Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said Tuesday's game against the Brooklyn Nets was "not even close to being the most important thing, in anyone's lives" after the death of Daunte Wright.
But after postponing the game from Monday to Tuesday afternoon, the Wolves and Nets took the court at Target Center for warmups with shirts that said "with liberty and justice for all" — the final line of the Pledge of Allegiance — before the Nets defeated the Wolves 127-97.
"There's always mixed emotions. There's always mixed feelings. There's a rawness to everything," President Gersson Rosas said of the decision to play the game Tuesday. "… In the microcosm, it's this season. We have to keep moving forward. We're in a pandemic and there's a lot of uncertainty. We're all trying to do our best to make the most of the reality of what we have. I was talking to the league [Tuesday]. You can't make this stuff up. It is what it is and we just have to embrace it."
Rosas spoke before the game and said the past 48 hours were an "emotional" time for everyone in the organization, especially after the team and city coped with the death of George Floyd and the ongoing trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
"We live here. This is our community," Rosas said. "To be experiencing this again in a middle of a trial is something that's very emotional and overwhelming."
This season has been especially hard for NBA players, who have had to deal with plenty of isolation and alone time because of stringent COVID protocols in order to get through the season, Rosas said.
"We had our group conversation [Monday] and guys didn't want to leave," Rosas said. "They wanted to stay around each other, talk through things. They wanted to have open conversations because the next thing is you're going home by yourself. In this reality we're living, you have that window of time to be together and to your point, guys maximized it as best they could."
Underscoring the adversity the organization has gone through, the Wolves played Tuesday without center Karl-Anthony Towns, who was with his family as they marked the anniversary of his mother Jacqueline's death from COVID-19.
The Wolves struggled without Towns in the lineup as Brooklyn took control from the opening minutes and never looked back despite playing without Kyrie Irving and James Harden. Kevin Durant led the Nets with 31 points on 11-for-15 shooting, and Joe Harris added 23. Anthony Edwards led the Wolves with 27 points, while D'Angelo Russell came off the bench again to score 15. The Wolves shot only 35% from the field.
The Wolves were down eight entering the second quarter after 13 points from Russell, but the Nets took control from there with an 18-3 run — featuring three dunks and a layup — that put them ahead 23 less than five minutes into the second. The Wolves never mounted a serious comeback, with Brooklyn leading by as much as 45 in the fourth quarter.
Finch said the Wolves' mood entering Tuesday was "solemn and serious" and was hoping the game could provide a little distraction in a trying time.
"Sometimes, in these moments, we need an outlet, and these guys love to play basketball," Finch said. "We know it's not the most important thing, not even close to being the most important thing, in anyone's lives, certainly not in a week and times like these, but it does give them an escape, a place to funnel some energy, create some joy, and hopefully that joy is spread to some others."
Finch also said the camaraderie could help ease their collective pain.
"One of the hidden benefits in being involved in an organization or a team is that you never feel like you're alone," Finch said. "You always have support. You always have your teammates and your coaches or staff members around to be able to share some things that you need to share."
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Timberwolves, with 'mixed emotions,' lose to Brooklyn Nets - Minneapolis Star Tribune
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