Well, it’s Groundhog’s Day … Again.
After the Wolves squandered an eight-point lead in the final minute in Friday’s loss in Phoenix, Minnesota held a 10-point advantage over the Kings in Sacramento on Monday after Anthony Edwards tallied an and-1 with three minutes to play.
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) reacts during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, Nov. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Randall Benton)
Surely that would be good enough to seal the deal this time around.
Or not.
Yes, it happened again.
Sacramento went on a 10-0 run over an 81-second span to knot the game and force overtime, where the Kings beat Minnesota, 117-112.
The Wolves committed four turnovers in the extra session to offset the easy offense Edwards generated with the ball in his hands — offense Minnesota could’ve used at the end of regulation.
The Timberwolves led by 12 with nearly 10 minutes to play in the fourth frame after Mike Conley drilled a triple. From that point forward, Minnesota went 2 for 19 from the field to close the quarter.
“We’re struggling right now to find a good rhythm offensively all around,” Wolves coach Chris Finch told reporters. “We’ve got to get back to the way we were playing about a week ago when it comes to offense. And a lot of things we were doing then are missing now.”
And yet Minnesota still led by 10 late until that fateful minute-plus that played out like this:
-Malik Monk jumper to cut the lead to eight
-Anthony Edwards missed shot
-Malik Monk made 3-pointer to cut the lead to five
-Anthony Edwards missed shot
-Malik Monk layup to cut the lead to three
-Jaden McDaniels missed shot
-DeMar DeRozan bucket plus the foul, with a made free throw to tie the game.
“They made some plays,” Wolves center Rudy Gobert told reporters of the Kings. “They made some hustle plays, they made some big shots, big plays down the stretch and they got back in the game.”
There were still 89 seconds remaining in regulation at that point. Julius Randle made free throws to put Minnesota back on top with a minute to play, but DeRozan did the same on the other end to re-knot the contest.
Edwards and DeRozan then traded misses to send the game to overtime.
Neither team was close to clean in the extra session, but DeRozan and Keegan Murray made enough shots to help the Kings (5-13) fend off Edwards and the mistake-plagued Wolves (10-7).
In an ode to Friday, the game effectively ended when Randle turned the ball over while trying to inbound the ball with Minnesota down four and 18 seconds to play. At which point, four Wolves players stood and watched, seemingly contest to let the Kings dribble the clock out before Mike Conley finally raced over to commit a foul.
“Yeah, just some really rough plays from our team,” said Gobert, who finished with 11 points and 13 boards, but also had a costly giveaway in overtime. “Seems like (mental lapses). We didn’t play super connected. And then I feel like we let the frustration get to us, and we can’t do that if we want to be a championship team. … No matter what happened before, we’ve got to find a way to have our spirit high and the spirit of a champion to try to always believe. Things are not always going to go our way, but until the buzzer sounds, we still have an opportunity. … Tonight, it felt like we didn’t have our spirit.”
The loss is Minnesota’s second straight, but first this season against a team with a losing record after opening the campaign with 10-straight wins against such foes.
Edwards finished with 43 points, seven rebounds and three steals. He’s scored 41-plus in each of the Wolves’ last two losses. But Minnesota lost his 40 minutes by 12 points, the same plus-minus recorded by Randle, who committed five turnovers — including two in overtime.
Minnesota tallied just 21 assists. Wolves not named Edwards combined to shoot 35% from the floor on a night where Minnesota committed 16 turnovers.
“I think we got a little stagnant offensively,” Gobert said. “The ball stopped moving.”
DeRozan finished with 33 points, while Murray added 26 and Monk had 22, 13 of which came in the fourth quarter.
Monday’s loss may be more infuriating for Minnesota than even Friday’s defeat, given the quality of opponent. Minnesota never trailed in regulation and seemingly had control throughout the contest. But every time it looked as though the Wolves would runaway with the game — as they’ve done so many times against cellar dwellers already this season — a costly mistake or a couple minutes of porous defense would bring Sacramento right back into the equation.
Now Minnesota will try again to right the ship Wednesday in Oklahoma City against the defending champion and league-leading Thunder in a game the Timberwolves have to have to advance to the NBA Cup knockout round.
Such a win would require 48 minutes of effort and execution. The lack of the latter continues to bite the Wolves when games matter most.
“Talking is great, but let’s see if we care,” Gobert said. “Let’s see if we actually care about doing the things that we need to do to win and putting our teammates before ourselves. It’s what it’s about, at the end of the day. Hopefully, we learn. We’ve still got an amazing opportunity ahead of us, but we’ve got to decide who we want to be.”
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