Minnesota Timberwolves vs. San Antonio Spurs
date: November 30, 2025
Time: 6:00 pm CST
Place: target center
Television coverage: FanDuel Sports Network – North
Radio Coverage: KFAN FM, Wolves App, iHeart Radio
When my two sons were born, I made a conscious decision that I would not force Timberwolves fandom on them. That was not altruism. This was the responsibility of the original parents. Making a kid root for the 2010s Wolves was the equivalent of handing them a paper bag and asking them to wear it on their head for the next 15 years. If you grew up watching Luke Ridnour drip around the clock, you know exactly what I mean.
Instead, I let them choose their own NBA allegiances, as if I were raising two free-range chickens. Naturally, they headed to Golden State and Boston. So now I live in New Jersey, in exile to the Wolves, surrounded by two little pioneer dynasties that have already seen their teams host the parade.
When I sat down to watch Wolves-Celtics with my youngest son, I was already stressed. He was worried that the Boston team was missing Tatum. I was, quietly horrified, thinking that Minnesota, down to 12 in the last minutes, was about to find a new and creative way to ruin my Thanksgiving weekend. I also tried to lighten the mood when he expressed fear of pending loss: “Don’t worry. You’ve got us where you want us.,
A joke. Callbacks failed for Phoenix and Sacramento. basketball version of them final destination Movies where inevitable disaster lurks around every corner.
Careless turnover. Brutal isobol. Ant and Randall are taking ill-advised pull-up threes. Suddenly the Celtics tied the game, and the Target Center crowd felt like 19,000 people watching a horror movie and realizing the killer wasn’t dead yet. Perhaps there was no more appropriate image than when the TV switched on two troubled teenagers signaling a time-out and Finch standing silently watching this team pee in their own foot.
Only the patron saint of maturity, Mike Conley, saved the moment with a cold-blooded corner three. And then Ant managed to turn a lost dribble into a messy shot to seal the game. Finally, mercifully, the wolves exhaled.
Let’s be honest: That game should have been a celebration. First win over a team above .500 all year. First comeback from double digit margin. Instead, we spent the final minutes imagining a third straight late-game explosion in a span of eight days.
The monkey is technically off the wolves’ back – but he’s still in the room, staring at us, holding the knife.
That’s why tonight, ironically, becomes a gift.
San Antonio enters Target Center without Victor Wembanyama and without Stephen Cassel. The No. 7’5” Eiffel Tower is rotating each floater into the orchestra pit. No freight trains are hitting the rim. Just Spurs, bench people, and a giant neon sign flashing: “Don’t mess this up.”
Vembanyama being out doesn’t guarantee anything. We saw this movie in Sacramento last week. But the opportunity is real. Minnesota has a chance to heal the emotional wound of last week, defeat its second consecutive +0.500 opponent, and end November on a high note.
If they don’t? We are immediately back to therapy.
1. Match the intensity of the spurs to the starting tip.
This is not the 19-win Spurs of recent memory. They beat Denver in the NBA Cup decider and are feeling themselves. This kind of victory for a young roaster is like tequila shots before karaoke – suddenly everyone thinks they’re Beyoncé. San Antonio’s role players will look to tonight as a showcase game. This is their chance to prove that they deserve some minutes even when Victor returns. This makes them dangerous.
Meanwhile, the Wolves will battle three enemies: spurs, tired feet, and their own bad habits. If they prove to be bad, slow, or entitled, if they think they can turn the ball over and win on talent alone, San Antonio will drag them into a rock fight. We have seen this before also.
This should be a “bury them early” game, not a fourth quarter mercy killing. Jump on them, get up 18, turn the crowd into a nightclub, and go into cruise control before the starters’ feet remind them that it’s the second night of a back-to-back.
2. Celebrate in paint like it’s leftover Thanksgiving dinner.
If there was ever a night for Rudy Gobert to walk the floor like the only Frenchman who mattered, it was this night. No 7’5″ god behind him. No generational rim protection. Just Rudy, a pack of undersized Spurs, and an endless buffet of lobs, putbacks, and tip-ins.
Naz Reid should lick her chops. Julius Randle should light up the block. It’s a “get your paper” game for the front lines. San Antonio without Wembley is a team that is begging to be punched in the face. If the Wolves turn it into a perimeter shootout instead of a paint attack on the freight train, they deserve whatever humiliation happens next.
3. Fix the offense. Tonight is about rhythm, not Hero Ball.
When the Wolves play team basketball, they look like a conference finalist. When they play isolation basketball, they look like a fever dream starring Ricky Davis. We saw a lot of that late against Boston, with Edwards forced into a contested step-back, Randle forcing 15 dribbles into a turnover, and a weak kick-out leading to a 24-second-clock violation. The Celtics should have finished with eight minutes remaining. Instead, the Wolves handed them oxygen tanks.
Against a shorthanded Spurs team, the Wolves don’t need to go star-for-star. They need to find their structure again. Agitation. Drives. Kick-out. Ant is dismantling the defense, Julius is playing two feet away, Deonte and Jaden are punishing guys in the corners. Not everything has to be a mixtape highlight. Sometimes professional basketball is as simple as “find the open man, hit open shots.”
4. Julius Randle needs to regain his form.
In the first month of the season, Randle was the Wolves’ adult in the room. With Ant injured, he stabilized the offense, bullied smaller defenders, got out of duels, and basically told everyone: “Relax, I’ve got this.”
That Julius has gone missing last week. We’ve seen bad shots, tunnel vision, questionable drives and turnovers that seemed like he was telegraphing the broadcast team to himself. Wolves fans don’t need the Knicks’ version of Randle. They need the playoff version from last spring: the controlled bruiser who gets 20, 10 and 8 without exploding team chemistry.
Tonight should be his reset button. Wembley doesn’t mean easy paint touches, mismatches and Hennepin Avenue-sized driving lanes. Enter the body. to attract attention. Kick the shooters. There is no need to take revenge for everything.
The point is simple: don’t give it back
There is no excuse for an injured Spurs team to miss a home game.
Tiredness? Everyone is tired.
back to back? Professionals deal with it.
Self-confidence? You just beat Boston.
The Wolves have spent the past week inventing new forms of self-sabotage. At last he got the taste of liberation. A win over the defending champions should have broken the spell in their comeback attempt. Now they have a chance to really pick up the pace instead of breaking bars every other night.
12-8 is not perfection. This is not destiny. But this is stability. If you don’t want to jockey with San Antonio for positioning in March and April, this is the first step toward climbing the Western ladder that you must climb. This is a chance to end November not as a punchline, but as an actual basketball team with something to look forward to.
The Wolves don’t need any miracles tonight. They just need to play like adults for four quarters.
<a href=