Minnesota shot 46% from 3-point range on Wednesday in Oklahoma City.

The Timberwolves out-rebounded the Thunder by four. They shot three more free throws than Oklahoma City when discounting the four the Thunder shot in the game’s final 30 seconds via intentional fouls.

Anthony Edwards scored 31 points — his 100th career 30-plus point performance. The Wolves had six players score in double figures, including Terrence Shannon Jr.’s 18 off the bench via his perfect shooting performance.

Minnesota even largely limited its turnovers — and it lost 113-105 to the league-leading Thunder. The loss eliminated the Wolves from NBA Cup contention, marking the third time in the event’s three year history that Minnesota failed to reach the knockout stage.

Oklahoma City is now 18-1, and its second-best player — All-NBA wing Jalen Williams — has yet to touch the court this season.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) drives against Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) during the first half of an Emirates NBA Cup basketball game, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Gerald Leong)

The Wolves played good basketball in defeat. Good is not going to get it done against the defending champions. Perfection may in fact be required to beat Oklahoma City.

Is that attainable?

It’s a question Minnesota is likely asking itself after Wednesday’s loss, the team’s third straight. A major culprit in all three defeats has been late-game execution. No, there was no big lead coughed up in Oklahoma City like the ones Minnesota blew in Phoenix and Sacramento.

But the Wolves did have possession in a tie game with three minutes to play against the Thunder when Donte DiVincenzo had the ball poked away by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, which led to a layup going the other way.

The next trip down the floor, Jaden McDaniels picked up his dribble as he looked to get the ball to Edwards, who was unable to shake Casson Wallace. Needing to avoid a five-second call, McDaniels threw a jump ball to Julius Randle, which was batted away by Lu Dort.

Then, with 27 seconds to play and Minnesota down five, Randle was unable to get the inbound in on time when his primary target, Edwards, was denied by Gilgeous-Alexander.

On top of all that, Minnesota missed 15 free throws.

Minnesota’s execution isn’t near the level it has to be at when that’s what’s required. So even on the nights when everything aligns for the Wolves to have a chance to put a team away or win a game at the end, they currently cannot capitalize.

Sure, there are things Minnesota can hope are better in future matchups with the Thunder.

Randle went 2 for 13 on Wednesday. The Wolves expect more production from the forward, who was playing at an all-star level this season prior to Minnesota’s last three games. But Wednesday marked Randle’s third time making two shots or fewer in his last six games against Oklahoma City.

Sixteen turnovers may feel like something that can be cleaned up, but the Thunder’s pressure defense compromises your decision making. It’s why Oklahoma City tends to go on avalanche-like runs against opponents, and had won its previous nine games by 13-plus points.

The Timberwolves checked many of the boxes required to avoid that type of wipeout and stick with Oklahoma City for 48 minutes. There are plenty of positives to draw from that. It has to be reassuring for Minnesota that should it play to that standard of effort and gameplan discipline, it can beat 28 teams in the NBA.

But can it beat the Thunder, particularly when it matters most?

It’s the ultimate question for everyone in the Western Conference, and the NBA at-large.

The Magic 8-Ball reading for Minnesota: “Outlook not so good.”

Related Articles

Frederick: In season of volatility, Timberwolves can’t abandon what works

Not again: Timberwolves blow 10 point lead in final minutes, lose in OT to Kings

Frederick: It will do the Timberwolves good to play some better teams

Leading by eight in the final minute, Wolves lose in Phoenix

Timberwolves player net ratings through 15 games: Jaylen Clark now No. 1 for Minnesota

Folks headed out on the road for Thanksgiving will tell you that sometimes you need to weather a storm to get where you need to be.

On Thanksgiving Eve in Chicago, the Minnesota Wild weathered a storm of pucks, trailing by a pair of goals at one point, but rallying for a 4-3 overtime win over the Blackhawks in their first meeting of the season.

Kirill Kaprizov’s power-play goal in the extra session came on just his second shot of the game but lifted the Wild to a 10-1-1 record in November.

The Wild got goals from Brock Faber, Nico Sturm and Matt Boldy to get to overtime. But their MVP of the evening was goalie Filip Gustavsson, who was busy start to finish, recording 34 saves and keeping the game from getting out of hand with the Blackhawks throwing everything his way early.

“Found a way to get it done. Not our best, I think everyone knows that, but good teams find ways to win,” Boldy said to reporters at the United Center. “A lot of credit to Gus for keeping us in it, and yeah, found a way.”

It was the sixth consecutive win for the Wild.

Both teams were 2 for 2 on the penalty kill in a scoreless first period, which was mostly due to Gustavsson. Chicago sent an eye-popping 20 shots his way — the busiest period for a Minnesota goalie this season — but none of them got through.

“We weren’t sharp, but he was really sharp early,” Wild coach John Hynes said, in praise of his goalie. “He gave us the opportunity to continue to push and get ourselves playing the way that we need to play. And it was off and on. But like I said, I think every night, you might not be at your best, but the mindset of the group tonight is something that I think we can draw on moving forward, that you got to keep fighting and keep battling, regardless of what happens, and you got to try to make a game of it.”

The Blackhawks onslaught continued unabated in the middle frame, with Minnesota killing another penalty but surrendering the first goal when Wild defenseman Zeev Buium arrived just a half-second too late to contest a shot in the low slot.

The Chicago goal snapped a run of more than 505 minutes that the Wild had gone without trailing, and it also ended their franchise record run of 12 consecutive games where Minnesota had scored first.

The dearth of offense led the Wild to do some line rearranging, with Kaprizov getting some extra shifts in hopes of testing the Chicago goalie more often. Instead it was Blackhawks star forward Connor Bedard doubling lead with a bang-bang play at the net-front.

There was some lousy puck luck that cost the Wild a power-play goal when Kaprizov’s tip at the net front slipped under Chicago goalie Spencer Knight, but the puck came to rest on — but not over — the goal line. Chicago appeared to make it 3-0 a few shifts later, but the Wild successfully challenged the play for offside.

Trailing by multiple goals for the first time in November, the Wild finally broke through in the final seconds of the period when a Faber shot from the blue line deflected off a Chicago player and fluttered through the air, off the post and in. It was the third goal in the past four games for Faber, who is on pace for a career-best season offensively.

The Wild finally forged a tie early in the third when Sturm tipped a Jonas Brodin shot past Knight. It was Sturm’s first goal in his second game of the season since returning from back surgery. But Chicago defenseman Artyom Levshunov’s first career goal gave the lead back to the Blackhawks. Briefly.

After Marcus Johansson was thwarted on a breakaway, Boldly made it 3-all in the latter half of the third with his team-leading 14th of the season.

“It’s obviously a sign that things are going well when you win games that maybe you were not supposed to, from the way the game worked,” Sturm said. “In the second intermission, we talked about how huge the power plays and how we wanted to generate momentum. Obviously, not the way we envisioned it but at the end of the day, we came away with the points. But we’re not, like, kidding ourselves in here. We know that it was not our best game today.”

In the overtime, Joel Eriksson Ek was leveled by a check in the neutral zone, with the puck far enough away from the play to warrant an interference call. With a 4-on-3 advantage in overtime, the strategy was simple: Get the puck to Kaprizov.

They did, and he scored, tying Zach Parise’s franchise record for career power-play goals with 69.

Wild forward Marcus Foligno left the game in the second period, favoring his leg after getting tied up with a Blackhawks player near the net. Hynes said he is unsure of Foligno’s status with back-to-back home games on Friday and Saturday upcoming.

Knight finished with 20 saves for the Blackhawks, who make their first visit St. Paul on Jan. 27.

Related Articles

Marcus Johansson has become Minnesota’s holiday bargain

Yakov Trenin returning to form as NHL’s top hitman

Mats Zuccarello’s impact hard to miss at Wild surge continues

Wally is a Wall, as Wild blank Jets

After injury delay, Nico Sturm excited for his second Wild debut

A northeastern Minnesota man was killed by a falling tree while out clearing snow Wednesday morning in rural St. Louis County, according to the county sheriff’s office.

Brian Pelander, 69, died after the sheriff’s office said that high winds and heavy snow caused a tree to give way at his property in the 7400 block of Laine Road in Alden Township, north of Knife River.

First responders were called at 10:22 a.m. Pelander’s wife reported she left for approximately 45 minutes as Pelander was out with a snowblower. She returned to find Pelander under a large downed tree, according to the sheriff’s office.

The season’s first major winter storm brought up to 10 inches of heavy, wet snow to the Arrowhead. Accumulations diminished to the south, with the Twin Cities officially measuring 3.1 inches.

Related Articles

Minneapolis man gets 38 years for fatal shooting while on the run

Gov. Tim Walz presents Gru, Minnesota’s Thanksgiving turkey

Trump curbs protections for refugees from Burma, many of whom live in Minnesota

MN State Parks, Washington County Parks offer free entry Friday

Season’s first winter storm could bring 4-8 inches of snow in metro

By JEFF ROBERSON

REEDS SPRING, Mo. (AP) — The first year Shirley Mease cooked up a free Thanksgiving feast in the Reeds Spring High School cafeteria, icy weather kept most people away. But when her family knocked on doors to offer the meals, the gratefulness they found confirmed the need in her Missouri community.

“When you work with the school system you know the families that are in need because there are a lot of babies that come to school and that’s the only meal they get,” says Mease, who is semi-retired from her job in the cafeteria.

That first year, 2009, Mease and her volunteer crew provided 100 meals. This holiday, they expect to serve 700, drawing on donations. That’s up from about 625 last year, to account for food insecurity in many households that count on SNAP food aid benefits suspended during the federal government’s recent shutdown.

All are welcome, no questions asked.

The 73-year-old Mease, her children and grandchildren have been preparing for weeks, loading shopping carts and picking up donations. When she and volunteers arrived at the school cafeteria Wednesday to begin cooking, at least 44 turkeys and 225 pounds of sweet potatoes awaited.

“I know (SNAP) is back in working order, but it will take time for that to really help people out,” she says. “Especially in this area, the food banks are being hit very hard, so I just feel like this is a time to step it up a little bit.”

High school cafeteria worker Shirley Mease, right, shops for supplies with her granddaughter Teagan Porter before preparing 700 free Thanksgiving meals for community members Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Springfield, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
High school cafeteria worker Shirley Mease, right, stops to hug her granddaughter Teagan Porter as they shop for supplies to prepare 700 free Thanksgiving meals for community members Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Nixa, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Kristal Porter, right, helps her mother, high school cafeteria worker Shirley Mease, load turkeys into the oven in the kitchen at Reeds Spring High School as they prepare 700 free Thanksgiving meals for community members Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025, in Reeds Spring, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
High school cafeteria worker Shirley Mease uses the sink in the kitchen at Reeds Spring High School, where she used to work, while preparing 700 free Thanksgiving meals for community members Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025, in Reeds Spring, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
High school cafeteria worker Shirley Mease uses the kitchen at Reeds Spring High School, where she used to work, to prepare 700 free Thanksgiving meals for community members Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025, in Reeds Spring, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
High school cafeteria worker Shirley Mease uses the kitchen at Reeds Spring High School, where she used to work, to prepare 700 free Thanksgiving meals for community members Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025, in Reeds Spring, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Larry Mease works to peel 240 pounds of sweet potatoes as he helps his wife, high school cafeteria worker Shirley Mease, prepare 700 free Thanksgiving meals for community members Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025, in Reeds Spring, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
High school cafeteria worker Shirley Mease wheels a cart in the kitchen at Reeds Spring High School while preparing 700 free Thanksgiving meals for community members Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025, in Reeds Spring, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
High school cafeteria worker Shirley Mease, left, pauses to pray with family members as they break for lunch while shopping for supplies needed to prepare 700 free Thanksgiving meals for community members Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Springfield, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
High school cafeteria worker Shirley Mease, right, and son-in-law Rick Porter load up a car after shopping for supplies needed to make 700 free Thanksgiving meals for community members Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Springfield, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Kristal Porter places caned goods in a cart as a shopping list is seen nearby while shopping for supplies to make 700 Thanksgiving meals for community members Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Nixa, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
High school cafeteria worker Shirley Mease, right, talks with her daughter Kristal Porter, center, and granddaughter Teagan Porter, left, as they shop for supplies needed to prepare 700 free Thanksgiving meals for community members Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Nixa, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
High school cafeteria worker Shirley Mease shops for supplies needed to prepare 700 free Thanksgiving meals for community members Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, in Nixa, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

Related Articles

Is AI making some people delusional? Families and experts are worried

8 more newspapers sue OpenAI, Microsoft, alleging stolen content used in AI apps

Telescope in Chile captures stunning new picture of a cosmic butterfly

Wisconsin seeks to block conditional release of woman involved in Slender Man stabbing after escape from group home

Campbell’s fires executive who was recorded saying company’s products are for ‘poor people’