Gobert and the Timberwolves seem frustrated with the inconsistencies.
Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert didn't sugarcoat things after Friday night's 108-104 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Speaking to reporters following the game, Gobert pointed directly to something that has been a theme for Minnesota all season long.
"I think it's more mental, you know. I don't think it's physical," Gobert said. "So maybe the warm up or I don't know whatever we do, just fired up out the gate, so we can get to a great start and it changes everything when we do that."
It was a familiar scene at Target Center, where the Wolves fell behind by as many as 18 points in the first half before storming back in the third quarter, only to come up short down the stretch.
Jerami Grant's three-pointer with 22.2 seconds left sealed the game for Portland and handed Minnesota a loss that stings more than most, considering the Blazers came in as a sub-.500 team fighting for the play-in.
The Same Story on Repeat
The Timberwolves now sit at 43-28 on the season, which is a solid record by any measure.
But this team has been inconsistent for large stretches of the year, and a loss like this one highlights the exact issue Gobert was talking about.
They were playing without Anthony Edwards and Naz Reid, which obviously makes things harder, but Minnesota has dealt with absences all season and has shown it can still compete when shorthanded.
Gobert did his part on Friday, finishing with 18 points and 15 rebounds in 38 minutes while shooting efficiently from the field.
He's been one of the steadier forces for the Wolves this season, averaging 11.0 points and 11.4 rebounds per game on an absurd 69.8 percent shooting from the floor.
His presence on the glass and at the rim is vital, but even he knows those individual contributions don't matter much if the team can't come out of the gate with the right intensity.
Can Minnesota Fix This Before the Playoffs?
Julius Randle added 19 points in the loss, and he's been carrying a bigger load with Edwards sidelined, averaging 21.4 points and 5.3 assists per game on the season.
Ayo Dosunmu, who was acquired from the Bulls before the trade deadline, chipped in 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The talent is there, and the depth is real, which is something the Wolves have talked about all year.
But the slow starts are a real problem.
Chris Finch acknowledged the ball-handling limitations without Edwards after the game and admitted that late-game execution hasn't been clean enough, which is a tough combination when you're already digging out of a first-half hole.
A team can get away with that over 82 games, but those habits get punished in a playoff series, where opponents are more prepared and the margin for error is razor thin.
The Western Conference is stacked this year, and the difference between the third seed and the seventh seed is only a handful of games.
Minnesota has the talent and the defensive identity to be a real threat in the postseason.
But if they keep sleepwalking through the first quarter and relying on second-half surges to bail themselves out, that approach is going to catch up with them when the games matter the most.