Minnesota Timberwolves at New Orleans Pelicans
Date: December 2nd, 2025
Time: 7:00 PM CST
Location: Smoothie King Center
Television Coverage: FanDuel Sports Network – North
Radio Coverage: Wolves App, iHeart Radio
The Wolves Head to Bourbon Street: Time to Act Like Contenders
Fresh off their back-to-back home victories against plus-.500 teams, the Minnesota Timberwolves now take a mini-road swing down the Mississippi to New Orleans. Two games in three nights against a Pelicans team with three wins, sitting in the basement of the Western Conference standings. On paper, it looks like a gift. A reprieve. A reset button after a late November that felt like being trapped in an escape room where every clue was the Timberwolves handing the ball to the other team in the final minute. This stretch against New Orleans is followed by a run of seven of eight games at Target Center. If you’re a 12–8 team that wants climb the Western Conference ladder, this is where you feast.
But Wolves fans have been here long enough to know the drill. Just over year ago, Minnesota walked into an eerily similar situation: back-to-back road games against the lowly Portland Trail Blazers. Everyone chalked up two wins. The Wolves, in response, produced one of the most embarrassing face-plants of the entire season, dropping both games at Moda Center.
The Wolves simply can’t afford those soul-crushing breakdowns anymore. This team is supposed to be different. A two-time Western Conference Finals team, a roster with continuity, all the “we’re ready to take the next step” boxes checked. And for most of this year, they have been. Minnesota is 10–1 against sub-.500 teams. That’s not a coincidence, that’s a sign of maturity. They’ve beaten the teams they were supposed to beat on the schedule, something the Wolves historically have been incapable of accomplishing.
But here’s where old demons lurk: After throttling teams like Utah, the Wolves have slowly drifted back into that “play three quarters, panic in the fourth” mindset. We saw it against Phoenix. We saw it against Sacramento. And even in the games they won against the Celtics and the Wembyless Spurs, the Wolves needed furious late pushes just to get out alive. Both home wins were cage matches that felt like victories by survival rather than inevitability. You watched those final minutes and thought: “Is this team growing… or just getting lucky?”
So no, this trip isn’t a vacation to Bourbon Street. It’s an x-ray. A character test. A reminder that the Wolves are never more dangerous to themselves than when they assume the hardest part is already done.
And tonight, in Game 1 of this mini-series, the stakes are simple: act like the better team, or get embarrassed again.
Key #1 — Maintain the Focus and Intensity
This is the part where Wolves fans stare holes into the floor.
Minnesota has two modes: Kill shot early, or “We’re saving it for later”, which is Wolves code for “we’re about to lose to someone we’re favored by 9.5 against.”
You cannot walk into the Smoothie King Arena and assume this is a glorified scrimmage. New Orleans is desperate, home-crowded, and has a handful of guys who still have something to prove. If you let them hang around until the fourth, one Jose Alvarado heat-check run can send you straight back to the basketball trauma ward.
The Wolves have shown they’re capable of blowing bad teams out of the gym. They’ve also shown the ability to spend 36 minutes ignoring the scoreboard, then discover with four minutes left that basketball is a sport with consequences. This has to be a 48-minute approach. Strangle the game early. Treat it like a business trip, not a sightseeing tour.
Key #2 — Dominate the Paint
Zion Williamson is currently listed as a game-time decision. When Zion is healthy against Minnesota, and that’s a sentence we only get to say twice a year, he has done real damage. The combination of size, burst, and downhill gravity turns every possession into a demolition derby. If Williamson plays, the Wolves’ trio of Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle, and Naz Reid needs to form a wall. Box Zion out. Meet him at the rim. Put him in the spin cycle of arms and elbows and angry 7-footers. Limit the second-chance points. Make the Pelicans take the long, miserable path to scoring instead of the two-foot layup buffet they’ve gotten in past matchups.
Jonas Valanciunas isn’t around anymore to haunt Timberwolves nightmares, but complacency is. Minnesota should own the paint. If they don’t, something is very wrong.
Key #3 — Get Jaden McDaniels Involved
There’s a version of the Timberwolves that is a terrifying championship machine. That version exists on nights where the Wolves’ offense has three heads:
- Edwards torching the perimeter and attacking the basket
- Julius bullying the block
- McDaniels hunting rim pressure and open threes
When Jaden is aggressive, the Wolves are nearly unbeatable. When he’s a 6’10” ghost lurking in the weakside corner, the Wolves are a 3rd-quarter scoring drought waiting to happen.
This is a perfect game for him to reassert himself. Finch needs to instruct his starters to get Jaden touches early. Let him attack driving lanes. Let him warm up the jumper. You don’t need a Jaden breakout performance to beat New Orleans… but it would be a hell of a momentum builder for the month ahead.
Key #4 — No ISO-ball Vacation
The Wolves have two All-NBA talents, and they know it. The problem is sometimes that knowledge translates to the worst kind of basketball: “your turn, my turn.”
Against a team like the Pelicans, ISO feeds the monster. That’s the trap: “I’ll just cook this defender”, “I’ll just bail us out from 28 feet”, “I’ll just get mine.”
And suddenly you’re in the fourth, tied at 96, and the bottom ticker says “MIN 4th quarter turnovers: 7”.
We’ve seen what the Wolves look like when they move the ball. Donte DiVincenzo gets clean looks in rhythm. McDaniels becomes a maniacal slasher. Gobert becomes a lob magnet. Julius becomes a facilitator instead of an oxygen thief. Movement begets movement.
If Minnesota makes this a highlight contest, they’ll regret it. If they make it a clinic, they’ll cruise.
Final Thoughts: Easy Wins Are Never Easy
This trip should be two wins. Period. You don’t need Anthony Edwards to go nuclear. You don’t need Julius Randle to summon another triple-double. You simply need to do the boring things champions do:
- Rebound
- Defend with purpose
- Share the ball
- Don’t gift-wrap turnovers
- Don’t let bad teams believe they’re good
New Orleans is inferior. Full stop. But inferior teams with home crowds and nothing to lose have destroyed Wolves teams in the past. We’ve seen it happen. We’ve lived it. We still have PTSD from it.
Minnesota needs to treat this Southern swing like a job, not a vacation. Handle business. Walk out 13–8. Then do it again and go home 14–8.
The Wolves don’t need fireworks in the Big Easy. They need a broom.
