MINNEAPOLIS — Even Anthony Edwards will acknowledge there was plenty of luck in his game-icing 3-pointer, the one that came after he dribbled the ball off of his foot, bent over to pick it up and then rose up and hoisted it toward the heavens in one motion.
He knew it was going in just as it left his hand, but he also knew that it wasn’t exactly how the play was drawn up.
“I should’ve passed it to Julius, honestly,” Edwards said, referring to Julius Randle standing wide open on the wing as the Boston Celtics came to double him in the closing seconds. “But I think my instincts just took over, and I lost the ball. I’m a pretty good 3-point shooter, so once I realized he wasn’t going to block it, anytime I can get the trey ball off, I think I’m going to make it.”
GOODNESS. 🐜 pic.twitter.com/H5FimrFHZn
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) November 30, 2025
The shot splashed through, capping a 39-point night for Edwards and sealing a 119-115 win over the Celtics. The Wolves (11-8) snapped a three-game losing streak and earned their first win over a team with a winning record this season. They had been in position to win all three of those losses, but kicked each game away down the stretch. On Saturday night, they were finally able to close one out, but it wasn’t easy because the decision-making apparatus for this team is as reliable as the holiday lights on the Griswold family home.
The Wolves led 110-98 with 3:50 to play, an insurmountable lead for most teams. But these Wolves were 18th in the league with a net rating of minus-4.4 points per 100 possessions in clutch time coming into this game. They led the Sacramento Kings by 10 points with six minutes to play and lost in overtime last week, one game after blowing an eight-point lead in the final 49 seconds against Phoenix.
Here they were again on Saturday night, with a double-digit lead and all the momentum on their side when it suddenly began to fall apart again. Jaden McDaniels, who was a plus-24 in 26 minutes, fouled out with 3:33 to play, and the Celtics promptly went on a 12-0 run in less than two minutes to tie the game.
Once again, the Wolves offense ground to a screeching halt, with Edwards over-dribbling, Randle looking hesitant and the whole team settling for 3-point shots against a Celtics defense that lacks any real rim protection. These are the scenarios that Edwards just needs to experience as he ascends to the “lead guard” role in the offense and the Wolves move away from relying on a true point guard to navigate the terrain.
Unlike in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, when Edwards said he wasn’t as aggressive in demanding the ball as the Wolves faltered late, he made sure that the ball got into his hands in the closing possessions against the Celtics. And that is where we saw the highs and the lows of his conversion from straight scorer to hub of the offense.
Yes, he probably should have gotten off the ball on his last shot, slipped it to Randle and let him get downhill with the advantage that was there for him with so many eyes on Edwards. But less than a minute earlier, with the score tied at 110-110 and Target Center tension rising, Edwards made the exact right play. Coach Chris Finch called for a pick-and-roll, and Edwards capitalized on Boston’s aggressiveness by getting a pass to Randle on the short roll. That created an instant 4-on-3 scenario for the Wolves, and Randle found Mike Conley in the corner for a 3-pointer.
Edwards wasn’t credited with an assist on the play, but his read started the chain reaction to get Conley the shot.
MC FOR THREE. pic.twitter.com/PkfHxe9nrp
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) November 30, 2025
“It felt good. I’m wide open, so I should make it,” Conley said. “It’s a big play by Julius, big play by Ant just getting off the ball, trusting Ju and Ju making the easy reads.”
Jaylen Brown missed a shot on the other end, and then Edwards made the right read again, barreling right to the basket to draw a foul. He hit both free throws for a 115-110 lead with 44.6 seconds to play.
“(Edwards) was far more, far more intentional, just going to get the ball,” Finch said, “which was great.”
Edwards has always been someone who learns more by doing than anything else. These early-season lumps the Wolves have taken have been painful. They could just as easily be 13-6 right now if they played with more discipline and better decision-making late in games. But this is a new role for Edwards, and he has to work through it, find his comfort zone, and see for himself what happens when everything falls into place.
In the meantime, Finch is making an adjustment to the late-game rotations. He limited Conley’s minutes to 14 in the first 40 minutes of the matchup, making sure that the 38-year-old had enough in the tank to finish the game if it got tight. Finch wants Conley’s intelligence on the floor to quarterback the Wolves offense through these situations, to help Edwards understand where the holes are and how to exploit them.
“It’s shame on me for not playing them out there more in those situations,” Finch said. “But that’s the value of him. He can make big shots, make smart plays, understand what it takes to close out a game with possessions and defensive execution and everything.”
Conley also gives the Wolves another sure-handed ball-handler to initiate the offense. Edwards has been doing the lion’s share of that work, but he said he prefers to be off the ball in the closing moments.
“The whole game I got 10 eyes on me,” Edwards said. “At the end of the game, I know I need the ball in my hands to be able to get a shot off, and I think it’s better if I’m coming off the ball at the bottom of the floor.”
Randle had 16 points, nine rebounds and six assists on his 31st birthday. DiVincenzo had 15 points and eight assists and went 4 of 7 from 3-point range. Naz Reid had 10 points and eight rebounds and was a catalyst for the Wolves’ second-half defense, which allowed only 46 points.
Most importantly, the Wolves did not falter down the stretch for a fourth straight game. It wasn’t the smoothest finish, but progress has to start somewhere. The hope is that each time Edwards is put in these situations, he gains just a little more understanding of how best to attack the defense.
“It’s just got to continue to be guys have to read and react to what the defense is doing, visualize, see it and call it as they see it,” Conley said. “I’m not going to be on the court every time. Coach won’t be able to relay that in real time, so Ant, Donte, Julius, Jaden, all those guys out there have to be more and more comfortable with recognizing what’s working, recognizing mismatches and different situations that can get us easy looks.”
