Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Golden State Warriors
Date: January 24th, 2026
Time: 4:30 PM CST
Location: Target Center
Television Coverage: ABC
Radio Coverage: Wolves App, iHeart Radio<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one thing to break your New Year\u2019s resolution when the calendar creeps into late January. That\u2019s normal. That\u2019s human. That\u2019s \u201cI\u2019ll start dieting again Monday\u201d culture. It\u2019s another thing to look that resolution dead in the eyes, and decide to binge eat your way through the Pizza Hut buffet like breadsticks are going out of style.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where the Minnesota Timberwolves are right now.<\/p>\n
Because whatever that early-January version of the Wolves was, the one that came out of the Nets\/Hawks embarrassment like a team that finally got tired of hearing its own excuses, it has vanished. Those Wolves played like they had a shared password to the same brain: intensity, ball pressure, rotating on a string, moving the ball, making the extra pass, making the extra effort, turning games into suffocation chambers. They were stacking wins and building actual credibility. It felt like a pivot point.<\/p>\n
And then the last week happened.<\/p>\n
Four straight losses. It has been a self-inflicted wound festival, the kind where you watch the tape afterward and it\u2019s just a highlight reel of bad decisions, like you\u2019re watching a horror movie and the teenager is walking into the basement again.<\/p>\n
You can almost memory-hole Houston and San Antonio if you\u2019re feeling generous. Houston was without Ant, San Antonio was without Rudy, and those are the exact two players who give the Wolves their identity on both ends. Missing your best offensive player and then your best defensive player in back-to-back games against elite West competition is a legitimate obstacle. Fine. The problem is those games were still there. Minnesota could\u2019ve stolen the Houston one if they had simply treated the free throw line like something that matters in professional basketball. And the Spurs game became a case study in \u201chow do you give up 48 points in a quarter and still convince yourself you\u2019re a serious team?\u201d<\/p>\n
But the real slide started when the injuries stopped being the headline and the effort became the story.<\/p>\n
Utah was the line in the sand game, the \u201cget right, handle business, be a pro\u201d game, and Minnesota treated it like a casual open run. Double-digit lead, rested legs, opponent on a back-to-back\u2026 and then they got outscored by 17 in the fourth and folded like they had somewhere better to be. You want to know how teams end up in the play-in even though they have top-four talent? It\u2019s nights like that. You want to know how fans start making April bracket scenarios with dread instead of excitement? It\u2019s nights like that.<\/p>\n
Then came Chicago at Target Center, and they somehow topped Utah in the most Wolves-possible way: by blowing multiple double-digit leads, turning the intensity switch on and off like a teenager flicking the light in the hallway just to be annoying, and losing the game in the exact moments that separate grown-up teams from teams that are still trying to figure out who they are.<\/p>\n
They had it. They had it. That corner three by Jaden to go up four in the final minutes is the kind of shot that\u2019s supposed to be the turning point. That\u2019s the moment you\u2019re supposed to feel the opponent\u2019s shoulders slump. And then\u2026 a weak closeout gifts Kobe White a three to cut it to one. In that situation, you absolutely cannot allow the three. If they score a two, you\u2019re still up two and you can live with it. A three changes the entire math problem. And Minnesota just\u2026 let it happen.<\/p>\n
Then the turnover came. Then the interior breakdown. Then Ant went into hero mode, clanging threes while the rest of the offense stood around watching. I don\u2019t even want to bury him for it because he\u2019s bailed them out so many times this season it\u2019s basically become a personality trait. But this wasn\u2019t one of those nights where the \u201cAnt saves everyone\u201d script made sense. There were multiple instances where ball movement, actual basketball, could\u2019ve gotten them a better look and a better chance to win.<\/p>\n
So now the Wolves are where they swore they wouldn\u2019t be: entrenched in the play-in neighborhood, staring at the West standings like they\u2019re watching their phone battery hit 3% with no charger in sight. And the worst part is that a week ago, we were talking about the two seed chase like it was a real thing. Not a fantasy. A real thing.<\/p>\n
Now they get a two-game home stand against Golden State, a team they\u2019re suddenly jockeying with, a team that\u2019s wobbling a bit itself, especially with Jimmy Butler\u2019s injury hanging over everything. But here\u2019s the thing about the Warriors: even in their messy eras, they still have Steph Curry and Steve Kerr. They still have a built-in competence level that punishes teams who show up half-awake. And if Minnesota brings the same sleepy, lazy, \u201cwe\u2019ll turn it on later\u201d energy we\u2019ve seen the last two games, Golden State will absolutely take their lunch money.<\/p>\n
This is not optional anymore. They cannot let the losing streak hit five. Not with the West this tight. Not with April consequences looming.<\/p>\n
So yeah, maybe a familiar rival, a team with postseason history, a team that tends to pull emotion and feistiness out of Minnesota\u2026 maybe that\u2019s the kick in the ass they need.<\/p>\n
1. Play defense. No, really \u2014 play defense.
Not \u201crun back and point at someone.\u201d Not \u201cfunnel everything into Rudy and hope he cleans it up.\u201d Not \u201clet\u2019s gamble for steals because rotating is hard.\u201d Actual defense. Ball pressure. Staying attached. Getting through screens like they\u2019re being paid to do it (news flash: they are). The Wolves have become this bizarre team where the defense sometimes looks like a top-two unit and sometimes looks like a preseason scrimmage where everyone\u2019s trying not to get sweaty. That can\u2019t happen against Steph Curry, because Curry doesn\u2019t need you to make five mistakes. He only needs one. And if the Wolves are going to win this, it has to start with their wings deciding that resistance isn\u2019t optional. Rudy can anchor the back line, but he cannot be a security blanket for lazy perimeter effort. If you\u2019re getting beat off the dribble and then shrugging because \u201cRudy\u2019s there,\u201d you\u2019re not playing defense. You\u2019re outsourcing it.<\/p>\n
2. Make Steph uncomfortable.
Every team says \u201cwe have to locate Steph\u201d like it\u2019s a cute little checklist item, but it\u2019s not a checklist item. It\u2019s a lifestyle. It\u2019s 48 minutes of paranoia. It\u2019s knowing where he is in transition, knowing where he is when the ball swings, knowing that he\u2019ll relocate after he gives it up, knowing that the shot can come from anywhere if you relax for a second. With Butler out, the Warriors\u2019 margin for error shrinks. If the Wolves can keep Steph from going full nuclear, then suddenly Golden State is asking a lot from their secondary guys. But that only matters if Minnesota also stops gifting layups and back cuts like they\u2019re handing out party favors. You can\u2019t be locked in on Curry and asleep everywhere else.<\/p>\n
3. Use the size advantage.
This is the simplest advantage in the world: Minnesota can put Rudy, Naz, and Julius on the floor and still have Beringer waiting in the wings like a change-up pitch. Golden State, especially without Butler, is not built to deal with that kind of bulk for 48 minutes. So make them deal with it. Swarm the glass. Own the paint. Turn missed shots into second chances and turn defensive rebounds into control. If Minnesota gets punked on the boards in this matchup, that\u2019s not \u201cbad luck,\u201d that\u2019s malpractice. The Wolves have to impose themselves physically and make Golden State feel it over time, not with dirty stuff, not with nonsense, just with relentless possession-winning basketball. The Warriors want flow. They want pace. They want you scrambling. Rebounding and interior scoring are how you put sand in those gears.<\/p>\n
4. Run a real offense \u2014 not the \u201cmy turn, your turn\u201d show.
This is the big one because it\u2019s the one that\u2019s been quietly killing them. When the Wolves are good, they move the ball and the defense has to react. When they\u2019re bad, it turns into Ant dribbling into a contested step-back while everyone watches, and Julius turning into a black hole on the left block where the ball goes in and sometimes never comes out. They\u2019re both talented enough to score that way in bursts, but building an offense around it is how you end up with those dead fourth quarters where every shot feels hard, every miss feels heavier, and then your defense starts sulking. Ant and Julius need to get theirs within the flow: downhill pressure, quick decisions, kick-outs, cutting, the extra pass. Make Golden State guard multiple actions. Make them rotate. Make them communicate. Because if Minnesota\u2019s offense turns into iso sludge again, the Warriors will happily defend it, run off your misses, and suddenly you\u2019re in that familiar spot where you\u2019re trying to \u201cflip the switch\u201d with five minutes left.<\/p>\n
5. Ant has to win the headline matchup \u2014 but he has to do it the right way.
We all know the resume gap between Curry and Ant historically. Curry\u2019s a living artifact of the modern NBA. But time comes for everyone, and Ant is barreling toward his prime like he\u2019s late for a flight. This is one of those statement spots where Edwards can remind everyone: \u201cYeah, that era isn\u2019t over yet, but mine is here.\u201d If Ant outplays Steph, Minnesota probably wins. It\u2019s not complicated. But \u201coutplays Steph\u201d can\u2019t mean \u201ctakes 12 threes because he\u2019s feeling it.\u201d It has to be smart aggression: attacking the rim, bending the defense, making the right pass when the trap comes, picking his moments from deep instead of settling. If Ant plays connected basketball, scoring and creating, it pulls everyone else into the game. And when everyone else is engaged offensively, they tend to actually defend, too. That\u2019s the whole chain reaction Minnesota has been missing lately.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no more room for the Wolves to treat games like optional experiences. They\u2019ve given away too much ground, and the West is too unforgiving to let you casually bleed losses and then \u201cmake it up later.\u201d Later becomes April, and April becomes \u201cwhy are we the seven seed again?\u201d and suddenly you\u2019re sweating a play-in game because you couldn\u2019t close out Utah on a Tuesday or defend a three against Chicago on your home floor.<\/p>\n
This Warriors mini-series is exactly the kind of moment that can either snap a team back into seriousness or push them deeper into the fog. Golden State is wounded, but they\u2019re still dangerous. They still have the structure and the championship DNA that punishes teams who play cute. If Minnesota shows up with that tired, complacent energy again, the losing streak is going to hit five. At that point, you\u2019re not \u201cslumping,\u201d you\u2019re spiraling.<\/p>\n
So this has to be it. This has to be the point where they stop bleeding themselves out. Defend. Rebound. Move the ball. Play with purpose. The Wolves don\u2019t need a miracle. They need professionalism. They need urgency. They need the version of themselves that showed up in early January, the one that looked like it actually cared about what it could become.<\/p>\n
Because the Wolves are still good enough to climb. They\u2019re still talented enough to scare anybody. But talent without effort is just a fancy way to lose games you should win.<\/p>\n
And if they can\u2019t figure that out at home, against a banged-up Warriors team, with their season starting to wobble? Then we\u2019re going to have to start having the conversation nobody wants to have, not about the two seed, not about a deep run\u2026 but about whether this team is sleepwalking its way into the play-in on purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Golden State WarriorsDate: January 24th, 2026Time: 4:30 PM CSTLocation: Target CenterTelevision Coverage: ABCRadio Coverage: Wolves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,479,164,4025,4024,6,64153,255],"class_list":{"0":"post-556775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-golden-state","10":"tag-golden-state-warriors","11":"tag-goldenstate","12":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-timberwolves-game-discussion","15":"tag-warriors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115947617976430432","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556775","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=556775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}