Game Preview #21 – Timberwolves at Pelicans

Minnesota Timberwolves at New Orleans Pelicans
date: 2 December 2025
Time: 7:00 pm CST
Place: 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 consecutive home wins against plus-500 teams, the Minnesota Timberwolves now take a mini-road swing from Mississippi to New Orleans. The Pelicans sat in the basement of the Western Conference standings with three wins in three nights, two games against the team. On paper it looks like a gift. a relief. A reset button after late November felt as if you were stuck in an escape room, where every clue was that the Timberwolves were going to hand the ball to the other team in the final minutes. Following this stretch against New Orleans, seven of eight games will be played at Target Center. If you’re a 12-8 team looking to climb the Western Conference ladder, this is where you can feast.

But Wolves fans have been around long enough to know the drill. Exactly a year ago, Minnesota walked into a strange situation: back-to-back road games against the weak Portland Trail Blazers. Everyone decided to win two. In response, the Wolves produced one of the most embarrassing face-plants of the entire season, and lost both games at the Moda Centre.

The Wolves can no longer afford those soul-crushing breakdowns. This team is considered 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. This is no coincidence, it is a sign of maturity. They have beaten the teams they have had to beat on schedule, which Wolves have historically been unable to accomplish.

But there are old demons lurking here: After throttling teams like Utah, the Wolves have slowly slipped back into a “play three quarters, panic in the fourth” mentality. We saw it against Phoenix. We saw it against Sacramento. And even in the games they won against the Celtics and Wembley’s Spurs, Wolves needed a strong late push to get out alive. Both home wins were cage matches that felt like wins by survival rather than inevitability. You watched those final minutes and wondered: “Is this team on the rise… or just getting lucky?”

So no, this trip is not a Bourbon Street vacation. This is an X-ray. A character test. A reminder that wolves are never more dangerous to themselves than when they assume the hardest work has already been 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 Focus and Intensity

This is the part where Wolves fans see the holes in the floor.

Minnesota has two methods: shoot quicklyOr “We’re saving it for later”Which is Wolves code for “We’re going to lose to someone we’re favored by 9.5 against.”

You can’t go to Smoothie King Arena and assume this is a glorified scrimmage. New Orleans is desperate, the house is full, and it has a handful of guys who still have something to prove. If you let them wait until the fourth, a Jose Alvarado heat-check run could send you straight back to the basketball trauma ward.

The Wolves have shown they are capable of taking bad teams out of the gym. He has also shown the ability to spend 36 minutes ignoring the scoreboard, and then realize with four minutes left that basketball is a game of consequences. This should be a 48 minute approach. End the game quickly. Treat it like a business trip, not a sightseeing trip.

Key #2 – Dominate the Paint

Zion Williamson is currently listed as a game-time decision. When Zion is healthy against Minnesota, and this is a sentence we only get to say twice a year, he has done real damage. The combination of size, explosion and downhill gravity turns every possession into a demolition derby. If Williamson plays, the Wolves’ trio of Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle and Nazi Reed will need to form a wall. Box Zion out. Meet him at the rim. Put him in the ring of arms and elbows and angry 7-footers. Limit second chance points. Have the Pelicans take the long, miserable route to scoring instead of the two-foot layup buffet they got in previous matchups.

Jonas Valanciunas no longer exists to give the Timberwolves nightmares, but there is complacency. Paint must be from Minnesota. If they don’t, something is very wrong.

Key #3 – Include Jaden McDaniels

There is a version of the Timberwolves that is a formidable championship machine. That version exists on nights where the Wolves offense has three heads:

When Jaden is on offense, the Wolves are nearly unbeatable. When he’s a 6’10” ghost lurking in the weak-side corner, the Wolves are looking forward to a drought in the third quarter.

This is a perfect game for him to re-establish himself. Finch will have to instruct his starting players to get early touches to Jaden. Let him attack the driving lane. Let him warm up the jumper. you don’t do that need Breakout performance from Jaden to beat New Orleans… but this will 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 turns into the worst kind of basketball: “Your turn, my turn.”

Against a team like the Pelicans, ISO feeds the monster. This is the trap: “I’ll just cook this guard”, “I’ll just throw us out at 28 feet”, “I’ll just take mine.”

And suddenly you’re down in fourth place, tied at 96, and the ticker at the bottom says “Minimum 4th Quarter Turnovers: 7”.

We’ve seen what Wolves look like when they move the ball over. Donte DiVincenzo gets clean looks in rhythm. McDaniels becomes a mad slasher. Gobert becomes a lob magnet. Julius becomes a facilitator rather than an oxygen thief. Movement gives birth to movement.

If Minnesota makes this a major contest, they will regret it. If they make it to the clinic, they will travel.

Final Thoughts: Easy wins are never easy

This journey should be one of two wins. Duration. You don’t need Anthony Edwards to embrace nuclear energy. You don’t need Julius Randle to summon another triple-double. You just need to do the same boring things that champions do:

New Orleans is inferior. Full stop. But home crowds and poor teams with nothing to lose have destroyed Wolves teams in the past. We have seen this happening. We have lived it. We still have PTSD from it.

Minnesota needs to treat this southern swing like a job, not a vacation. Take care of 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.