After three straight blowout losses, the Minnesota Timberwolves finally found a little relief Friday night in the Bay Area. And the timing couldn\u2019t have been better.<\/p>\n
Minnesota entered the third game of its four-game road trip reeling. The defense had vanished. The offense had turned into a bricklaying contest. The Clippers had just hung 153 points on them two nights earlier, which is the basketball equivalent of getting your lunch money taken and your backpack stolen.<\/p>\n
So when the Wolves arrived in San Francisco and saw the Warriors\u2019 injury report with Steph Curry out, Draymond Green out, Jimmy Butler still out for the season, it felt like the basketball gods had quietly slid a \u201cget-right game\u201d across the table.<\/p>\n
To their credit, Minnesota mostly took advantage. Led by Anthony Edwards\u2019 42 points, the Wolves finally stopped the bleeding with a 127\u2013117 win, snapping the three-game skid and giving themselves a much-needed reset after what had been an ugly week.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t perfect. In fact, there were several stretches where the Wolves looked dangerously close to falling back into their bad habits, but compared to the previous three games, this was practically a therapy session.<\/p>\n
First Quarter: Energy Returns, Old Habits Lurk<\/p>\n
Right from the opening tip, you could tell Minnesota had a little more urgency.<\/p>\n
Donte DiVincenzo opened the scoring with five quick points, setting the tone early. The Wolves were moving the ball and, most importantly, not committing turnovers like they had against the Clippers.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Rudy Gobert was doing what Rudy Gobert does best: owning the paint. Gobert grabbed rebounds, finished second-chance opportunities, and even knocked down four straight free throws to start the night. When Gobert is confidently hitting free throws early in a game, it\u2019s an excellent omen.<\/p>\n
Julius Randle also came out with some extra juice, attacking the rim and scoring six early points against a Warriors team he had bullied during last year\u2019s playoff run. Five minutes into the game, Minnesota held a 15\u201312 lead and things felt\u2026 stable.<\/p>\n
Then the Wolves briefly remembered they were the Wolves. Golden State began slipping into the paint, piling up points in the paint and second-chance points, eventually flipping the score to an 18\u201315 Warriors lead.<\/p>\n
To this point, Anthony Edwards had been quiet early, but that silence didn\u2019t last long. With four minutes remaining in the quarter, Ant drained a three to tie the game 21\u201321, then immediately went into takeover mode, scoring nine straight points and pushing Minnesota ahead 27\u201323.<\/p>\n
By the end of the first quarter, the Wolves held a 31\u201328 lead. The encouraging signs? Minnesota had only one turnover, and they were 11-for-12 from the free throw line. Compared to the Clippers game, that first quarter alone felt like a different team.<\/p>\n
Second Quarter: The Wolves Finally Blow the Door Open<\/p>\n
The real turning point came in the second quarter when Minnesota\u2019s bench delivered a surge of offense. Ayo Dosunmu, Bones Highland, and Naz Reid all contributed during a stretch where the Wolves slowly but decisively started pulling away. By the time the dust settled, Minnesota had pushed the lead to 44\u201337.<\/p>\n
The main catalyst was Bones Highland. Highland caught fire offensively, scoring 11 points during that stretch, giving the Wolves the kind of secondary scoring they desperately needed after Edwards carried so much of the load in recent games.<\/p>\n
As the offense started flowing, the defense followed. Minnesota began stacking stops, something that had been nearly impossible to find over the previous thirteen quarters of basketball. With Gobert and Randle punishing the Warriors inside, the Wolves opened up a 54\u201339 lead.<\/p>\n
From there, the avalanche came quickly, and by halftime, Minnesota had outscored Golden State 38\u201320 in the second quarter and built a commanding 69\u201348 lead. Anthony Edwards already had 20 points at the break, and it was pretty clear he wasn\u2019t done yet.<\/p>\n
Third Quarter: Comfort Sets In\u2026 and the Wolves Get Sloppy<\/p>\n
The second half began exactly the way Minnesota hoped. Edwards opened the third quarter with four quick points, pushing the lead to 73\u201348 and giving the Wolves their largest advantage of the night.<\/p>\n
And then\u2026 the Wolves got comfortable. You know the feeling. When a team starts playing like they\u2019ve already checked the final score on their phone.<\/p>\n
Golden State seized the opportunity. Brandin Podziemski drilled two three-pointers, trimming the lead to 73\u201354. He kept pushing the pace alongside Kristaps Porzingis, shrinking the lead to 77\u201361.<\/p>\n
To Minnesota\u2019s credit, they responded again. During the middle portion of the third quarter, Anthony Edwards and Ayo Dosunmu powered the offense. Beyond his own scoring, Dosunmu repeatedly found Gobert for easy finishes near the rim, helping extend the lead back to 94\u201371.<\/p>\n
But the complacency crept back in. Turnovers returned. Defensive rotations slowed. Golden State started finding easier looks. By the end of the quarter, the once-comfortable margin had shrunk to 100\u201387. Edwards had already piled up 32 points, but the Wolves had once again left the door open.<\/p>\n
Fourth Quarter: McDaniels and Edwards Slam the Door<\/p>\n
When the fourth quarter began, things got a little uncomfortable. Golden State quickly cut the lead to 100\u201390, and suddenly the Wolves\u2019 earlier dominance felt a lot less secure.<\/p>\n
Enter Jaden McDaniels. McDaniels opened the quarter with the first seven points for Minnesota, single-handedly stabilizing the game and pushing the lead back to 107\u201392.<\/p>\n
But the Warriors weren\u2019t finished. Podziemski continued attacking, scoring multiple buckets and helping cut Minnesota\u2019s lead to nine points. Then a Wolves turnover led to a transition basket that brought Golden State within seven.<\/p>\n
Just like that, what had once been a 25-point lead felt shaky again.<\/p>\n
Minnesota eventually steadied itself, but halfway through the fourth quarter it remained a 10-point game. Edwards and Podziemski traded threes to push the score to 118\u2013108, and then both offenses suddenly went ice cold, missing several open looks from deep.<\/p>\n
Golden State got as close as 122\u2013113 after a Podziemski layup, and that\u2019s when Anthony Edwards decided he\u2019d seen enough. Ant attacked again, scoring his 40th point of the night to push the lead to 124\u2013113 and effectively close the door with the clock dwingling.<\/p>\n
Edwards would finish with 42 as Minnesota notched their first victory in over a week, 127-117.<\/p>\n
A Win\u2026 But Finch Isn\u2019t Celebrating<\/p>\n
After the game, Chris Finch didn\u2019t exactly sound like a coach who had just watched his team rediscover greatness. Instead, he pointed out something Wolves fans have been noticing all year.<\/p>\n
Minnesota still struggles to maintain urgency. Even with a 21-point halftime lead, the Wolves drifted into bad habits: sloppy turnovers, inconsistent defense, and stretches where the focus simply vanished.<\/p>\n
Finch called that carelessness part of the team\u2019s \u201cDNA\u201d, which is both honest and slightly terrifying if you\u2019re thinking about playoff basketball.<\/p>\n
Because championship teams don\u2019t just win games.<\/p>\n
A Step in the Right Direction<\/p>\n
Still, context matters. After the week Minnesota just endured, any win would have been welcome.<\/p>\n
The Wolves took advantage of a depleted Warriors roster, built a massive second-quarter lead, and leaned on Anthony Edwards\u2019 brilliance when things tightened late. It wasn\u2019t flawless, but it was progress. For a team searching for its identity again, sometimes the first step is simply stopping the slide.<\/p>\n
For the Wolves, the next test arrives quickly. Oklahoma City awaits on Sunday, and if the Wolves want to take a third of four games from the defending champions, they\u2019ll need a far sharper performance than what we saw Friday night.<\/p>\n
Still, after the chaos of the past week, Minnesota finally has something it didn\u2019t have a few days ago.<\/p>\n
Even if it\u2019s just the first small step on a long climb back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After three straight blowout losses, the Minnesota Timberwolves finally found a little relief Friday night in the Bay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3782],"tags":[7,307,152,3954,6,308,51802],"class_list":{"0":"post-657596","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-timberwolves","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","11":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-timberwolves","14":"tag-timberwolves-scores"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116226376712186328","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657596","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=657596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}