Edwards referred to the team missing the chip on its shoulder from last season. Gobert said the team doesn’t have the same edge as a year ago. Whatever the term, the Wolves don’t have that intangible quality that propelled last year’s group to the Western Conference finals. They also don’t have Karl-Anthony Towns and now have Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. The transition has not always gone smoothly. DiVincenzo continues to struggle shooting (he went 1-for-10 for two points), while the two-man offensive chemistry that sometimes developed between Randle and Edwards has disappeared.

“We’ve got to get that chemistry back, that connectivity a little bit,” coach Chris Finch said.

Edwards made sure to say it wasn’t about coaching, but it’s up to the players to better execute game plans and schemes.

“We have the answers. The coaches give us … the answers,” Edwards said. “We just don’t do it as a team, one through fifteen. They give us the answers every night. We come in here at 35 (minutes) at night and they tell us what we have to do to win the game, and somehow we don’t do it every night. We have to get back to work on it. We gotta grow up, man.”

When asked if these issues can be resolved during practice or film sessions, Randle said those things have been tried. It is up to the players to make a “personal decision” to improve.