MINNESOTA 104 - SAN ANTONIO 103 - JANUARY 11, 2026
Minnesota was down about 14 with less than six minutes left in the third quarter, and Jim Peterson said it a couple of times: “It feels like the door is still open. I think the door is still open.” It wasn’t just that San Antonio hadn’t shown they could go on a run and create distance and close the door — completely — on Minnesota, but also that the Wolves had already shown they could erase a sixteen-point deficit. Earlier in the night, the Spurs had already sprinted out to a 16–0 run, slamming their collective foot on the gas before Minnesota could catch its breath. But even then, the Wolves rallied.
Victor Wembanyama got the start for the Spurs, and his presence was felt throughout the game. In the first quarter alone, he broke up two of the Wolves’ alley-oop attempts and was a big reason why it took nearly half a quarter before Minnesota found its first bucket: an elbow jumper by Edwards from just right of the free-throw line with a little over seven minutes left in the game. San Antonio 16… Minnesota 2 — which drew an ironic cheer from the Target Center crowd; at last, they could finally find their seats.
Michael Grady was not in the building, so Alan Horton was on the play-by-play with Jim Petersen adding the color. Horton was up to his usual work: pulling absurd and obscure stats out of nowhere that didn’t necessarily add that much to the game. For example, stats like who has the best offensive scoring and defensive percentage at the “end of the shot clock” don’t feel that informative or helpful. As a team, maybe there’s something to look at there — maybe — but as a fan, I’m not sure why I need to know stats like these, or even why I would want to know stats like these. But I digress.
The Wolves trailed the entire night and did not take their first lead until going up 100–98 with 2:19 left in the fourth. The Spurs had the lead for 93% of the game, and their biggest lead was the now-infamous 19 points that they’d surrender to the Wolves’ comeback.
When did the tide flip — when did a comeback feel possible? It’s hard to lock into one moment, because all night it just felt like the Wolves were still in it, despite the score. But one play that does stand out is a Donte DiVincenzo steal off a Spurs inbound that he immediately turned into a three-point shot, bringing the Wolves back to within six (91–85) with just over six minutes remaining in the fourth. This came despite, just a few plays earlier, a reckless Gobert close-out that led to a flagrant (which would result in his suspension from Tuesday’s game against Milwaukee), followed by a technical foul on Gobert for running into one of the referees. For a moment, it felt like the Spurs were taking control of the game once and for all.
Minnesota shot 14–25 from the free-throw line (56%) to San Antonio’s 22–25 (88%), which did not make it easier to hang in this one — but still they did. They kept finding a way.
San Antonio entered the night second in the West and has not one, not two, but three wins over the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder. So if any game was a measuring stick for just how far we might go this year, this game was one of them.
A few sets before Edwards’ jumper gave the Wolves their first lead of the night (100–98), Julius Randle took on the assignment of guarding Wembanyama one-on-one. The 7-5 big man from France, facing off against his countryman Rudy Gobert, had a far better time against Gobert than against Randle. Randle wasn’t afraid of getting right in Wembanyama’s chest and forcing Victor to try to gain enough space to get a shot off just inside the three-point line. One sequence I’ll remember for a while is Victor dribbling left, then right, then left again, with Randle staying right on him until Victor ran out of space and literally met the sideline and dribbled out of bounds — resulting in a Spurs turnover that gave the ball back to the Wolves and tilted the crowd’s energy that much more in Minnesota’s direction. The Wembanyama fear had been vanquished, and the comeback that was already in motion gained that much more momentum.
From there, the final two minutes were magic.
Ant’s mid-range jumper puts the Wolves up 100–98.
In transition, Harrison Barnes finds space behind the three-point line and drains one: San Antonio 101 – Minnesota 100.
Jaden McDaniels, also in transition, finds space in the paint and, early in the shot clock with 49 seconds left, pulls up and hits a short-range fadeaway over Wembanyama: Minnesota 102 – San Antonio 101.
De’Aaron Fox finds space in the mid-post for a pull-up jumper with his left hand that looks like the easiest shot he’s ever taken: Spurs 103 – Wolves 102.
Then everyone in the arena — and watching from afar — knew it would come down to this.
Anthony Edwards has the ball just inside the three-point line with Wembanyama right in his face, his arms so long and his height so overwhelming that getting a shot up over the big man feels impossible. But Edwards is smart. He’s patient. He’s thinking through things rather than launching a prayer over the all-world center.
There’s plenty of time left on the clock, so he keeps dribbling, keeps negotiating the space, looking for just the right next move. He drifts to the right, where his running mate Julius Randle has set a pick against Spurs guard Stephon Castle at just the right place and just the right moment — a pick so perfect that Wembanyama can’t quite navigate around it either. It gives Edwards just enough space to release a one-handed floater that looks good the moment it leaves his hand: off the glass for a beat, then in.
Minnesota 104 – San Antonio 103, with sixteen seconds left on the clock.
Wembanyama has Randle in his grill all over again, and as Victor dribbles right, he’s able to rise up over Randle (of course) and get off a fadeaway jumper that barely draws iron. The rebound goes to the Spurs, and De’Aaron Fox gets one more look at a long three…
No good.
Wolves win.
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Current Record: 26–14
Current Standings: 4th in the West (7 games behind OKC)
MINNESOTA 131 - CLEVELAND 122 - 01/08/26
This was the game that I wanted to attack with more commitment, to have an even more focused eye and to get back on track after falling seven, and almost eight, games behind on these recaps. I had my pen and notebook out and was taking notes like this: the Wolves sprint out of the gate and take a commanding 17–5 lead, then Cleveland steadies itself and claws back on a 23–10 run to take the lead back from Minnesota. But life is full, and recapping as thoroughly and clearly and with as much detail as I want is not always possible. In between making dinner and finishing up homework for a sports psychology class that I’m taking, I let the Wolves’ success wash over me and fill the space around me in my living room. They’re playing focused and determined basketball, and they’re not intimidated by the Cavs’ attempts to get back into the game. Donte DiVincenzo is breaking his shooting slump, and after shooting something like 1–9 from deep over the last couple of games, tonight his trey ball looks as clean and silky smooth as ever, and whenever it goes in — which is starting to feel like more often again — it makes this incredibly satisfying swish through the hoop.
Cleveland’s strength is in the creativity of its guards — Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland — paired with bigs — Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley — who can bruise in the paint while also hitting spot-up shots from deep (Mobley more so than Allen, though they’re both capable shooters). One name I did not know — because I don’t watch the Cavs — is Sam Merrill, who also can light it up from three-point range.
Despite the Cavs’ offensive engine giving the Wolves everything they had, Minnesota stood pat. Jaden McDaniels had a night, and a play I remember clearly was him intercepting a pass in the frontcourt as the Cavs were trying to bring it up the court and then immediately converting the turnover into one of his patented one-step, two-step, decel… floaters for two.
MINNESOTA 122 - MIAMI 94 - 01/06/26
Deciding to love a team or not comes down to this: how often they show up in big moments; how often they bring it and deliver memorable experiences and fight and honest work, even when they might not have to. At this point, Minnesota has brought it — a lot. We’re a little over a third into the season, and I can count on one hand only a few nights where they absolutely did not have it: the Nets game, the Hawks game… and what else? — the implosions against the Suns and the Kings late in games earlier in the season. But otherwise, they’ve come to play almost every night.
This would have been a game, perhaps, to let slip. They had just hit Miami straight in the face a few days before — on Miami’s home court — so tonight the Heat were coming into the Target Center, undoubtedly, looking for revenge. Miami’s arguably best player (though Bam Adebayo might have something to say about this), Tyler Herro, was back from a long absence and looked good early in spurts. The game was nationally broadcast on Peacock, so the classic NBA on NBC music was all over the telecast. Noah Eagle and Jamal Crawford brought a playfulness to the commentary booth that felt enjoyable and rare: with Crawford referencing Bones Hyland’s decision to attack the paint after hearing D4L’s “Laffy Taffy” beat played through the stadium’s sound system; Eagle offering that one of the fans beneath the basket looked a lot like Justin Timberlake and was working on “Bringing Sexy Back”; and I think, somewhere in there too, there was a Jadakiss “We Gon’ Make it”** reference, but I can’t recall the context.
Norman Powell came out pouring in buckets, and it felt like he hit seven threes in the first quarter, but it was just two — maybe three at most. Minnesota is just playing with more cohesion of late. The offense seems to be humming with less friction, and Bones Hyland’s name probably isn’t being said enough. He’s not the steady vet presence who can know and see the game before it’s happening, nor is he the lightning-quick “Rob with the Shifts,” Dillingham, who shakes defenders easily but might not always make the right play and has trouble finishing at the rim over bigs. No, Hyland is diligent and thorough: he pushes the pace effectively when pushing the pace is just right, he holds when he needs to hold, and he hits spot-up threes consistently enough to keep defenses honest.
I think this night was the first night that I saw Rudy Gobert dribble from just above the three-point line and drive all the way into the hoop and finish over one of Miami’s big men: it was either Ware or Adebayo — I think it was Ware; and Gobert’s commitment to offering more offensively is an enjoyable bonus here.
Miami didn’t have much in the late stages of the third, and the Wolves just kept pouring in buckets, and by the time the fourth came it was clear that the Wolves, deservedly, would keep climbing up the standings in the Western Conference and would move out of sixth (where they’d been for weeks) and into fifth. A back-to-back (one at home and one on the road) with Cleveland would be up next.
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***Just need to bring this name into the room: Samuel Jonathon Johnson
MINNESOTA 141 @ WASHINGTON 115 - 01/04/26
New Year, and the wins keep coming in! Washington is a bad team, and the Wolves made no mistake about it. This one was never close, and the team effort was exactly that: everyone contributed, and Washington did not bring it at all. Anthony Edwards sat out the fourth quarter and began the fourth by signing one of his jerseys and handing it to a Wolves fan who found herself just a couple of rows behind Minnesota’s bench. There was confusion as to whether Ant’s jersey was intended for the woman — she had purple hair — or for a young boy with braids and the kindest eyes who was standing just behind her, but the commentary crew later made it clear that, yes, there was a second jersey (I think or I hope) that would go to the boy, and that Ant did intend to give the first jersey to the woman, because her favorite movie was Matilda, and so is Ant’s.
MINNESOTA 125 @ MIAMA 115 - 01/03/26
Regroup, regroup, regroup. It’s a new year and the Wolves are in a new city, having left Atlanta with a deep lesson and made it to Miami with a new focus: beat the Heat. Which they did. There wasn’t one specific player or play that stood out to me the most from this game. If I watched the highlights again, I might be able to pull a few moments, but this Saturday — the first of the new year — was a bit blurry for me, as I was being pulled in many different directions personally and emotionally and wasn’t as present for this game as I would have liked to have been.
I remember feeling held by the Wolves, as though their containment and locked-in, focused energy was helping me trust my own process and keep moving forward despite feeling very much up against it. Especially coming off the Atlanta drubbing, this felt important. It was another game on the road against another somewhat mediocre Eastern Conference opponent, and rather than coming out lackadaisical or without much clarity or direction, the Wolves came out fighting, and though the Heat tried to keep pace, Minnesota just had more in the tank. By the time the fourth quarter began, it already felt like this game was in the bag for Minnesota, because it was.
MINNESOTA 102 - ATLANTA 126 - 12/31/25
… (continued from below)
Except they had to play the Atlanta Hawks two nights later, the last night of 2025. Trae Young (who is now on the Washington Wizards via a trade) did not play, and the Wolves went down to Atlanta to face a Hawks team that has been, as Jim Peterson noted, a perennial play-in team — consistently finishing somewhere between 7–10 in the East since the play-in format began in 2021. A key glue guy for the Wolves’ run to the Western Conference Finals the last two seasons is also on the Hawks this year: Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Anthony Edwards had a fourteen-point first quarter and was carrying a very heavy load offensively. For much of the first half, it looked like his teammates were playing with sand around their ankles: slow defensive rotations and a lot of settling for outside shots. The offense lacked rhythm and the defense bled points easily. Coming off the bench for the Hawks, Kristaps Porzingis, who once was a huge buckets machine for the NY Knicks (though less so during his time in Boston), looked as good as I’ve seen him in years and kept forcing the issue against Minnesota inside. Where was Julius Randle?
Anthony Edwards was playing in front of his hometown team, having played high school ball at Holy Prep and college ball at the University of Georgia. His grandfather was in the crowd. Although the Wolves cut it to fourteen about halfway through the third quarter, this game was by far their worst showing of the season, and the Hawks did not relent at all.
When Chris Finch cleared the bench and the third-string reserves began playing, Anthony Edwards walked off the court and went back into the locker room, despite there still being a full seven minutes left on the game clock. Not the best look, and Finch said they addressed it. File it away. Onto the next.
MINNESOTA 136 - CHICAGO 101 - 12/29/25
This is the game I remember in Chicago, after the Brooklyn Nets meltdown but before the Atlanta Hawks implosion (forthcoming), where all felt right again with the Timberwolves. Naz Reid went off and had a blistering 33 points (one short of his career high) and shot 6 from 10 from three-point range.
Minnesota came out with more intensity on the road in Chicago than they showed two nights before at home against the Nets, and it didn’t look like the Bulls would mind all that much if they did not walk out of the United Center with a win on their home court. Chicago’s starting point guard Coby White got hurt early in the first quarter, left the game, and did not return. Then, just a few minutes into the second half, their other starting guard, Josh Giddey, pulled a hamstring and also left the game and would not return. This was pretty much the Bulls waving their white flag, and Minnesota took full advantage.
136–101 — a 35-point margin of victory by all accounts is a drubbing. And Minnesota must have left the United Center, with two nights left in 2025, feeling pretty good about their season and what 2026 might bring . . . (continued above)
MINNESOTA 107 - BROOKLYN 123 - 12/27/25
Maybe I am still coming back from the holiday, but here I am, on January 10th, trying to catch up on these posts and the last two weeks of the Timberwolves season. I write these because I love the team and I love what they’ll grow into, whether a title is won this year or next year, or anytime within the next 5–10 years. It’s the becoming that I love, the leaning into the questions of how good can this team be collectively and individually over the next decade.
Coming off of the overtime loss in Denver on Christmas night, the Wolves travelled back to Minnesota for a game that, on paper, was meant to be one needed to get right back on track. Though the Nets were struggling and standing near the bottom of the East, they had won four of their last five and came into the Target Center with plans of their own.
Minnesota did not deliver a knockout punch early and the youthful Nets just kept coming. Assistant coach and team and fan favorite Micah Nori said that the Wolves were “giving out points in the paint like Christmas gifts” during his halftime interview just before the start of the fourth quarter; and the third quarter did not get any better. Brooklyn had absolutely nothing to lose and just kept flying around, and it was clear by halfway through the fourth quarter that the Wolves would just not be able to keep pace. One image that does remain in my minds’ eye from that night is a drive to the hoop by Edwards that ended in a dunk that put the Wolves up again (maye for the last time that night) late in the third or early in the fourth and Edwards yelling into the camera “Let’s fucking go!”
After the game, Anthony Edwards gave an interview and said that he, too, would have been with the fans and booed the team for their effort that night. The frustration was all over his face and he closed the interview with a haunting: “I guess that’s just Minnesota Timberwolves basketball.”
Minnesota 138 – Denver 142 (OT) — 12/25/25
This Christmas night game started too late. It was the fifth game of the day, and tip-off wasn’t until a little after 10:30 p.m. The Wolves were in Denver, looking to keep the momentum going after three wins in a row (OKC, Milwaukee, NYK).
The starting five was their preferred group: DiVincenzo at the 1, Edwards at the 2, McDaniels at the 3, Randle at the 4, and Gobert at the 5.
Denver was missing three starters: Aaron Gordon, Cameron Johnson, and Christian Braun.
The Wolves had already lost to Denver twice this season (both at home), so if there was any chance of splitting the regular season series, they’d have to win this one on the road.
The Denver crowd looked like a sellout, and despite the late start, there was definitely a buzz in the arena. After four NBA games had already been played earlier in the day, the commentators left over for this one were three people I had literally never heard of: Marc Kestecher (play-by-play) and Stephanie White (analyst), with Alyssa Lang carrying sideline reporter duties.
Lang offered a memorable insight from her pregame interview with Anthony Edwards, who said he’d probably score 30 tonight — maybe 40 or 50.
For much of the first half, the Wolves looked game, with Edwards sprinting out to a 14-point first quarter before falling awkwardly after a reverse layup and favoring his shoulder. He was out there for part of the second quarter, when the Wolves built a few sizable leads of seven or more, but every time, the Nuggets kept crawling back. So at halftime, with the Wolves at 55 and the Nuggets at 57, it was still either team’s game.
Neither team could manage a knockout punch in the third quarter, but as the crowd’s energy in Ball Arena kept rising and the Nuggets kept pressing the Wolves and pushing the pace, with just over six minutes left in the fourth Denver was up by fifteen. It looked — a lot — like the night was over and the Wolves would leave Denver without a Christmas night win, barring a holiday miracle.
Ask… and it is given. Not only are the Wolves a second-half team, but one thing that has been clear this year is that they often play better — and shoot better — on the road. Alan Horton has stats to back this up. I think during another broadcast he mentioned that the Wolves shoot 47% (road) to 36% (home) from three point range, though I’ll have to confirm.
Despite the Wolves’ furious comeback, they still found themselves down three (112–115) with just over three seconds to play in the fourth. Jaden McDaniels inbounded the ball and found Edwards curling off action set by Randle and DiVincenzo around the three-point arc. And despite having Jamal Murray draped all over him in the far left corner — that very narrow space between the three-point line and out of bounds, right in front of the Wolves’ bench — Edwards, in one fell swoop, caught McDaniels’ pass, spun around, got his feet behind the three-point line and still in bounds, then jumped to get the shot up over Murray before fading away into a blur of Wolves teammates and coaches draped in all-black warmups and crewneck sweatshirts. Two seconds later, without touching the rim at all, the ball splashed — swish — right through the net so cleanly that you could hear the click through the TV, because the entire arena was silent while the ball was in the air.
In overtime, it looked like the Wolves would pull away. They went up by nine and had Denver on the ropes. Then Jokic hit a three. Then Murray hit a three. Then Jokic hit another three. After that, Rudy Gobert nearly got a steal, but the call was overturned to a foul on Gobert against Jokic (Gobert’s sixth), which took the wind out of Minnesota’s sails for the last time.
Honestly, this game was on so late after a long, long Christmas Day that this was the first time I really felt myself getting annoyed and enraged in the same way Ant must have felt after Jokic kept flopping every time someone touched him. I don’t know exactly what happened — I could probably go back and watch — but it was four days ago at this point, and the entire overtime sequence just felt like a bad fever dream. Jokic dropped 18 points across the five-minute extra time span (maybe half of those were free throws), and at one point, after the game had all but slipped away, Ant drew a double technical and was walking off the court back toward the locker room as 20,000 Nuggets fans breathed one deep sigh of relief that their team had hung on to a game the Wolves had nearly snatched right out of their arms — and right in front of a nationally televised audience, to boot.
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Current Record: 20–11
Standings: 5th in the West
Minnesota 115 – New York 104 - 12/23/25
Karl-Anthony Towns was in the building (and so was his dad) again, and across 35 minutes he dropped 40 points on his former team, grabbing 13 rebounds and dropping off one assist. Fresh off winning the NBA Cup last week, the Knicks came into the Target Center with Towns leading the way and the vestiges of last season’s pre-season (literally the day before training camp) trade still being felt. Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo are Timberwolves, and Karl-Anthony Towns, who spent the first nine seasons of his career in Minnesota (2015–2024) — including his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2015 — plays for the Knicks now.
Perhaps a year from now this won’t still be news, but tonight and this season, the connection between these three’s intersecting careers remains a thread that feels very much alive, still.
The Knicks opened up the night with Tyler Kolek at point guard in place of last year’s Clutch Player of the year, Jalen Brunson. It wasn’t clear, exactly, why Brunson was out — if I remember correctly it was rest for his right ankle, but don’t quote me on that — but for the Wolves, having to face the Knicks (2nd place in the East at 20–8), at home, without Jalen Brunson, was a gift.
A bit of payback, too, was due, as the Knicks clobbered the Timberwolves earlier this year in the Wolves’ lone trip to Madison Square Garden on November 5, putting up a dazzling 137 points to the Wolves’ 114.
Through three quarters the game was close, with neither team pulling away or making the other side work too hard to stay in the game. Anthony Edwards led the Wolves in scoring with 38 — just a few points behind his former teammate, Towns — but the player who made the greatest impact on the game late was Julius Randle.
Not because he scored 25 points in all, but more so how, in the fourth quarter, he just flipped a switch. Heading into the fourth the Wolves were up 85–79 (made possible by an exclamation point three from Jaylen Clark just before the third-quarter buzzer — “Jaylen Clark . . . happy holidays!” as told by Michael Grady).
Then, with just over eight minutes left in the fourth, Julius Randle just started working: double-clutching for a strong layup over Towns to put the Wolves up by eight; hitting Towns with a fake post-up and then falling away for a J over Towns again — putting the Wolves up by ten; then attacking the rim before pulling up and fading away (again) and going off glass for another bucket over Knicks center Ariel Hukporti; then reading the passing lanes on defense and picking off a pass from Josh Hart intended for Towns and taking it coast to coast for a dunk to put the Wolves up by twelve, 97–85. Honestly, I just love Grady’s play-by-play here: “And got a steal! He’s the Grinch!”
Kolek did his best to keep the Knicks in it, hitting a three late to bring them back within seven, but by that time, Randle’s stamp on the game was enough to all but put this one away. Randle hit Towns with one more Eurostep layup combo, which drew another and-one; plus another two points in the paint (after rebounding his own miss), scoring 15 consecutive points (himself) for the Wolves. It was his son Kyden’s 9th birthday. The FanDuel sports crew made that clear, and celebrated Kyden by showing a number of his reactions to his dad’s fourth-quarter takeover.
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Current Record: 20–10
Standings: 5th in the Western Conference
Minnesota 103 – Milwaukee 100 - 12/21/25
This past Sunday night, coming off of a huge win against the Oklahoma City Thunder just two nights before, the Timberwolves hosted the Milwaukee Bucks at the Target Center. A lot of the talk on the horn was about how the big win over the league-leading Thunder might kick-start the Wolves' engine and lead to a run where they start stacking wins and climbing up the standings in the jam-packed, top tier of the Western Conference. Depending on who you asked (and when you asked them), a lot of us Wolves fans had doubt: we’ve seen this movie before — the Timberwolves show off what they can do against the game’s best and put the whole league on notice, and then go out and lose to a mediocre or cellar-dweller team.
Sunday night started out as many had predicted. Though Milwaukee was sitting at six games below .500 and entered the game without their best player, the all-world (Greek & Nigerian) Giannis Antetokounmpo, still — they came in swinging and hit Minnesota in the mouth first, winning the first quarter 29–23 and then leading by twelve at halftime.
AJ Green kept finding himself open for three and knocking them in; Kyle Kuzma kept attacking the rim; and Jericho Sims and Ryan Rollins threw in dunks that quieted the Target Center crowd. Being down by twelve to the Bucks at half wasn’t ideal, but coming into the third quarter the game still felt in reach. What’s fun about following the Wolves from one night to the next is that it’s never quite clear who’ll make a series of plays, who’ll show up and bring an energy level that lifts his comrades.
Entering the third quarter I thought Minnesota would start out hot, making quick work of the Bucks’ twelve-point lead and taking control of the game quickly. Instead, the Bucks just kept building. A twelve-point lead blossomed into fourteen, then sixteen (66–50), before Finch (fresh from his return to the bench and a $35,000 fine from the game against the Thunder) called a timeout to stop the bleeding.
I don’t know what was said in the huddle, but it must have been something like, “Alright, bet — this isn’t happening, let’s go get this game.” Cue the montage of made threes and Wolves buckets: Naz Reid from the corner; Mike Conley finds Gobert on a pick-and-roll for a Gobert layup; after an offensive rebound, Gobert finds a cutting Reid for a layup; another runner from Reid; a Conley three; a missed three by Reid followed by him getting his own miss and putting it back in with a dunk; then finally a three from DiVincenzo to bring the score back to 68–68, completing an 18–2 run.
Also, the three threes made by T.J. Shannon Jr. were crucial. Not because he was the only player who contributed, but because once the comeback was completed and the game was tied again, the Wolves’ work wasn’t over. So Shannon Jr.’s three threes from deep provided that proverbial spark, putting up nine points in four minutes and steadily breaking the Bucks’ spirit and will to keep fighting as a result.
When it was all said and , the game’s final score was a lot closer than what it felt like: Wolves 103, Milwaukee 100. And it wasn’t the Wolves’ best game of the season, by far, but at the end of the night, it didn’t have to be.
Minnesota 112 - Oklahoma City 107 - December 19, 2025:
Were you in the building when Chris Finch got ejected in the first quarter, or when Anthony Edwards hit the go-ahead three with just over thirty seconds left in the fourth quarter against the defending champs?
It's hard to decide which moment will become more iconic, more memorable in Minnesota Timberwolves lore, especially if (correction, when) the Wolves go on to win the title this year. The tie-breaker goes to Ant because, well, Chris Finch doesn't play for the Timberwolves, he coaches them. But what we have here is a classic chicken or the egg paradox: if Finch doesn't let the refs know — in no uncertain terms — that they're not calling a fair game and gets the instant double-tech that leads to him being tossed, then maybe Minnesota doesn't play with the same fight the rest of the way and Ant never gets the chance to hit that iconic step-back three from the left arc over Cason Wallace with just thirty-seven seconds left on the clock: Wolves 108 – Thunder 107.
Sure: thirty thousand different plays had to happen in between the Finch ejection with just over six minutes left in the first quarter and the Wolves trailing by just four, 15 to 11, and Ant's go-ahead three, but in a parallel universe the Thunder walk into the Target Center, put up points in buckets, shut down the Timberwolves offense (which is still finding consistency), and get on a plane back to Oklahoma City with another 20+ point win in their bag.
The Wolves, of course, were having none of that. Maybe it was their loss to an undermanned Memphis team on Wednesday night; or Edwards' return to the lineup after a three-game absence; or the nationally televised game against the best team in the league (the same team that knocked them out of the playoffs and sent them packing last season); or the good juju from the Prince-inspired City Edition uniforms; or having Michael Grady on the call and back in the building; or just the right blend of holiday energy six days before Christmas on a frigid (1 degree!) night in Minneapolis; or a combination of all of the above — but no matter what it was, it was clear: an upset was there for the taking, and the Wolves, unafraid of the challenge, answered the call and went ahead and took the game from the Thunder.
It was not easy. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander still poured in 35, and made an ice-cold step-back go-ahead three over Naz Reid to put the Thunder up 105–102 with 1:56 left on the clock in the fourth. And that, definitely, could have been when this team folded. I think it was around then that Brent Barry (who was doing the color commentary for the Amazon Prime crew), (or it might have been Grady), offered that the Wolves were 7–6 in clutch-time games this season. But the game was moving too fast and there wasn't time to linger there — (in the ghosts of seasons past) — for much longer. Minnesota was down by three and needed a bucket, fast.
Julius Randle used his off hand to drive to the right and past Chet Holmgren before finding himself trapped on the left block and looking for space between Holmgren and Wallace. Reid, who only a few moments before was standing in the corner and maybe waiting for a kick-out that would set up a game-tying three, was wise enough to read the moment and sprint into the paint to make Randle's pass out of trouble easy: a quick flip from Randle to Reid, and then an equally accelerated yet still composed floater from Reid brought the Wolves back within one again.
But still, this was the 25–2 Thunder, and there was a lot of work left to do.
The next time down the floor: Gilgeous-Alexander drives and sets up Luguentz (“Lu”) Dort for a wide-open corner three, which Dort misses, but only by a little. The Wolves control the board.
DiVincenzo finds himself alone in front of SGA and starts a drive, then pulls back into a step-back mid-range two, which almost drops but goes halfway down, then out. Holmgren grabs the rebound and Randle fouls him right away. Chet, the Minnesota native, hits both free throws, putting the Thunder up 107–104.
With the Wolves down three, Edwards looks to direct traffic, then Dort fouls a cutting Julius Randle, putting Randle on the line. Julius hits the first, pulling the Wolves to 105–107, then the second one goes off the back iron, prompting a Brent Barry “Geeeez,” followed immediately by a Rudy Gobert back-tap that sends the ball into the backcourt for DiVincenzo to run down. DiVincenzo finds Edwards. There's 46 seconds left on the game clock, ten seconds left on the shot clock, and the rest — as you know — is history.
Michael Grady on the call:
“DiVincenzo recovers. Twelve seconds left on the shot clock. Wolves down by two. Crowd rising to their feet. Edwards, working on Wallace, step-back, fires . . . CASH!”*
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Current Record: 18–10
Current Standing: 6th in the West (7 games behind OKC)
* Edwards didn't stop there: but had a block and a steal across the last two possessions by the Thunder, both against SGA.
Minnesota 110 – Memphis 116
Not every game is a game I’ll want to remember. When the Wolves go 7–1 over an eight-game span, it’s hard to accept that losing is still going to happen. Wednesday night’s game against the Grizzlies was one of those games: the Wolves never led by a lot, but never trailed by a ton either. Things looked like they could go either way, and when they came out swinging in the third quarter, as they have made a habit of lately, it looked like another win was en route.
But unlike Sunday’s game against the Kings, the Grizzlies came into the Target Center with a little bit more fight in them, so when the Wolves threw their knockout punch, Memphis took the heat, then punched back.
Granted, this was a Wolves team without Anthony Edwards and Mike Conley, both missing their third straight game. But the Grizzlies had injuries in bunches too, including Ja Morant and Scottie Pippen Jr.
Following the NBA this closely for the first time in a long time has been an adventure: almost every night there’s a player I literally have never heard of who goes on a hot streak or does something impressive that I did not see coming at all. Tonight that player was Memphis’ Jock Landale, who kept pushing back against the Wolves’ comeback attempts in the fourth, hitting one back-breaking three after another . . . after another . . . after another. The stat sheet only shows that he hit four threes, but it honestly felt like twice as many.
This is the real value of pressure points and pressure shots: three points when your team has a five-point lead and the other team is doing everything they can to claw back, time is running out, and you put your team up by eight — again — just hits different than three points early in the second quarter when it’s 42–43 and, for the last half hour or so, the two teams have just been feeling each other out and trading buckets.
The late-game three-pointer that puts your team up by eight sucks the life out of the stadium and takes a small piece of your opponent’s heart; that same shot in the second is just something interesting that happens during the back-and-forth steady action of an NBA game.
Hats off to Landale and to the entire Grizzlies team for stealing one from the Wolves.
Michael Grady was on the call again, and hearing him and Jim Petersen together is always a good time.
It probably wasn’t until about six minutes left in the fourth quarter that I realized that we might actually lose the game. That’s how used to Wolves wins I’ve grown.
On to the next one. Oklahoma City visits the Target Center on Friday.
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Current Record: 17-10
Standings: 6th in the West - (8 games behind OKC).
Timberwolves Dethrone Kings — Taking 3 out of 4 in the Season Series - 12/14
Sunday night, the Timberwolves hosted the Sacramento Kings in the teams’ fourth meeting of the season. If it feels like we’ve been playing against the Kings — a lot — then that’s definitely true. Over a 17–9 record (26 games), four games against the Kings means more than 15% of our games so far have been against Russell Westbrook, Zach LaVine, Keegan Murray, Domantas Sabonis (though he missed two of the games), Dennis Schröder, DeMar DeRozan . . . that’s the point I’m making: I can name way too many Kings players.
Sunday night’s game had the feel of a preseason run. It wasn’t that the Wolves ran away with it — the score was mostly close, and the Wolves trailed 52–51 at halftime — but more so that a Wolves win just kind of felt inevitable, so long as they didn’t fall asleep at the wheel. And they stayed awake the entire time: the embodiment of a game won on cruise control.
Games like this aren’t won because the other team doesn’t have talent — the Kings definitely do — but more so because the inner world of the Kings players — at 6–19 (now 6–20) — mostly looked like one collective psyche that’s okay with losing, used to losing, and doesn’t really have the fight in them to go and get a game against the Wolves on the road on a random Sunday night in December.
Sure, if the Wolves had stopped fighting, taken their foot off the gas, or deactivated cruise-control mode, then yes — maybe Sacramento would have scrapped and fought more. But on Sunday night, their fight just wasn’t there.
Anthony Edwards was out again (right foot soreness), so Julius Randle and Jaden McDaniels carried the scoring load, with Randle tallying 24 and McDaniels pouring in 21. Other notable contributors were Naz Reid off the bench with 20, and both Donte DiVincenzo and Bones Hyland offering up another 18 each.
With Mike Conley out and Anthony Edwards also out, this was the first time — in my memory — that all three of the young guns — Dillingham, Shannon Jr., and Clark — were on the floor at the same time.
Bones Hyland got the start again. And Rudy Gobert had a massive put-back dunk in the third quarter right before leaving the game — and presumably the arena — for personal reasons. A couple of days later, it’s now clear that those personal reasons were that he and Julia Bonilla welcomed their second child together, this time a daughter.
His comrades held down the fort in his absence, pulling away from those pesky Kings in the fourth quarter and closing out a solid home win, 117–103 — vanquishing the Kings, finally, for the rest of the 2025–2026 season. Good riddance.
Up Next: The Grizzlies visit the Target Center tonight, 12/17
Current Standings: 17–9, 6th in the West, 7 games behind OKC
Timberwolves 127 v. Warriors 120 -- 12/12/25 -
No Anthony Edwards. No Mike Conley, so Bones Hyland gets his first start of the season and it's on the road in the "Golden State" of California; more specifically, San Francisco.
Steph Curry is doing Steph Curry things in warm-up and after catching two passes from security guards (or are they ushers, or maybe both) in the Chase Center, he uses a side-javelin type heave to launch the ball the full length of the court (plus probably another 20 feet because he's in the stands) and about what feels like a full five seconds later, it goes through the hoop. Curry celebrates by running into the locker room. If this were the XBA and that were an in-game shot then Vince McMahon would call it a 30 point shot and the Wolves would have had to start the game down by thirty, but thank god, it's just a fun thing to watch and the score still started 0-0.
With Edwards and Conley out, the question would become who would pick up the scoring slack, as lately Edwards has been making forty-point games look routine. That answer came quickly and consistently with Julius Randle very much getting into his bag (I don't know why but I just love that phrase!) and displaying an array of high and low post moves and getting to the bucket or showing off just the perfect touch on fade-aways at will. Over 34 minutes Randle poured in 27 points and flirted with a triple-double, adding 9 rebounds and six assists.
Oh and Naz Reid is on a heater and there was very little the Warriors could do about it, at all. Reid's ability to work the paint and drop in the short hook with real consistency while also stretching the floor with a quick-release three is a nightmare match-up for opponents. Everything he does on the court looks so easy and natural, hence the nickname Big Jelly (I think?), his game is just smooth. Reid scored 18 but it felt like 30 or 40, he was everywhere.
But even so, this was the Golden State Warriors, the four time champions and one of the game's all-time greatest players' was still out there: the chef, Stephen - I played at Davidson and no one really knew who I was --- now I'm one of the greatest players ever and probably the greatest shooter ever so everyone knows me --- Curry.
Even after the Wolves stretched a third quarter five-point deficit into a twelve-point fourth quarter lead, it seemed like the entire home-crowd stood up and lit up and had their spirits lifted up when Curry checked back into the game with the Warriors down ten with maybe 6-8 minutes remaining. The mission was clear and he chose to accept it: let's make this comeback, and let's go get this game.
Cue the barrage of Curry made threes: McDaniels chasing him around screens; Divencenzo shuffling his feet and trying to stay down without fouling; Gobert being switched onto him in pick-n-roles and trying his best to stay in front, all to no avail. There was one play, late, where Curry had the ball at the very top of the three-point arc and everyone on the court and in the arena knew that he wanted to shoot it --- so McDaniels came flying in (but it was just a pump fake), so then Gobert came flying in (but it was just another pump fake), then finally with no one else in front of him, Curry cashed another three pointer and the arena went wild.
This is what I remember: with about 2 minutes remaining the Wolves twelve point lead had dwindled down to a three point deficit and the score was 117-114 and it looked like, damn, we just gave another one away, then Donte Divencenzo found a screen from Randle, dribbled to his left, and despite being a good 3-5 feet behind the three point line, knocked in a three to tie the game at 117. About a minute later, after Curry left a free throw off the board and the Wolves got the ball back, Divencenzo poured in another three from the very left corner - this time right in front of our bench — and the Wolves were up again, then never looked back.
One thing that has to be said here too, Rudy Gobert scored 24 points and has learned that he can be mean and dunk over people. His aggression in the paint *on offense* went a long way toward securing this quality team win last night.
Oh and Jimmy Butler does still play for the Warriors and he was out there last night, but it's unclear whether he is still "him."
Current Record: 16-9
Standings: 6th in the West - (8.0 games behind OKC)
Up Next: Sacramento at home, 12/14
MINNESOTA 149 - NEW ORLEANS 142 —— 12/02/25
Donte Divencenzo picks Jose Alvarado’s pockets with less than a minute remaining in the game and the Wolves down by four points. Divencenzo’s steal allows the ball to find its way into the hands of a galloping Jaden McDaniels, who promptly dribbles across the half-court line and then, knowing that a decision needs to be made —- and fast —- finds his way down to the left block and pulls up over two Derrick Queen and banks the ball in gently off of the class for two.
Now Minnesota is just down two points and there’s just over thirty second left on the clock. This is late game drama in New Orleans: the type of clutch basketball that the Pelicans’ fans are not used to seeing —- the team’s 3-18; and the type of basketball that the Timberwolves, at four games above five hundred and sitting at 6th in the stacked and fiercely competitive west, did not want to get themselves into.
Still, this is the reality and this is what Minnesota finds itself up against: get one stop here, and the embarrassment of a loss to the Pelicans still might be wiped away. Give up another bucket and you’re staring down the barrel of humiliation. Yes, it’s only one game, one night in a long, long 82 game season: but pride means you’re not losing to the 3-18 New Orleans Pelicans on any night (or in any venue) if you can help it.
Pelicans Rookie Jeremiah Fears dribbles, waits, waits at the top of the arc as the seconds on the game clock and shot clock count down. Divencenzo stands in front of him. Fears’ first step gets him into the paint and a beat later he’s challenging down the Stifle Tower, Rudy Gobert: his shot isn’t blocked, but Gobert’s presence definitely affects the attempt.
The rebound goes to Divencenzo, who passes it off to Edwards and just as the game clock hits 7 seconds, Minnesota calls its timeout. Off of the time-out, Edwards sees a clear path to the rack for two and without much resistance lays it in, sending the game to OT. Minnesota runs away with the game in OT and breathes a deep sigh of relief through the extra five minutes. We live to fight another day: next game’s this Thursday night, same opponent, same arena.
MINNESOTA 125 - SAN ANTONIO 112 — 11/30/25
Anthony Edwards became the Timberwolves all-time franchise leader for 30 points games at 102 and as this announcement was made on the jumbotron in the Target Center, a few of his teammates celebrated by burying him in fresh white towels.
By this point less than five minutes was left in the fourth quarter and the Wolves had finally pulled away from a determined but undermanned San Antonio Spurs team. Determined in that they have won five of their last six games, yet undermanned because their sophomore sensation and perennial All-Star to be (and perhaps future hall of famer) Victor Wembanyana, has been out for their last seven games.
Despite Wembanyana being out, for much of the first half San Antonio looked like the more focused team. Dylan Harper, the son of the Bulls' great Ron Harper (who was the starting point guard for the Bulls second three-peat, ‘96-’98), poured in 17 points overall and found his way to the paint and into the rim with not a lot of resistance from the Wolves defense.
The Spurs wore their grey City edition uniforms, which honestly might be the quietest most non-descript City Edition uniforms in the league. Alan Horton, who was on the call again tonight — bring back Grady, please — offered that the Spurs C.E. kit was different from their regular uniform because they read "San Antonio" across the front rather than "Spurs." Noted.
Although Edwards finished with 32 points and 6 assists, he did his best work — again — through the third quarter, helping the Wolves stay close to San Antonio's hip before they — the Wolves — would eventually hit the accelerator and leave the Spurs in the dust in the fourth.
Ant's biggest shot came with about two minutes remaining in the third and the Wolves trailing 88-80. Similar to the play at the end of the game against Boston last night, Edwards lost the handle, briefly, while dribbling at the top of the three point arc. Then this time he found a cutting Naz Reid, then Reid kept making his way into the lane and then just after drawing two defenders, kicked the ball back out to Anthony, who was wide open and drilled the three ball, again.
The Wolves played a lot of the fourth quarter and made their most significant run with a five-man combo that did not include Anthony Edwards or Rudy Gobert: Randle, Divencenzo, Conley, Reid, and McDaniels.
For a few possessions Divencenzo and Reid alternated who would take and make the next game breaking three. They're both shooting the ball really well lately and playing with a lot of confidence — especially at home.
A couple more notes:
"I still, to this day, remember phone numbers by using jersey numbers." Jim Petersen — a pretty cool idea !
Jaylen Clark went two of two from three and his three point stroke is looking a lot more confident. He offered for the first time this season, I think, a "peekaboo" or "blinders" three point celebration. If he can continue to play lock-down defense and hit threes under pressure in big moments, he'll become an even better option to keep on the floor for long stretches.
I want Rob Dillingham to succeed, but man, it looks really tough out there for him. Even when he gets to the rim, he has to shoot so high up over people (to avoid having his shot blocked) that it's tough to keep his percentage up – and when he's running the offense it very much looks like he just wants to make a play so badly, but his rhythm and timing aren't quite in sync.
It's a long season and Finch so far has kept playing him, so let's see what these next few games — two on the road against the Pelicans (12/2 and 12/4), then back home against the Clippers next Saturday (12/6), might bring.
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Current Record 12-8
Current Standings: 6th in the Western Conference - 7.5 GB first place (OKC)
Up Next: Tuesday 12/2 & Thursday 12/4 = both games @ New Orleans
BOSTON @ MINNESOTA - 11/29/25 - Minnesota 119 - Boston 115
Alan Horton and Jim Petersen were on the call and Horton —–– who does his best but is aeons away from Michael Grady in terms of the aura and depth of his play-by-play —–– let everyone know (twice) early on that tonight was Julius Randle’s birthday: Happy 31st, Julius ! The Wolves played their first game at the Target Center since their win over the Wizards on November 19th, and since that time they’ve dropped three tough games on the road (@ Phoenix, Sacramento, and Oklahoma City). So tonight, two nights after Thanksgiving and over an early matinee start-time 4pm CT, Minnesota looked neither charged and ready to go at full speed nor slow and lethargic coming out of the gate.
Instead, through the first quarter the game had the feel of two teams with a lot of talent but who maybe had not stacked as many wins as they would have liked so far —- feel each other out. Boston was coming in with an identical 10-8 record, and although they lost their best player, Jayson Tatum, to a torn achilles in last season’s Eastern Conference Finals, they’re still a very disciplined and heady team that’s made up of a lot of guys who can shoot the lights out from three point range. It’s pretty wild when you think about it: last season 56% of Boston’s attempted field goals were from three point range . . . they literally shot more threes than twos. This was the highest 3-point rate in NBA history, hat tip to Horton.
Boston wore its City Edition uniforms —- all white with gold trim —- and Minnesota donned their classic all-black “green tree” kit, and Randle got the scoring going for Minnesota with a fadeaway two from the right post. Although there were several spurts through the first half when it looked like Jaylen Brown’s scoring ability combined with Peyton Pritchard and Sam Hauser’s spot-up shooting from deep might be enough to sink Minnesota, after two quarters the Wolves were only down by ten. And I stress only because it felt like it could have been a lot more.
One very positive trend that the Wolves have brought to this season so far has been their ability to come out of the locker room swinging after halftime and blitzing their way back into the game (or turning a corner and putting a game out of reach — or almost out of reach) in the third quarter. And tonight was no different: Minnesota outscored Boston 35-23 in the third quarter and turned a ten point deficit into a two point lead to start the fourth.
Anthony Edwards did a great job of consistently getting to the rim all night and there were definitely more than a few occasions that he was hacked and did not get the calls that he should have. At one point during the second quarter he let referee Dannica Baroody (#89) know it, and was promptly gifted a technical foul, his second of the season.
Having rallied back in the third, the Wolves kept the momentum up heading into the fourth. Naz Reid had a strong game and between him and Jaden McDaniels there were several times when the Wolves’ length presented a problem for Boston. McDaniels did a great job of recovering off of helping in a pick-n-roll and swatted away a lob attempt. And at one point Reid, similarly, blocked an Anfernee Simons mid-range jumper, then coolly collected the ball right off of his block, almost all in one-fell swoop.
Then not too much later I looked up and we were up 110-100 with just about three minutes remaining. Finally, the three game losing streak was over and the Wolves had beaten a team with a winning record for the first time this season, right? Right? Seriously, we’re going to hang onto this one . . . don’t play with me.
Then Jaylen Brown took the ball away from Divencenzo at half court and found his way to the rim to make it 110-102. A few beats later Derrick White would hit a deep three to pull Boston back within three, 110-107. . . then Jaylen Brown pulled up for a three ——without passing the ball at all or setting up any offense —— and as his shot splashed the bottom of the net, Minnesota 110 - Boston 110, everyone in the building had to be wondering: is this really happening, again?
A few beats later, the camera panned to a young fan in Wolves gear who decided to do Chris Finch’s job and started calling for a timeout. Yet to the Wolves credit, no timeout was called and they simply kept running their offense; so the next time down the court: Edwards found Randle at the top of the key and Randle drove into the paint until the defense collapsed around him, so he found Conley in the left corner for a three: swish - and all at once the crowd breathed a deep sigh of relief. The Wolves were up three with just over a minute to go.
Two free throws from Derrick White (off of a missed three pointer when he was fouled then went 2-3 from the line), plus a bucket from Minnesota put the Wolves up 115-112. Then with the ball and 20 seconds left on the game clock, Edwards was squared up against White at the top of the three point arch and probably everyone in the building knew what Edwards wanted: the step back three to put the game on ice. And for a second it looked like there was no way that was happening - at all —- because Ant’s dribble ricocheted off of White’s foot and sprayed across the Target Center hardwood. Yet almost as quickly as Edwards lost the ball he found it again and a half-beat later, he shot a three up over White . . . Here’s Alan Horton on the call:
“Randle down to Edwards, shot clock down to 5 . . . Ant lost it, got it back, he’s got to hoist it . . . and hits!” — Petersen: “Wow!” Horton: “How about that, from Ant?”
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Current Record 11-8
Western Conference Standings: 7th - 7.5 GB 1st Place (OKC)
Up Next: 11/30 — San Antonio at the Target Center
MINNESOTA @ OKLAHOMA CITY - 11/26/25
After dropping two games in a row by collapsing in the final two minutes (or less) —the first time on the road in Phoenix this past Friday night, and then again at Sacramento two nights ago - this game against the Thunder was supposed to be a get-right game.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, the defending champs carrying a 17-1 record so far this season, is the last team you’d want to face while staring down the barrel of a three game losing streak (the team’s first of the season), and also facing elimination from the NBA Cup. But alas — when you allow the Suns to score 8 points in just over a minute in the 4th quarter —–– this is what the basketball gods draw up for you next NBA cup game.
Going into the game, the Thunder’s leading scorer and last season’s league MVP (and Finals MVP), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was on the injury report with an illness, but whatever “illness” he may have been battling all day was a non-factor. Gilgeous-Alexander poured in a quiet forty points over 37 minutes and although the Timberwolves hung tight and stayed pretty close to Oklahoma City’s hip all-night, their best effort just wasn’t quite enough.
With that said, the final count —— Oklahoma City 113 - Minnesota 105 doesn’t really express just how close this one was. In fact, with just over five minutes remaining the Wolves took a 94-93 lea off of a Naz Reid three from the left corner.
Granted, about fifteen seconds later Isaiah Hartenstein found an alley oop dunk off of a pick-n-roll to put the Thunder up again, but even then, the Timberwolves kept fighting.
Not to be outshined by Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards tallied 31 and hit several big shots in the fourth quarter to keep Minnesota close. His gutsy drives to the hoop and a spot-up three from Divencenzo helped tie the game at 101-101 with just over three minutes remaining, giving the Oklahoma City crowd something they haven’t seen at all since the first two games of their season: a clutch-time contest.
Here, I’d love to write that Minnesota started playing clamp down defense and taking really, really good care of the ball and that it was obvious that they learned their lessons from giving away the last two games in the closing minutes, but unfortunately, that’s not quite what happened.
After knotting the score up at 101, one possession ended with SGA picking Divencenzo’s pocket and then finding a lay-up in transition. But even then! Edwards still stepped up and hit another unconscious three from the left arch to pull Minnesota within one again (104-105), with just over a minute remaining. And for those next 20-30 seconds, Wolves nation was pretty sure that we just might be able to steal this one and get our season fully back on track by beating the best team in the league, on their home floor.
Alas, it just wasn’t to be: the next possession Chet Holmgren hit a three (only his second of the game) over a Rudy Gobert contest, to put Oklahoma City up 108-104, and from there, the Thunder never looked back again.
A few more notes:
Julius Randle struggled with his shot all night, and this looked like a continuation of how he struggled in last season’s Western Conference Finals match-up against the Thunder. Maybe it’s facing Hartenstein and Holmgren at rim + being face-guarded by Lu Dort that makes it more difficult for Randle to play his customary bully-ball on the low-block, but winning with him limited to ten points on 2-13 shooting (and 2-7 from 3) is going to be tough.
TJ Shannon Jr. played his best game of the season, by far. After missing nine games with a left foot bone bruise, Monday night’s game against the Kings was the second year forward’s first game back; so tonight, he looked to have found his form again. Shannon attacked the rim with very little hesitation on numerous occasions and poured in three - three pointers. Actually, he did not miss a shot all night, going 7-7 from within the arc and 3-3 from beyond the arc.
Free throws: As a team, the Wolves shot 22-37 (59%!) from the free throw line. Fifteen points is a lot to leave off of the board here, and even turning half of those misses into makes would have made a significant difference tonight.
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Current Record: 10-8
Western Conference Standing: 7th and 7.5 GB 1st Place (OKC)
Next Up: Boston at The Target Center, Saturday, 11/29
Timberwolves 112 - Nuggets 123 - 11/15/25
The Timberwolves hosted the Denver Nuggets this past Saturday night, 11/15, looking for revenge from the loss at home back on October 27 (Denver 127 — Minnesota 114).
Granted, that night the Timberwolves were missing Anthony Edwards, but a loss at home to a division rival never feels good — especially the Nuggets.
For the record — and I am also writing this to help myself learn and remember — the Timberwolves are part of a five-team division known as the Northwest, which includes the Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers, and Utah Jazz.
Last Saturday night’s game featured the Wolves wearing their City Edition uniforms for the first time: inspired by Prince, the Minneapolis-born and raised legendary artist, so Saturday night was a “Let’s Go Crazy” affair.
Minnesota fell behind early and about halfway through the first quarter was down by ten, but clawed back to actually take the lead before the first quarter was over, 30–29.
There’s definitely a different energy you can feel from the crowd on Saturday and Friday night games compared to games that are on a school night.
Naz Reid had his breakout performance in the first half of the game, hitting several three-pointers and tallying 18 points in the first half, including the go-ahead three at the end of the first quarter, putting the Wolves up 30–29. The call by Michael Grady went something like this:
“Edwards . . . driving . . . kickout . . . Reid ——— three ball, corner pocket!”
Also notable color from Grady (from the second quarter on a Naz Reid three) . . . “Up ahead to Reid, Reid step back, three . . . PURPLE RAIN!!!” — how could you not love that nod to the Prince City Edition Let’s Go Crazy–themed uniforms and night?
Tom Crean was on the call again in the second quarter, and I’m still indifferent on his analysis overlapping with Jim Petersen’s analysis, but at least it’s only one quarter. Again, nothing against Crean, but let the game be the game and let the two voices (Petersen and Grady) have full reign on calling it the entire time.
The game was close until the fourth quarter, when the Nuggets kicked it into a different gear, and the Wolves simply could not keep pace.
Perhaps, though, there’s an asterisk here because Anthony Edwards had a shooting anomaly, going 1–9 on three-pointers throughout the game. Two or three (or four) of those turning into makes would have had a significant impact on the game’s momentum and flow during the fourth, but alas, you only get points for the shots you make.
The final count was Denver 123, Minnesota 112.
Timberwolves 124 - Kings 110 - 11/14/25
The Timberwolves played the Sacramento Kings for the second time in five days, and the results were pretty much the same: the Wolves won 124–110.
The stage was different, as the Wolves hosted rather than playing in Sacramento, and the floor was seafoam green for the second game of the Emirates NBA Cup.
The Wolves rolled out the same starting five of Edwards and DiVincenzo at guard, with McDaniels, Randle, and Gobert holding it down in the frontcourt.
Halfway through the first quarter, the Wolves were up by nine and kept rolling for most of the first half. The Wolves broadcast included more commentary and analysis from Tom Crean (who looks at least a little bit like Dan Aykroyd), the college basketball coach who took Marquette’s Dwyane Wade team to the Final Four in 2003 and who coached Anthony Edwards during Edwards’ one year at Georgia.
Although Crean added a new basketball voice with a clear wealth of knowledge, having him, Jim Petersen, and Michael Grady all on the mic during the game throughout the second quarter felt like a lot — an overkill on analysis. And as Crean was reflecting more on his college basketball experience with Ant and Dwyane Wade and his time as coach at Indiana University (2008–2017), I just felt distracted and unnecessarily pulled away from the action that was happening on the court in real time.
It was a relief that the commentary was only there for the second quarter. Not a knock on him, but more so a knock on having all three voices on air at the same time during the game.
The Kings, meanwhile, did put up a bit more of a fight this time out than they did at home on November 9th, as the Kings were actually up by five (76–71) with just over eight minutes left in the third.
One missing piece from the Wolves rotation that is becoming more and more apparent with each game is T.J. Shannon Jr. Shannon has something going on with his left foot and hasn’t played in over a week.
The University of Illinois standout (who had his jersey recently retired — they hung the banner up upside down) has a real ability to drive and get to the basket and either finish over or around rim protectors, or find teammates for open and easy looks.
Sometimes when the Wolves offense stalls out, I think about Shannon and his ability to provide a spark offensively and wonder how much the Wolves miss having him on the court.
All reports suggest that the left foot injury isn’t too serious and that he won’t miss much more significant time. My fingers are thoroughly crossed here.
Rob Dillingham is playing with more confidence. Although he’s a long way from achieving floor general status, it’s easy to tell that he’s feeling more comfortable in the flow of running the offense and is seeing and finding his teammates for easy looks more often during the time he’s getting on the court. A nice cut from Jaylen Clark made one assist easy for Dillingham Friday night.
It seems like the difference between teams that can go deep into the playoffs versus teams that might not make the playoffs isn’t always that clear.
Often what I’ve noticed is that these games come down to the end of the third quarter or the beginning of the fourth quarter. Things are relatively close, but then the better team will kick into a different gear and leave its opponent in the dust.
This was the case on Friday night, when the Kings were hanging around one second, and then following a barrage of drives and three-pointers by the Wolves (one notably from DiVincenzo from way downtown), the score was 119–100 and the Wolves were running away with it with less than two minutes remaining on the clock.
Current Record: 8–5 (I’m running one game behind, following up with Saturday’s recap from the Nuggets game)
Western Conference Standings: 6th in the West — 4.5 games behind Oklahoma City
Minnesota 120 – Utah 113 - 11/10/25
This was a Monday night game, and the highlight for the Jazz came with about thirty seconds left when their rookie, Ace Bailey — the 5th pick out of Rutgers — made it to the baseline, took off from the side hash of the free-throw line, flew under the rim, then dunked it in for two. At that point the Jazz had cut Minnesota’s lead down to seven, and for a small moment in time it looked like Utah might actually threaten and steal one out of the Wolves’ pocket — but that’s just not what went down.
The Wolves escaped and made their way into and out of Salt Lake City for a quick trip and a win before settling into three days off (Tues, Wed, Thu) ahead of tonight’s NBA Cup game at home against the Kings.
What happened Monday night? The Jazz came out with a lot more fight than they did during their 40-point drubbing just two days before in Minnesota, and they carried that fight and momentum throughout the first half, which netted a 55–53 lead over Minnesota at halftime.
A few images from the game:
The game started with a Rudy Gobert driving dunk off an assist from Julius Randle to even the count at 2–2.
The Wolves wore their 2000s all-black tree uniforms for the first time on the road this season and looked fierce.
Jaden McDaniels had another Slim Slam in the fourth quarter, driving along the baseline before elevating for a one-hand tomahawk jam that brought his teammates off the bench and out of their seats.
Mike Conley pulled up from his favorite spot on the right arc from the three-point line and cashed a three (I think he’s shooting 12–19 from three so far this season, so he’s making them at a pretty good clip!).
Edwards had two driving dunks straight down the lane.
Nothing of note from Rob Dillingham or Bones Hyland that I can recall or remember from the highlights.
After trailing by two points going into halftime, the Wolves stormed out to an 11–0 run to start the third quarter, which pretty much put the game out of reach.
Their lead climbed as high as 22 before the Jazz clawed their way back to within seven with just over thirty seconds to play.
It felt good to know and see that the Utah Jazz are still playing in the Delta Center — even after all these years, that iconic name still remains, which brings to mind those two epic Finals series between the Bulls and the Jazz from June 1997 and 1998.
What else?
Eighty-two games is a lot of games, so not every game is going to have something deeply significant to write about or think about. I’m starting to feel and see how the grind of an NBA season produces nights where the idea isn’t to completely go all out with effort and intensity, but to do enough to make sure that when a statement needs to be made and the game needs to be put away, the team has enough of a plan and strategy to do that — and enough talent to actually step in when needed.
It appears this is what happened at the start of the third quarter, when the Wolves went on their 11–0 run. Mentally, the Jazz were patting themselves on the back a bit for having hit back after getting trounced a couple of nights before and were feeling like they could hang. Yet in the other locker room, the Wolves knew: hey, this is still our game if we take care of business in this second half — which is exactly what they did.
Kevin Love is on the Jazz (I didn’t know that before this past Friday night when he was back at the Target Center). He’s been in the league for 18 years — about as long as Mike Conley.
Rudy Gobert played his entire career in Utah before coming over to Minnesota a few seasons ago, so he was back in the building and playing in front of a crowd that knows his game well.
Conley spent a number of seasons in Utah as well, and Jim Petersen (on the call) noted how many people on Utah’s arena staff greeted Mike and how he made an impression on the fan base during his time there.
Joe Ingles, of course, was on the Jazz for a long time, too.
The Jazz’s uniforms had that familiar mountain aesthetic, and they brought back the purple and light blue colors they donned throughout those late-’90s playoff runs and Finals series with the likes of Stockton, Malone, Antoine Carr, Greg Ostertag, Howard Eisley, and Byron Russell. Obviously, I have not watched the Jazz play in a very, very long time.
Current Record: 7–4
Up Next: The Kings visit the Target Center for the second game of the Wolves’ NBA Cup schedule on Friday night.
Timberwolves 144 – Kings 117 - 11/9/25
The Kings showed very little resistance to getting run off their home floor on Sunday night, the first night of a back-to-back, two-game road trip for the Wolves.
Rudy Gobert kicked things off with a block on a Domantas Sabonis set shot from the left elbow, just inside the three-point arc. Gobert, showing more agility and nimbleness than expected, collected the ball off his own block, then proceeded to dribble the length of the court to lay it in for a quick two. Minnesota 2, Sacramento 0.
One sequence later, DeMar DeRozan rose up for a three-point shot and hit it just before landing on Julius Randle’s foot, which drew not just a four-point play but also a flagrant reckless closeout call on Randle. DeRozan hit the free throw and the Kings got the ball side-out, but then turned it right back over to the Wolves.
For a little while it looked like the Kings (3–7) would put up a fight, and through the first quarter they stayed close, trailing by six (31–25) after twelve.
Anthony Edwards didn’t have a bucket at all and shot 0–5 in the first quarter, but just as Mark Jones (who was calling the game for the Kings) commented that Edwards was having a very quiet night offensively, Ant cashed a three from the left elbow, putting the Wolves up 52–45. Then, on the very next possession, he hit a straight-on pull-up three that also drew a foul, allowing the Wolves to add to the lead: 55–45, then after the made free throw, 56–45.
And after that, it really was never close.
Watching the Timberwolves broadcast last night and then going back and watching the highlights as told by the Kings broadcast was a treat. Notably, Alan Horton (who geeks out on stats) noted that Russell Westbrook has the worst three-point shooting percentage in the history of the NBA for any player who has attempted more than 2,500 three-pointers.
Horton explained this just after Westbrook hit his first three attempt, then missed his next three or four in a row. Simultaneously, on the Kings broadcast, Jones observed that Westbrook had been shooting the three ball really well of late and encouraged him to keep shooting from deep.
Minnesota looked like a very deep team last night. Jaden McDaniels seemed to score at will in transition and ended with 21. Julius Randle played an efficient 26 minutes and added 19 of his own (along with four assists and six rebounds), and Gobert met his season high so far with 19.
Listening to Mark Jones’ commentary did help me collect a few more basketball terms:
The Hostage Dribble (in reference to Edwards at one point) — this is when a player has his forearm extended with the off-ball arm to keep a defender away from the ball as he dribbles with the other arm. The action has the look of someone being held “hostage” with the off arm while the player focuses on dribbling with the other hand.
DHO Action — this stands for Dribble Hand-Off Action, which you’ll see a lot at the top of the three-point arc, when an offensive-minded player (usually a strong shooter) comes off a screen set by a big (a 5 or a 4), who’ll dribble for only a few feet, then set up shop and hand off the ball to his teammate, who’s already in motion. This is effective for allowing the 1 or 2 to either find open space for a three or to have downhill momentum for attacking the rim or driving the lane and finding an open teammate for a kick-out.
The Kings, it very much looks like, are going to have a very long season.
The Wolves are on the road again tonight against a Utah team that will be looking for revenge after the shellacking they were handed this past Friday night.
Current Record: 6–4
Standings: 6th in the Western Conference — 3.5 games back.
Minnesota Timberwolves 137 - Utah Jazz 97 - 11/7/25
I have not decided to what extent these posts will be PG or not, but as I think about the Timberwolves game against the Utah Jazz this past Friday night, all I can say is that the Wolves bitch-slapped the Jazz.
The final count was 137–97, but it was never, ever close. Right off the first tip, Jaden McDaniels ended up with the ball in open space in the frontcourt and threw down a dunk to make the count Minnesota 2 and Utah 0. Then things just got worse — and kept getting worse — for Utah.
The Wolves poured in 43 points in the first quarter and set a franchise record for largest lead at halftime when they were up 34 by a count of 79–45. Anthony Edwards had 37 points in a short but efficient and effective 26 minutes. And Julius Randle nearly had a triple-double in the first half, falling just one rebound short.
The Jazz were coming off four games on the road, with stops in Phoenix, Charlotte, Boston, and Detroit, so one more night in Minnesota must have felt like a lot (they went 1–3 over the trip, beating only Boston). The Wolves, on the other hand, were home for the first time in a little over a week. The difference in intensity and commitment was obvious.
Really, Utah could have started sitting its starters after the first quarter — they looked that beat. Jim Petersen was on the call for the Wolves and was partnering with Alan Horton for the play-by-play. Michael Grady was missed, but he’s calling more national coverage games now, so won’t be available as often. Would have loved to hear a “That’s a SLIM SLAM!!” from Grady after McDaniels’ opening-game dunk, but alas, there’ll be more as the year presses on.
The floor was a striking — and questionable — seafoam green to reflect the first game of the NBA Cup. But despite the off color, everything for the Wolves on Friday night just clicked. It reminded me of the Wolves’ playoff game against the Thunder in Game 3 this past spring during the Western Conference Finals, when, down 0–2, they responded in emphatic fashion for their first game at home, knocking off the Thunder 124–94.
When they put it all on the line and leave everything out there, they’re pretty hard to beat and can demolish even the league’s best teams. But the question remains how to bring effort like that every single night over the span of an 82-game season. That level of intensity and work probably isn’t sustainable for every. single. game. But maybe rather than dropping down to 75% (or less), they can more often hold around an 85% or 90% rate.
The second half was a wash, and the Jazz never really threatened (I don’t think they ever cut the lead to less than 20). Given that one of the tiebreakers in NBA Cup games is point differential, and given that each player on the winning team (for the Cup) takes home a half-million dollars, Minnesota kept its foot on the gas all the way through.
The rookie Joan Beringer had three dunks, and one was off a nice dish from the veteran and crowd favorite Joe Ingles, who saw his longest run of the year so far in mop-up time.
Tonight we’re on the road again against Sacramento.
Current Record: 5–4
WC Standings: 6th (3 games behind)
Minnesota Timberwolves 125 v. Brooklyn Nets 109 - 11/03/25
This is a season late, but it has to be said:
Karl-Anthony Towns, who?
The former Timberwolves big man, who got traded to the New York Knicks before the start of last season, is easy to forget when the two players the Wolves received in return for the trade — Donte DiVincenzo and Julius Randle — keep playing the way they did this past Monday night.
The Minnesota Timberwolves moved to 4–3 by knocking off the winless Brooklyn Nets (now 0–7) by a count of 125–109.
The Nets did their best to hang in the game, as even late into the third quarter they were only down three. But once the fourth quarter arrived, the wheels fell off and Minnesota seized control, pulled away, and never looked back.
The aforementioned DiVincenzo was sizzling from three-point range (46%) and tallied 25 points total. But I swear: every time he had even a small window to shoot it from range, it seemed like he let it fly. And although his percentage on the night was 46%, every time he shot one it felt like it was already through the bottom of the net. This was especially true in the fourth quarter — when he hit several back-breaking threes — which was quite similar to his performance in Charlotte this past Saturday night. The only difference? Tonight he was donning a mask, having joined the broken-nose club with his fellow backcourt mate, Rob Dillingham.
And his former teammate and still current teammate, Julius Randle, had a night to remember, too. The eleven-year vet out of Kentucky played well, pouring in 19 points, shooting 50% from the field, grabbing 11 rebounds, and dishing out ten assists for his first triple-double of the season and the 15th of his career.
Operating out of the post, he showed an array of moves to either get to the hoop or shoot fadeaways at a high rate. And when he wasn’t shooting or driving, but instead responding to a double team, with a lot of calm and coolness he’d find the open man.
Anthony Edwards is still out, but will be back tonight against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden — his first game since October 26th.
Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid had solid outings, and equally of note, Rudy Gobert continued his aggressive play and showed more comfort attacking the rim and using his size to create dunks on his own, as well as throwing down alley-oops from his point guards. I think Dillingham and Conley each threw at least one “oop” to Big Ru.
Jaden McDaniels got the pre-halftime interview again.
And although it has been about two years since I left New York, even seeing the inside of Barclays Arena on TV very much reminded me of the year I lived in Park Slope, less than a mile away from the arena — just across 5th Avenue in BK.
This game was part of NBC’s NBA Mondays coverage. Ian Eagle called the play-by-play, and the “from the bench” reporting by Austin Rivers (for the Timberwolves) and Robbie Hummel (for the Brooklyn Nets) offered solid insight without being too intrusive to the game’s overall flow. Though it was odd, I think, having four voices cover the game (color, play-by-play, plus two sideline reporters).
Julius Randle was on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon!
Tonight we’re at it again — a spectacle in front of the Garden crowd as Anthony Edwards returns.
Current Record: 4–3
Current Standing: 7th in the West (3.5 games behind)
MINNESOTA 122 - CHARLOTTE 105 - 11/1/25
The Timberwolves beat the Charlotte Hornets 122 - 105 on Saturday night in Charlotte, the night before the clock's fall back by an hour, marking the end of Daylight's Savings Time.
The feel of the game reminded me of those Saturdays in the gym from childhood, where it feels like there will be all of the time in the world to just be a kid, and relax, and play. The first half was probably closer than it needed to be, given that the Wolves clearly have a deeper and more talented roster than the Hornets, who did not even make the play-in tournament in the east last year.
With that said, the closeness of the game was a reminder that no team in the NBA is ever a completely "easy" game or "guaranteed" victory. No matter the disparity between the talent levels, or how heavy of a favorite one team might be, you still have to go out there -- run your plays and sets, get your shots up, make those shots, and then extend the effort defensively to keep the other team from doing whatever it is that they want to do offensively.
Rudy Gobert played his best game of the season, showing more purpose and aggression on the offensive end, including three or four dunks and one emphatic block on the defensive end.
Rob Dillingham saw his most meaningful minutes of the season, as he returned to his hometown and played in front of at least 15 members of his immediate and extended family, who were in Spectrum Arena to see him play. Minneapolis, of course, is quite aways away from Charlotte.
Dillingham played with more composure and confidence than his prior outings so far this season. And about halfway through the third quarter (when the game was still close), he showed off a a dazzling high-arching hook-shot-esque layup that narrowly sailed over the Hornets 7'1" rookie Center, Ryan Kalkbrenner's fingertips, before banking high off of the glass and into the net.
Not that much later, and off of a Hornets turnover, Jaden McDaniels found Naz Reid for a alley-oop dunk in which Reid gave the crowd (and his teammates) a 360 spin before slamming the ball home. This brought the Wolves bench off of their seats -- and Reid couldn't help but smile a little bit as he started running back on defense.
Donte Divencenzo probably broke (or at least almost broke) his nose in the first half, but still came back into the game and hit a barrage of dagger threes (mostly from the right elbow) as the Wolves kept building their lead.
The count over the third quarter was Wolves 36 to the Hornets 18, which is definitely a promising trend --- start out fast out of the gate after half-time. Perhaps that's easier against a team like the Hornets than a more formidable foe, but the practice and the mechanics of locking in, staying focused, and deciding to play with intensity and effort to start the second half always remain the same.
Jaylen Clark was back for the first time in three games and looked really good defensively. His on-ball defense and pressure, and ability to break screens made a noticeable difference, causing the Hornets ball-handlers (like Tre Mann, and LaMelo Ball) to drive into the lane but lose the handle often, leading to fast break runouts and transition buckets for the Wolves.
Clark's game is difficult not to like. He's the classic dirty work, roll up the sleeves and get the work done -- type of player that any championship contender needs.
Seeing the camaraderie between the players on the bench and the five players on the court as the fourth quarter kept winding down was enjoyable. After a three game home stand, in which we lost to the Lakers and also lost to the Nuggets, the trip to Charlotte and the pull away victory likely had the feel of a team retreat --- a chance to go on the road and bond with your brothers -- and they did.
The news from today is also that Anthony Edwards can start practicing again. No timetable is set just yet on when he'll be back, but it shouldn't be too much longer.
The road trip continues tonight as the Wolves take on the 0-6 Brooklyn Nets. No wins are guaranteed, of course, but this is a game that the Wolves should get.
Current Record: 3 Wins - 3 Losses.
MINNESOTA 115 - LOS ANGELES LAKERS 116 - 10/29/25
It's Saturday night and the Wolves are at Charlotte Playing the Hornets. I have only watched the first six minutes of the first quarter and am behind on the coverage. I paused the coverage because I don't want to fall more than a game behind on these summaries.
The Lakers visited the Target Center this past Wednesday night and spoiler alert the Lakers won 116-115. The game will be rememberd for Austin Reeves buzzer beater floater that put the Lakers up one to close out the game, and not for Julius Randle's drive to the hoop and runner in the lane that allowed the Wolves to take the lead (for the first time, I think for the entire second half) with less than five seconds left on the clock.
The Wolves were down by twenty halfway through the third quarter and the Target Center was so quiet that a random fan could yell out "Who is number 12?" (referring to Laker's forward Jake Laravia) and his voice could be loud enough to be caught by the TV cameras --- to which Anthony Edwards from the bench (still out with right hamstring tightness) could respond -- "That's what I'm saying, I don't know!"
Laravia caught the fan's (and the Wolves') attention because he was pouring in buckets, tallying 27 points in all and hitting a number of dagger threes to help the Lakers keep building their third quarter lead and sucking the life out of the Target Center crowed in the process.
Things looked and sounded bleak, in part, because the Wolves fan base (myself included) have real hopes for what this season might bring. And being blown out at home to a Lakers team that's not playing Lebron James or Luka Doncic didn't feel in line with a team that's capapble of winning a championship this season, even if Anthony Edwards was out as well.
But that's the thing about basketball, momentum is real and things can change on a dime. Here' s how things began to turn for the Wolves on Wednesday night: Bones Hyland.
Hyland, the point gaurd who the Wolves just signed in March came into the game with an agenda: don't be afraid to fail and "guns blazin'" mode engaged. He hit two threes back-to-back and a twenty point lead went down to fourteen and drove in for a two --- which, although it got called back due to an offensive foul that he committed against the Lakers back-up center, Jackson Hayes, the momentum in the building had already started to shift, so heading into the fourth quarter the Wolves comeback was already under way.
As their defense got more intense the transition buckets came more easy. And the shot that I'll remember the most from that Wednesday night game was when off of a face break, I think Dante Divencenzo was bringing the ball up the floor, with pace, and Jaden McDaniels was wide open for a left elbow three and simultaneously as the ball was traveling through the air and into McDaniels' hands I said to myself "Shoot that J" and not even two seconds later the ball was at the bottom of the net and the Wolves were down by just two.
Even after Randle hit the go ahead floater with just five seconds left, the way that the Lakers had been finding buckets all night did not allow me to rest easy. The game felt far from over.
So when Austin Reeves got the ball at the top of the key and Rudy Gobert came out on the switch, then Reeves dribbled right past him and found himself with plenty of space to shoot a floater right around the free-throw line, jeez, it became clear --- we were cooked. Swish -- then the Lakers started celebrating as though they had just won a playoff series.
The budding rivalry between these two teams feels very real, with the Laker seeking real revenge for the shellacking that the Wolves put on them in the playoffs last season, winning the opening round 4-1 --- despite the Lakers having home court advantage.
How soon, we all are wondering, until Anthony Edwards is back? The offense lacks a steady rhythm and flow without Edwards, who has a way of generating his own shot with ease and thereby taking a lot of pressure off of his teammates to find ways to create buckets.
Perhaps these games without him will serve as a chance for the Wolves to play with more pace --- rather than waiting for defenses to set and then lock down into getting consistent stops --- we can just advance the ball up the floor with a greater sense of speed and urgency.
As a fan I'm learning as we go. Tonight let's plan for a win on the road against Charlotte.
MINNESOTA 114 - DENVER 127 - 10/27/25
Monday night, 10/27, was the Wolves second game at the Target Center this season and fourth game overall. They were coming off of a narrow win over the Indiana Pacers and although there was a good amount of excitement in the building as the new season continued to unfold, there was also a noticeable absence and a feeling of loss. Earlier in the day the team announced that Anthony Edwards would miss one to two weeks with "right hamstring tightness" and would not be out there for that night's game --- against the Nuggets.
The Wolves have consistently dominated the Denver Nuggets over the last couple of seasons, including a playoff run and an epic comeback in game Seven of the Western Conference Semi-finals back in 2024. When, despite being down by more than twenty points in the fourth quarter, the Wolves still stormed back against the (then) defending NBA Champions to steal game 7. Ever since then, it's been all Wolves.
And although the Nuggets got off to a hot start ---- going up 10 or twelve right out the gate --- which left me wondering why Finch had not called a timeout yet, as more time ticked off the first quarter clock, it became clear why a timeout was not needed: the Wolves kept chipping away at the Nuggets' lead and slowly and then all at once the game was square, or almost square all over again.
Who was carrying the offensive load with Ant Man on the sideline? Unlike Sunday night's win over the Pacers, where Julius Randle carried much of the scoring load after Ant came out of the game, this was more of a collective effort, but Jaden McDaniels did make his presence more known than he otherwise might have.
Often he attacked the rim, dunking once and offering an array of stellar footwork and timing in order to create opportunities for easy layups. And one time specifically, he hit em (I think it was even the MVP Jokic defending) with the pattented Anthony Edward decel move before the layup.
McDaniels' presence as a scorer was so noticeable that he was the Wolves player who the telecast decided to interview before the teams went into the locker room at half-time.
Who was on the call? Michael Grady and Grant Hill, who worked well together. Grady got to work within a sweet two-for-one scenario: as a Wolves local broadcaster, he got to call a game in his home arena; however, the game was a national broadcast affair, with the NBA on NBC showing off its' Monday Night Basketball feature for the first time this season. (honestly I almost forgot that there was a MNF game --- Chiefs v. the Commanders --- I did not click over).
The second half started off strong, with the Wolves holding a lead most of the way and looking surprisingly strong despite missing Edwards. As I was watching there was a good ten to twenty minutes where the energy and feel of the atmosphere in the arena met me through the screen and it seemed pretty clear that the Wolves probably could hang on to win this one.
Then. Jamal. Murray. Happened.
He wouldn't miss. Not from three, not from inside the arch, not from driving through the lane and laying in an easy two.
He might be the most underrated point guard in the league. It's easy to overlook how much he bings to this team mostly because Jokic's passing and facilitating abilities make him (Jokic') especially unique big who plays a lot like a point guard, but Murray knows exactly how to pour in buckets when needed. He hit plenty of those dagger threes that feel like death by a thousand cuts as the Wolves tried, and tried, and TRIED to claw their way back in the game.
I think the score was 103 Denver - 100 Minnesota when TJ Shannon threw a lazy cross-court pass at the top of the arch that Tim Hardaway JR intercepted and then brought in for two over Mike Conley. That play was a back-breaker and the Wolves could not regain the thread after then.
The final score was 127-114. We're at home again tonight, 10/29 --- with a rematch against the Lakers. No Luka, no Edwards.
MINNESOTA 110 - LOS ANGELES LAKERS 128 - 10/24/25
It's a lot easier to write about the Timberwolves games after a win versus a loss. It is Sunday morning and the Wolves played Friday night and I am just now writing this recap. They played the Lakers at L.A. They lost 128-110. They looked good for two quarters with Anthony Edwards keeping pace with Luka Doncic's scoring flurry - Doncic finished with 49 - .
It was a late start out here on the East Coast, with coverage beginning at 10:00pm and tip off not taking place until about twenty minutes after. The coverage was brand new to me. Kevin Harlan is iconic as a broadcaster, but his colleagues that night, Dwayne Wade and Candice Parker, were largely unproven as broadcasters --- especially Wade, who - I believe - was calling his very first NBA game.
During the pre-game, Harlan referred to Wade and Parker as NBA and WNBA royalty, which I think is fair and was good to see him acknowledge and celebrate what Wade and Parker have both brought to the game of basketball. But with all of that said, tonight's challenge would be different: to add color commentary that's intriguing, engaging, and meaningful alongside Harlan's dynamic and emotionally compelling play-by-play. And to do so amongst the shadow of all of the TNT epic games and calls from Harlan and Reggie Miller's time together.
I could feel the lack of experience and bit of nervousness in Wade's voice from the game's very beginning. Right after the first place, he offered instant analysis - I think it was something about Donte Divencenzo -- but I don't want to go back and watch to do this research --- that felt rushed and undercooked.
But then as the game went on, I started to appreciate and enjoy hearing Wade call the game in real time from a player's perspective. - His tone was also more supportive and humours -- as opposed to the consistently critical and dismissive tone of Richard Jefferson's work as a commentator --- just saying - For example, as an elite defender throughout his playing career, Wade knew that Luka loves to pump fake in order to get his defenders in the air and then draw a foul. So at one point when Jaden McDaniels was guarding Luka, Dwayne was on the call and literally said, "Stay down" right before Luka pumped and drew the foul on Jaden as he jumped in the air in order to block a shot that would never come. Best of luck to you in this new role, Dwayne Wade.
And the game?
The Wolves came out flat in the third quarter and Luka was on a mission and just kept pouring in buckets. The Wolves know that they'll need to be better defensively, but the season is long and kinks can be worked out over time. A seven point lead for LA. grew to 10 or 12 then hit 15 or 18 and the game almost in a few blinks just got out of reach and we pulled our starters.
The rookie from France, Joan Beringer -- sounds like Yohan Ber-in-Jay got his first minutes. Beinger is a converted soccer player who just started playing basketball only four or five years ago -- which included an alley-oop dunk in transition, his first NBA points. Reserves Leonard Miller and Johnny Juzang also saw time.
Of note, when the game was still barely within reach, Finch did play Rob Dillingham, but not even two or three sequences later, the sophomore PG - who has a lot at stake this year as he competes for minutes and attempts to fill the void that will be left once Mike Conley retires - caught contact to his nose and face and started bleeding. So he had to go back to the locker room for treatment almost as soon as he entered the game.
We open up at home tonight against the Pacers at the Target Center.
MINNESOTA 118 - PORTLAND - 114 - 10/22/25
The Timberwolves opened up their 2025 season on the road, of all places in Portland. They won 118 to 114. Anthony Edwards had a spectacular night, 41 points plus ten points in the last four and a half minutes.
Michael Grady was on the play by play and Jim Petersen added the color commentary and when it was all over and done with everything felt right in the world. Well, that's not quite right. Enough felt like it could be right in the world. Rudy Gobert was relatively quiet, but had a key put back dunk late in the fourth after TJ Shannon missed an acrobatic layup.
Bones Hyland got significant third quarter minutes over Rob Dillingham (DNP Coaches' Decision). And the absence of a full time high level point guard showed --- especially with Mike Conley playing a very limited role (like 10-15 minutes) off of the bench. Donte Divencenzo got the start and Jaden McDaniels and TJ Shannon ended up bringing the ball up the court more than you'd expert or prefer.
The Trailblazers played with a lot of defensive energy and were helped along by their home crowd, but with that said -- the Timberwolves --- my team --- were not that careful with the ball and had a lot of unnecessary turnovers. How much of that was opening night jitters versus a lack of a starting caliber point guard is yet to be known, but tonight, the biggest thing to highlier is that we got the win -- which was never obvious or pre-determined, as the Wolves trailed almost the entire game. Their largest lead, in fact, was the four points that they won the game by, 118 - 114.
TJ Shannon looked good. And Jaylen Clark was very reliable with defense, steals, and some spot up three point shooting. Jaden McDaniels was a mixed bag but also had the highlight of the night with a tomahawk jam in the second quarter. Naz Reied looked solid --- as big jelly (a nickname given to him by Michael Grady), but maybe a little tentative at times. (He lost his sister tragically over the summer).
It was good to see them keep up the fight -- -clawing back to being down 2 or 3 then falling back by 7-10 several times,but always coming back and never, ever giving up. Friday night we play the Lakers.