Despite battling hard, the Timberwolves came up just short in a 113-105 loss to the juggernaut Thunder on Thanksgiving Eve. Minnesota did a lot of encouraging things on the road against a team that is now 18-1 on the season, but Chris Finch’s team will be upset with itself for the way they lost this one.
Here are five things that stood out from Wednesday night’s Western Conference Finals rematch.
Late-game execution not good enough again
The Wolves came into this game having blown a ten-point lead with three minutes left in Sacramento on Monday and an eight-point lead with less than a minute left in Phoenix last Friday. They didn’t blow a lead in this one, but they did have more issues with their execution in clutch time.
With just over three minutes left and the score tied at 101, Donte DiVincenzo and Jaden McDaniels committed turnovers on bad passes on consecutive possessions. The Wolves then missed three straight field goals and got an 0-for-2 trip to the line from Rudy Gobert when they had a chance to tie it. And to cap it off, Julius Randle was called for a five-second violation with 27 seconds left and the Wolves down five because he couldn’t get the ball inbounded and didn’t use the one timeout Minnesota had left.
In the last five minutes of regulation or overtime in their last three games, the Wolves are a combined -25 (-7 in Phoenix, -13 in Sacramento, -5 in OKC).
Free throws, free throws, free throws
The simplest way to explain the difference in this game is to point to the two teams’ numbers at the free-throw line. The Wolves made 22 of 37 free throws (59 percent). The Thunder made 30 of 38 (79 percent). That’s an eight-point difference in a game decided by that exact margin.
Gobert missed the two big ones late and was just 3 of 8 at the line on the day, but he wasn’t alone. Randle, who came into the day shooting 83 percent at the line, made 4 of 7 on a brutal night where he also shot 2 for 13 from the field. Anthony Edwards, who also came in at 83 percent, made 8 of 12. DiVincenzo, Terrence Shannon, and Rob Dillingham all made 1 of 2.
Plenty of other things happened in this game, but leaving points at the line always hurts. You can’t miss 15 free throws and expect to beat a team like the Thunder.
Wolves burn their challenges too early
There’s a delicate balance in the NBA that must be struck in deciding when to use a coach’s challenge. You only get one per game, although a second is granted if the first one is successful. But even if you go 2 for 2, you’re out of challenges after that point.
In the first quarter, Randle wanted the Wolves to challenge a foul that was called on him. Chris Finch obliged. The challenge was successful, but did it make that much of a difference in a 16-16 game? Then, early in the second quarter, the Wolves decided to challenge a loose ball foul on Gobert. Again, they were successful, but they were then out of challenges for almost three full quarters.
Unsurprisingly, a couple moments popped up where Finch would’ve liked to have a challenge at his disposal. There was nothing he could do when Edwards desperately wanted to review a possible blocked shot early in the third quarter. And at the very end of that quarter, Naz Reid got all ball on an Isaiah Hartenstein shot attempt, but a foul was called and the Wolves once again could do nothing about it.
Naz Reid block, called a foul pic.twitter.com/IoSrGEN66m
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) November 27, 2025
Shannon provides a huge offensive spark
In just his second game back from missing three weeks with a foot injury, Shannon had easily his best outing of his second NBA season thus far. He scored 18 points in 17 minutes off the bench by making all seven of his field goal attempts, including three three-pointers. The only players in this game for either team who scored more points were superstars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (40) and Edwards (31).
This was a reminder of what it can look like when Shannon is on the floor. He was a model of aggressiveness and efficiency. Shannon got to the rim four times for buckets and he hit all of his threes — two from the corner and one from the top of the key. He got off to a slow start to this season, but he’s capable of being a force to be reckoned with on the offensive end.
It’ll be interesting to see if Shannon starts seeing even more playing time moving forward. The Wolves used 10 guys in this game, and Finch still seems to be experimenting with how much to play Shannon (17 mins), Mike Conley (13), Dillingham (12), and Jaylen Clark (7) in the backcourt mix.
Anthony Edwards block + TJ Shannon poster dunk pic.twitter.com/D6zSUUrgrG
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) November 27, 2025
Ant’s second-half explosion
At halftime of this game, Edwards had just 6 points on 1-of-5 shooting, though he did also have 4 assists. The Thunder were sending two defenders at him whenever he had the ball, trying to force it out of his hands and make others beat them.
Edwards waited patiently and made the right play early on. But in the second half, he knew he needed to start getting more aggressive as a scorer. He wound up scoring 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including a 5-of-7 mark from deep. Edwards had 14 points in just the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter, including several tough contested jumpers. He nearly managed to will his team to what would’ve been a highly impressive win.
Anthony Edwards clutch stepback 3 pic.twitter.com/SIxpqrGshK
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) November 27, 2025
In addition to the late-game mistakes and the poor free throw shooting, the Wolves needed more offense in this game from Randle. McDaniels also disappeared after a strong first quarter, scoring just two points on two shot attempts in the final three periods.
