What, exactly, are the Minnesota Timberwolves waiting for?

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Timberwolves’ season didn’t end on Friday night. It just felt like it.

They came out of the All-Star break facing a daunting, road-heavy schedule over their final 21 games. That gave the home game against lowly Charlotte a must-win feel for a team that figured to need at least 12 wins down the stretch to even have a chance of avoiding the Play-In Tournament.

Instead of coming out with the desperation and urgency befitting a team about to embark on a hellacious four-game West Coast trip, the Wolves gave up 72 points in the first half to the Hornets on their way to a 121-113 loss.

The Wolves (31-31) are still in eighth place in the West and only 1 1/2 games behind Dallas for the coveted No. 6 seed, so the season is hardly lost. But considering they are 11-17 on the road this season and have 13 of their final 20 games away from home, most of them against teams above .500, they had every reason in the world to come out and compete and use a win over one of the worst teams in the NBA as a springboard for this playoff push.

Instead, they allowed the Hornets (18-43) to shoot 63 percent in the first quarter, take 20 free throws in the first half and get whatever they wanted against a team that is, theoretically, fighting for its postseason life. This on the heels of a game just before the break in which the Wolves squandered a 20-point lead to lose to the Washington Wizards.

Had the Wolves found a way to win these two obviously winnable games, they would be 33-29 and tied for the fifth seed. Instead, it was just the latest in a season full of demoralizing performances against beatable opponents. They have now lost to the Hornets twice, Wizards twice, Pistons twice, Spurs twice and Rockets once. In a season that increasingly looks like it is headed for a disappointing finish, the 5-8 record against the teams with the four worst records in the league will be scrawled on the tombstone of their 2022-23 season.

“It’s just a sense of urgency,” coach Chris Finch said. “It’s just not there. We just talked about it – you can’t wait. It’s a 20-game season. We have nothing to wait for. You’ve got to go. We only have seven home games left and we’ve got a tough schedule. I think it’s just that urgency. We’ve got to have more urgency from the get-go. We’re not playing desperate enough.”

Contrary to the narrative, the Timberwolves are not a young team. It just feels like it. Yes, they have 21-year-old Anthony Edwards and 22-year-old Jaden McDaniels as focal points in the starting lineup. But the two young stars are surrounded by veterans. Rudy Gobert is 30. Kyle Anderson is 29. D’Angelo Russell was 26 and in his eighth season in the league before he was swapped out for 35-year-old Mike Conley. There is more than enough experience on the roster, but the Wolves keep playing like a team full of basketball neophytes.

It is most glaring against the league’s worst teams. It is as if the Wolves…