, they are often digging themselves into a big hole because of their lacklustre start to games.

Sure enough, that’s indirectly affecting their ability to close out games strong, “Yeah, I mean it just takes a lot of energy.” Moreover, Gobert shared a similar sentiment as he addressed what the squad is missing that’s causing their slow starts, “Maybe some urgency, I think. From what it feels, it feels like when we start the game, the other team is a little more alert, a little more physical. Yeah, we always take one quarter or one half to get going.”

Obviously, muscling a comeback every night is not possible even for the greatest of teams. Therefore, the Wolves need to come out with high energy from the very first play and take charge early. And Gobert claimed that they are already aware of this issue, “We know it. We have talked about it a few games ago about starting the games better.”

Alperen Sengun dominates “Too Small” Rudy Gobert as Wolves pay the price for slow start

As Randle remarked, because of the effort spent in making up for their initial lack of energy, the Wolves were not able to maintain the lead and close out strong. The young Rockets squad went on a massive run to send the game to overtime. And the situation got even worse in OT as Alperen Sengun bullied Gobert inside the paint and scored multiple points on him. Adding to the insult, Sengun also hit the four-time DPOY with a “too small” taunt after scoring a turnaround floater over him.

Sure enough, the Wolves could not muscle another comeback and lost by six points. And Randle was left disappointed after the embarrassing loss, “It was tough. We fought extremely hard to get back in the game and you know had a lead down the stretch. We just gotta close it out better… We just didn’t tonight.” Well, if the Wolves hope to turn their season around, Chris Finch will have to find a way to motivate his squad to come out with more energy and overcome the issue that Randle and Gobert exposed. Otherwise, they might not be able to reach the same heights they did last year.