Welcome to 2026 Canis Hoopus nation.
After a horrendous loss to the Atlanta Hawks on New Year’s Eve that brought into question where this team is heading, the Minnesota Timberwolves took on the Miami Heat on Saturday, looking to turn their season back in the right direction.
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Unlike many of their previous games, the Wolves got off to a good start. Minnesota started the game going up 19-9 with Rudy Gobert scoring the first six points of the game and Anthony Edwards putting in 11 during the run. It was a night-and-day difference in terms of both effort and intensity compared to the previous game in Atlanta.
The Wolves eventually gave that lead up, but instead of digging a deeper hole, they recovered to take a six-point lead heading into halftime.
A potential turning point came in the third quarter when Gobert picked up three quick fouls, putting him at four for the game, and forcing him to the bench for the remainder of the quarter. The Wolves have struggled defensively without Gobert on the court this season, but were able to win the final 7:29 of the third quarter by two points without Rudy as Naz Reid stepped up in his place.
Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch spoke postgame about how the Wolves were able to finish the third quarter strong without their defensive anchor.
“Julius and Naz were outstanding. Bones kind of picked up his aggressiveness there, too. Donte was flying around, got a bunch of steals. But yeah, I thought it was our decision-making was really quick.”
With Gobert back on the floor to start the fourth quarter, the Wolves put the hammer down. Rudy started the scoring with five quick points. Donte DiVicenzo and Bones Hyland scored the next six points, as they ended up leading the team in plus-minus with +24 and +16, respectively.
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Naz Reid also had five points during the run, including a beautiful and-1 drive after pump-faking out of a 3-pointer. After the dust settled, the Minnesota run totaled 19-4 to put themselves up by 19 points.
Discussing that play after the game, Naz Reid said, “I just shot like two threes and missed both of them. So just tried to switch it up and do something. My instincts caused me to do that and get to the basket and finish the and-1.”
The Wolves desperately needed a strong performance today on South Beach and got exactly that. Despite some late turnovers, the Timberwolves took down the Heat 125-115 for their first win of 2026. Anthony Edwards led the way with 33 points and five assists, with Julius Randle having a nice bounce-back game with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
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When speaking on the keys to the victory in the locker room after the game, Edwards said, “Most of the time we just don’t listen to the game plan, but when we listen to it and execute it, we’re pretty good.” When asked why that doesn’t happen more often, Edwards replied, “I don’t know. We’re hard-headed, we wanna make the game harder. But we listened tonight, and it worked.”
Randle spoke on the differences between the Wolves’ play in this game compared to their disappointing effort on Wednesday in Atlanta.“Just our energy, and it’s how we defended from the start. And that just kind of set the tone for the game.” Julius went on to speak about the Wolves’ success in the game against the Heat’s zone defense.
“They play a lot of zone. It just forced us to mold the ball and drive gaps. More of drive and kick and stuff like that. When they play like that, we gotta get more body movement and ball movement. I think everybody just naturally got in a rhythm.”
That increased energy showed up on the stat sheet as the Wolves’ defense limited the Heat transition opportunities almost the entire game, an impressive feat given that Miami’s offense leads the NBA in pace of play. It was a complete turnaround from the game in Atlanta, where the Hawks’ pace outclassed the Wolves’ defense. Finch spoke about how he felt his defense dealt with Miami’s high pace.
“Real good. The only time I thought it got a little bit loose was the beginning of the second [quarter]. They got out, and they ran. We lost their guys a couple times in transition. But for the most part, they had 10 fast break points according to this stat sheet, and we were able to kind of slow them down for most the most part.”
It’s just one game, but it’s the type of performance that can garner positivity about what the Timberwolves can do moving forward. It’s on them now to capitalize on that.
Up Next
The Timberwolves now head to the nation’s capital to complete their season-long four-game road trip against the Washington Wizards. The game tomorrow is the team’s first back-to-back since November 29-30. The game begins at 5:00 PM CT, airing on FanDuel Sports Network and NBA TV.
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