Minnesota Timberwolves at Milwaukee Bucks
Date: January 13th, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM CST
Location: Target Center
Television Coverage: FanDuel Sports Network – North
Radio Coverage: KFAN FM, Wolves App, iHeart Radio<\/p>\n
There are days when your favorite team gets smoked on its own floor by the Brooklyn Nets and you wonder why you even bother to care about professional sports. You start mentally Googling hobbies. Maybe pickleball? Maybe woodworking? And then there are days like yesterday, when your team erases a 19-point deficit against a major conference rival, stares down the most terrifying alien basketball experiment ever created, and announces itself as a real, breathing, title-contending organism.<\/p>\n
Yes, the comeback was exhilarating.
Yes, the Target Center sounded like a jet engine.
But the thing that truly mattered, the thing that told you this wasn\u2019t just another Wolves mood swing, was how Minnesota executed in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
They started the night looking rattled. Wembanyama\u2019s presence warped everything. Spacing felt wrong. Shot selection got weird. You could practically see the thought bubbles forming: Is that guy allowed to be that tall? The Wolves fell behind 0\u201316, and for a moment it felt like one of those nights where the crowd would get a chance to head home early and get some sleep before the work week.<\/p>\n
Then Wembanyama sat\u2026 and the Wolves woke up.<\/p>\n
By the end of the first quarter they had stabilized. By the fourth, with San Antonio clinging to a shrinking lead, the real test arrived: what happens when the monster returns? Would Minnesota fold like they have so many times before?<\/p>\n
Instead, Julius Randle unleashed the most violent stretch of bully ball this franchise has seen in years. He bodied Wembanyama. He bricked him up. He sent the league\u2019s most precious asset skidding across the hardwood like a baby giraffe discovering ice. And then, with the season\u2019s biggest possession hanging in the balance, Anthony Edwards delivered another signature moment \u2014 burying the shot that made it 104\u2013103, final.<\/p>\n
It was the most important win of Minnesota\u2019s season. A loss would\u2019ve meant two straight defeats, more distance from San Antonio in the two-seed race, and looming chaos with the Bucks, Rockets, and another Spurs matchup ahead. Instead, the Wolves stared down the moment and took it.<\/p>\n
Rudy Gobert picked up a flagrant on a hard closeout against Wembanyama and will now serve a one-game suspension in Milwaukee. Which means the Wolves, emotionally spent after a back-to-back weekend and the season\u2019s biggest win, now have to walk into Giannis Antetokounmpo\u2019s building without the foundation of their defense.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the NBA. No time to celebrate.
Every game counts the same.<\/p>\n
So now comes Milwaukee, and with it, the next exam.<\/p>\n
#1: Julius and Naz must replace the Gobert-shaped hole.
There\u2019s no sugarcoating this. Losing Rudy Gobert for this game is massive. When Rudy leaves the floor, the entire identity of Minnesota\u2019s defense changes. The rim becomes vulnerable, rebounding becomes a battle instead of a formality, and the Wolves no longer get to erase mistakes with a safety net behind them. That responsibility now lands on Julius Randle and Naz Reid. Randle just showed against Wembanyama what real physical, grown-man defense looks like, and he\u2019s going to need that same energy against Giannis. Naz has to control the glass, contest everything, and make Milwaukee feel his presence inside. This is also a moment for Chris Finch to seriously evaluate whether Joan Beringer is ready to step into real minutes. Without Rudy, every big body matters.<\/p>\n
#2: Keep the January edge.
Credit where it\u2019s due, this team has been completely different since January 1. The slow, lethargic, emotionally checked-out versions of December are gone. Even during that brutal 0\u201316 start against San Antonio, you couldn\u2019t fault the effort. The Wolves fought, they hustled, they just needed time to adjust to Wembanyama\u2019s generational length. That same edge has to carry into Milwaukee. Donte DiVincenzo has become a walking defibrillator for this team by sprinting, scrapping, and making the kind of plays that tilt games. That pace, that urgency, that refusal to let the opponent breathe has to stay locked in, even on tired legs.<\/p>\n
#3: Stay unselfish on offense.
The Wolves\u2019 best basketball lately hasn\u2019t been about hero shots. It\u2019s been about movement, spacing, and trust. Less iso. More ball movement. More guys touching the ball. More good shots instead of forced ones. With Gobert out, the defense will be stressed, so the offense cannot afford waste. Every possession matters. That means sharing the ball, attacking the defense instead of each other, and squeezing points out of smart reads instead of desperation.<\/p>\n
#4: Let Ant build the MVP case in real time.
Giannis is already a locked-in top-five player. Anthony Edwards is pounding on that door. He\u2019s delivered clutch shots, game winners, leadership, availability \u2014 the full franchise-star package. This is the halfway point of the season, and if Ant keeps playing the way he has in January, First Team All-NBA is there for the taking, and real MVP votes will follow. Against Giannis, on the road, without Gobert behind him, is where Ant proves he belongs in that tier. Attack the rim. Control the tempo. Create for others. Pick Milwaukee apart from deep. And raise his defensive intensity to cover the gap left by Rudy\u2019s suspension.<\/p>\n
This is Game 41, the official midpoint of the season, and like every Timberwolves year, it\u2019s been a ride. There have been brutal lows, thrilling highs, and now, finally, a stretch of basketball that feels like it\u2019s pointing somewhere real. Over the past six games, this team has shown growth, maturity, cohesion, and the early shape of a legitimate contender.<\/p>\n
The Spurs comeback opened the door.
Milwaukee decides whether the Wolves walk through it.<\/p>\n
They cannot afford to waste what they just earned. With Houston and another San Antonio showdown looming, this is the game that keeps the season on its tracks. This is the one they must take, Gobert or no Gobert.<\/p>\n
Now the Wolves have to anchor down, stay connected, and prove that Sunday wasn\u2019t just a moment, but the beginning of something bigger.<\/p>\n
Because if they leave Milwaukee with this one, they won\u2019t just be stacking wins.
They\u2019ll be building belief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minnesota Timberwolves at Milwaukee BucksDate: January 13th, 2026Time: 7:00 PM CSTLocation: Target CenterTelevision Coverage: FanDuel Sports Network –…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3775],"tags":[7,103,102,121,3871,6,64153],"class_list":{"0":"post-533158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-bucks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bucks","10":"tag-milwaukee","11":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","12":"tag-milwaukeebucks","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-timberwolves-game-discussion"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115885827952537200","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}