Anthony Edwards heard ripping himself in background of Julius Randle media scrum

Edwards wasn't pleased with his late-game performance against the Warriors.

Dec 8, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) is fouled and reacts on the ground in the second period against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images / David Gonzales-Imagn Images

"I just gotta f***ing play better."

Those were Anthony Edwards' words echoing in the locker room and caught on camera during a media scrum with Julius Randle following the Timberwolves' 114-106 loss at Golden State Sunday night.

Randle was talking about the late-game struggles that saw the Wolves get outscored 9-0 over the final 4 minutes, 46 seconds. Randle said everyone needs to help Edwards by giving him more outlets, at which point Edwards was heard in the background destroying himself with a harsh critique.

"I gotta find my teammates," Edwards could be heard saying. "F***ing terrible by me."

Edwards was awesome until the final five minutes, when he was 0-of-6 shooting and finished with zero points and a turnover. But it wasn't just Edwards. The entire second half was a collapse on the principals that helped Minnesota win four straight games and lead by double digits at the half against the Warriors.

In the third quarter, Minnesota's defensive identity disappeared as the Warriors scored 44 points. The Wolves didn't force a single turnover in the third quarter. In final 12 minutes, Nickeil Alexander-Walker had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting while the rest of the team combined for six points on 2-of-16 shooting.

"We've shown flashes. Up and down, but we've shown flashes of who we can be, especially on the defensive end. We just gotta keep doing consistency with that," said Randle.

Despite the loss, Alexander-Walker had an optimistic outlook going forward.

"I think we definitely found what works and what doesn't work. It's good to know, I think our identity. I think we struggled with our identity in the losing streak and in the four games before this we found who we were, and even in this loss we were able to dig holes and come back twice and have a chance to win again," Alexander-Walker said.

"We definitely found out who we are, our identity, the things we gotta continue to do to give ourselves chances to win and sustain that."

But yeah, Edwards definitely has to f***ing play better in crunch time.