The Minnesota Timberwolves played their first game of the season after the news that star guard Anthony Edwards will miss up to two months due to an arthroscopic knee procedure meant to address lingering issues in his right knee, and that game ended in a 119-114 loss to the Golden State Warriors. 

After the season began with the Timberwolves firing on all cylinders, the team has now lost two games in a row and are clearly reeling from the loss of Edwards. Now, the team has to learn to play without the star guard that the roster was built around and there will clearly be some growing pains throughout that process. 

Amidst all of that dysfunction is the breakdown in team chemistry that seemingly occurred against the Warriors. When the season began, the Timberwolves were all but reading each other's minds and connecting on plays with a selflessness that made their chemistry fluid and fast.

By comparison, the team was frantic, clunky and scattered against Golden State. Shot selection was poorer than usual across the board while plays and passes weren't coming to fruition with that previous ease. 

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch recognized this breakdown in chemistry and offered up both an explanation and a possible solution in a postgame interview.

"I think it's just guys that are feeing like they've gotta step up and everybody's gotta step up and try to fill some void," Finch said (via Timberwolves). "I've long said this: the scoring void is one of the easier ones to fill as long as you're doing the right things and sticking to the flow... but we don't have to come out and seek our offense early."

Losing Edwards for any amount of time, especially multiple months, does create a particular void to fill, but the vacuum created by his absence led to a desperation across the roster that derailed the team's previously impressive rhythm.

The Timberwolves don't lack the offensive talent to supplement Edwards' loss for the time being, but the way that the team tried to brute force their way into scoring impressively only did the opposite and left a swath of gaps and imperfections that the Warriors were able to exploit. 

Finch isn't asking the rest of the team to play like Edwards. He's asking them to play like a team. The same connectivity that made their offense so impressive in the first few games of the season is still within their capability, but production comes from an understanding of roles and a commitment to togetherness. 

The void left by Edwards isn't one that's going to be filled by someone else, or several someones, immediately making the leap to be the same level of scorer that Edwards is. 

What they can do to remain successful while he's sidelined is take a breath, stick together and understand that they can still play the Timberwolves way with their own unique strengths, and make those strengths work together.