Timberwolves coach Chris Finch was clearly irked with his team’s offense after its 22-turnover performance in a win Thursday over short-handed Dallas.

Specifically, he was annoyed with the play of his two most-skilled offensive players — Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns.

Edwards may seem like a confusing target of frustration given his 44-point outburst in the victory. But he had two strong offensive quarters — the first and the third. He committed three of his six turnovers in the second quarter and was 1 for 7 shooting in the fourth while jacking up a number of difficult jumpers while seemingly seeking out a higher point total.

Over the final three quarters, Edwards had four turnovers to one assist.

Towns, meanwhile, wasn’t involved in the early offensive action and tried to force his way into the fold by driving into no man’s land, which led to missed shots and offensive fouls. Towns had more turnovers (five) than made shots (three).

“I think everyone at times is too worried about getting their own offense going. I mean, Ant had a hot start, and so we gotta ride that hot start. But then when that hot start is over, then you gotta start making plays,” Finch said. “And other people, if they haven’t touched the ball for a little while, they can’t just decide that they’re gonna put their head down and go to the hoop or that they’re gonna jack it because they haven’t shot it for a little while. And that’s everybody that’s done that at one point in time. I thought at the end of the second quarter, in particular, we all were having a pity party for ourselves offensively.”

For as excellent as the defense has been, Minnesota’s offense hasn’t been very good this season. The Wolves are 17th in offensive rating, scoring 113.8 points per 100 possessions. The numbers are slightly better when Edwards and Towns are on the floor, as is to be expected, but even their individual offensive ratings wouldn’t crack the top 10 of the team rankings.

The sum of the team’s offensive talent currently isn’t adding up to the collective of the parts. Performances like Thursday’s are a prime example of why. There have been games this season when Edwards and Towns have made the correct decisions for the benefit of the team. But they have not reached a place where they do so consistently.

Dallas switched everything Thursday, which slowed Minnesota down and relegated the Timberwolves to isolation offense. That was the exact look that gave Minnesota so many issues at times last season.

Last spring, veteran point guard Mike Conley noted that when the Timberwolves are attempting to attack those switches off the dribble, it can’t simply be to score.

“You have to look to pass, we have to look to make an extra play,” Conley said in March. “If we sit there and, you know, dribble for too long, (it) sets up for them to load up (defensively).”

Case and point Thursday against Dallas. The same mistakes were made nine months later, and those mistakes resulted in a parade of turnovers.

“We’re going places where there’s nowhere to go. It’s on us. They’re just bad decisions,” Finch said. “At that point in time, we deserve to turn the ball over. They’re just not smart plays.”

And the most alarming piece of the equation perhaps came after the game, when Edwards saw nothing wrong with the offensive approach. He said he put it into his mind prior to the game that he was “probably going to shoot it every time I touch it.”

Yes, if the opponent double-teams him, he’ll get off the ball. “But if it’s a one-on-one situation, I try to go, and I think that’s how I’m going to play from here on out,” Edwards said. “Pretty much that’s it.”

That approach will work more often than not thanks to Edwards’ remarkable talent. But it will not work against elite teams that are capable of switching like Dallas did Thursday, and can do so with far superior personnel to what the Mavericks trotted onto the floor. Those are the types of teams Minnesota will face at the most important junctures of the season.

That’s why against teams like Dallas, the approach matters far more than the outcome. Which is why Finch was so perturbed postgame with the decision making of Towns and Edwards.

“We’re on them a lot. They have great freedom. Maybe too much, and that’s on me. They have great freedom, but they have the responsibility to make the game easy for everyone,” Finch said. “They’ll do it. It’s not all the time that they don’t. When you have guys that are natural-born scorers, sometimes if they’re not scoring, they don’t feel like they’re impacting the game. But there’s a lot of guys that can score on our team. Twenty-two assists (Thursday) for a team that scores 118 points — I know a lot were from the free-throw line — but we need to be upwards of 30. Yeah, we’ve got a lot of work to do on the offensive end.”

Kyle Anderson said he and Nickeil Alexander-Walker looked at one another at one point Thursday and said, “Man, we’re just running up and down right now.” Those two certainly weren’t touching the ball. Conley probably felt the same way.

That’s a problem. It’s hard for others to find a rhythm offensively when they don’t feel as though they’re a part of the equation. Center Rudy Gobert offered a simple solution.

“I think just making the simple play, not caring who is going to score when, let the game flow,” he said. “And when we do that, it naturally takes care of itself. We’ve got so many guys that can shoot, that can score, that understand the game. When we space for each other and just execute, it’s a nightmare for a defense because there is no coverage really to stop us when we play how we’re supposed to play.”

And when they don’t, they become infinitely more guardable. Everything plays off of the decision-making of Minnesota’s two star players. It’s why Finch and Co. keep harping on it.

“Generally, this team has been very mature,” Finch said. “But we gotta grow up offensively. It’s time.”

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