At season’s end, Minnesota will likely rue Friday’s loss in Houston, even sans star guard Anthony Edwards.
Minnesota let a game it could’ve had get away against an uninspiring Rockets team thanks to eight turnovers in the final frame, an inability or unwillingness to take away Kevin Durant’s air space and, perhaps most annoyingly, missed free throws.
The Timberwolves went 20 for 35 from the stripe in a 110-105 loss to the Rockets.
That can’t be solely blamed for the loss because, well, Houston only went 20 for 34 itself. The incompetence of both teams re: cashing in “freebies” cancelled out one another. But the fact remains had Minnesota hit its free throws, it may very well have won the game.
But that’s not an area of the game the Wolves can rely on this season.
Minnesota is one of the best shooting teams in the NBA. It entered Friday’s affair ranked fourth in the league in effective field goal percentage and fifth in true shooting percentage. Shot making is one of the team’s primary strengths.
Yet after the debacle at the stripe Friday, the Wolves are now shooting just 74.7% from the line this season — third-worst in the association.
Yes, Rudy Gobert can shoulder the bulk of the blame. He failed to draw iron on multiple attempts in Houston. His 2 for 10 performance at the line dropped his season-long average to 50.6%, which would be his lowest mark since his rookie campaign by a wide margin.
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) shoots a free throw during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)
But Anthony Edwards is down to 78% this season after sitting at 83% each of the prior two seasons. Donte DiVincenzo is shooting just 76% from the line.
Seven teams in the NBA hit at least 80.6% of their free-throw attempts as a collective. Jaden McDaniels is the only Wolves player receiving a heavy dose of minutes who clears that threshold on an individual basis (83.2%).
Somehow, this team that frequently knocks down difficult shots throughout the course of the game can’t make the easy ones literally given to them. It’s a problem for a team that averages the sixth-most free-throw attempts per game (26.1). It’s a departure from where the Wolves were a year ago, when they knocked down 78.9% of their free-throw attempts, which tied for the ninth-best rate of makes in the NBA.
Minnesota is surrendering 6.5 points per game simply off misses at the free-throw line. Many more misses than that is why the Wolves dropped Friday’s game in Houston.
The Timberwolves are shooting just 74% from the free-throw line in losses this season. It’s an issue that cost Minnesota on Friday, and could rear its head again at inopportune times when the stakes are at their highest in the months to come.
Simply removing Gobert from the floor doesn’t seem to solve the equation.
Minnesota needs to find the answer before the regular season detriment evolves into a playoff disaster.
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