Today is Saturday, Feb. 22, the 53rd day of 2025. There are 312 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Feb. 22, 1980, the “Miracle on Ice” took place at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, as the United States Olympic hockey team upset the Soviet Union, 4-3. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal two days later with a 4-2 victory over Finland.)

Also on this date:

In 1732, the first president of the United States, George Washington, was born in Westmoreland County in the Virginia Colony.

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In 1784, a U.S. merchant ship, the Empress of China, left New York for the first trade voyage of an American ship to China.

In 1959, the inaugural Daytona 500 race was held; although Johnny Beauchamp was initially declared the winner, the victory was later awarded to Lee Petty.

In 1967, more than 25,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launched Operation Junction City, aimed at smashing a Vietcong stronghold near the Cambodian border.

In 1997, scientists in Scotland announced they had successfully cloned an adult mammal for the first time, a sheep they named “Dolly.”

In 2010, Najibullah Zazi (nah-jee-BOO’-lah ZAH’-zee), accused of buying products from beauty supply stores to make bombs for an attack on New York City subways, pleaded guilty to charges including conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. (Zazi faced up to life in prison but spent nearly a decade after his arrest helping the U.S. identify and prosecute terrorists; he was given a 10-year sentence followed by supervised release.)

In 2021, the number of U.S. deaths from COVID-19 topped 500,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Today’s birthdays:

Actor Paul Dooley is 97.
Actor James Hong is 96.
Actor Julie Walters is 75.
Basketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving is 75.
Golf Hall of Famer Amy Alcott is 69.
Actor Kyle MacLachlan is 66.
Golf Hall of Famer Vijay Singh is 62.
Hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine is 60.
Actor-comedian Rachel Dratch is 59.
Actor Paul Lieberstein (TV: “The Office) is 58.
Actor Jeri Ryan is 57.
Actor Thomas Jane is 56.
Actor-singer Lea Salonga is 54.
Tennis Hall of Famer Michael Chang is 53.
Singer James Blunt is 51.
Actor Drew Barrymore is 50.

Minnesota dropped another clutch-time contest Friday in Houston, sinking the Wolves to 15-20 in such games this season.

The 20 losses in the clutch – defined as games with a margin of five points or less at any point in the final five minutes of a game – are the most in the NBA.

If the Timberwolves won just five more of those 35 clutch contests, they’d currently own the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference and be in position for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

“Our issue is we’ve got to win close games,” Wolves coach Chris Finch told reporters on Friday. “We’ve got to be better. Our shot selection and decision making in clutch games has got to improve on the offensive end.”

That starts with Anthony Edwards.

The Wolves guard scored 37 points in the loss to the Rockets, but all 37 came in the contest’s first 41 minutes. Over the final seven, he went 0 for 5 from the field with a turnover. And while Edwards told reporters after the game that he liked the looks he got late, the film reveals many of them were heavily contested, difficult attempts. They didn’t fall and, subsequently, the Wolves lost.

Such is life for Minnesota this season, who has frequently lived and died with Edwards’ insistence on taking tough shots late in games.

Far too often, it’s been a fatal trait.

Edwards has played in 51 fourth quarters this season. In the 26 that have ended in Wolves’ wins, he’s shot 48.8% from the field, and 47.4% from distance.

In the 25 that ended in Wolves’ losses, he’s shot 31.3% from the floor and 31.4% from beyond the arc.

That seems logical. If your best player makes shots late, you win. If he doesn’t, you lose. But 92 NBA players have shot 60 or more times in the fourth quarters of losses this season, and Edwards’ 31.3% mark is the worst among them.

Overall, 52 players have taken 150-plus shots from the field in fourth quarters this season, and Edwards’ 40.1% shooting mark in the final frame ranks 50th among them, ahead of only Houston’s Jalen Green and Washington’s Jordan Poole.

In clutch-time situations this season, Edwards is shooting 40.2% from the field and 30.4% from 3-point range, all while recording more turnovers (10) than assists (nine).

Finch noted “a lot” of the fourth quarter execution falls on Edwards’ shoulders.

“Obviously, because they’re putting two (defenders) on him,” Finch told reporters. “And, for the most part, he’s making the right play. But he’s got to stay with it. And we’ve got to help, too. I’ve got to call a better game down the stretch.”

But Edwards also needs to perform at a higher level on a more consistent basis if Minnesota is to win more close games, which will be a requirement of any effort to surge up the Western Conference standings.

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Anthony Edwards missed Sunday’s All-Star game in San Francisco due to a groin injury, or maybe it was a cold? Multiple things were reported in the immediate aftermath. The guard’s injury designation ahead of Minnesota’s bout in Houston was “questionable” with a hip ailment.

Fear not, Timberwolves fans. Edwards appears to be quite alright. And yet it still wasn’t enough for Minnesota on Friday in the Wolves’ 121-115 loss to the Rockets in their first game post All-Star break.

Edwards scored 37 points as he continues to be a thorn in Houston’s side. He dropped 41 against the Rockets in Minnesota just two weeks ago, and Houston was similarly at a loss for answers on Friday. The guard knocked down tough triples, yes, but the majority of his success took place on his jaunts to the rim, where Houston had no one to deter him.

Perhaps Minnesota thought it was playing in an all-star affair to open the game.

That was about the level of defensive effort and execution the Wolves exhibited in a first frame in which Houston scored a jaw-dropping 48 points. Minnesota was without Rudy Gobert, who missed the game with back spasms. Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo remain out for the Wolves, who did get Mike Conley back from a finger injury.

“They got hot from three early. We’ve got to pressure more, apply the pressure so they don’t feel comfortable to shoot those three, obviously,” Wolves big Naz Reid told reporters. “We let them be comfortable.”

Yet even with the poor early defense, the Wolves were only down 10 at quarter’s end, thanks to a strong offensive showing themselves.

Minnesota tightened up the defensive effort from there, surrendering just 20 points in the second quarter to trim Houston’s lead to one by halftime. It was a back-and-forth bout the rest of the way, with the two teams trading jabs.

But Houston (35-21) outexecuted Minnesota (31-26) in the closing stretch of the contest, as Houston generated good offense and Edwards developed tunnel vision in the face of multiple Houston defenders that led to a number of difficult shots and, as a result, misses.

Edwards scored just three points in the final frame, going 1 for 6 from the field. Edwards did not score over the game’s final seven and a half minutes.

Alperen Sengun had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Houston, while Jalen Green led the Rockets with 35 points. Minnesota hosts Oklahoma City on Sunday.

Reid had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Wolves on a night where he struggled with foul trouble. Jaden McDaniels added 21 points, six rebounds and two steals.

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It felt like a matter of when, not if, Edina would finally break through Friday.

Through two periods, the bulk of the second Class 2A girls state hockey semifinal at Xcel Energy Center on Friday against Holy Family had been played in the Fire end, yet the game remained scoreless.

Cate McCoy changed that 39 seconds into the third period for Edina and the Hornets went on to a 1-0 win.

The top-seeded and defending champion Hornets (25-3-1) will face No. 3 Hill-Murray in Saturday’s 7 p.m. final. The Pioneers beat Rosemount 5-2 in the other semifinal.

The Hornets have won five titles since 2017, including a 2-0 win over Hill-Murray in 2024.

McCoy’s third goal of the tournament — she had two in a quarterfinal win over Farmington — came by redirecting a shot from the point by Libby Moe into the top corner of the Fire net. It was her 19th goal of the season.

The Fire had two shots in the first 12 minutes of the third period, and equaled that on a late power play, but couldn’t beat Reese McConnell then or with a 6-on-4 advantage in the final minute after another penalty. McConnell made a huge pad stop on Josie Linn with about 20 seconds left to ice the win.

The Edina senior earned her sixth shutout of the season by making a 12 saves. Nora Hannan had just seven in the Hornets’ 3-1 quarterfinal win.

Kayla Swartout had 26 saves for Holy Family Catholic (22-8-0), which was in the tournament for the first time.

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State Class AA girls hockey: Hill-Murray 5, Andover 3

State Class AA girls hockey: Rosemount 3, Centennial/Spring Lake Park 2