Timberwolves let one get away against the not-quite-last-place Pelicans

Chris Hine, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Mar 19, 2025

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MINNEAPOLIS — In letting go of so many winnable games earlier this season, the Timberwolves have made themselves vulnerable to missing the playoffs this season via the play-in tournament.

Without much margin for error, every night from here to season’s end gets magnified. Every loss is lost ground or a missed opportunity to keep up with the competition, and that’s why Monday’s loss to the shorthanded Pacers hurt so much.

“I know who’s above us and who’s below us, but … I try not to get too deep to it, because it’s still up to us,” forward Jaden McDaniels said. “We still got to win games to be able to be in the running.”

Perhaps Monday could serve as a wake-up call for the Wolves ahead of two games against a similarly depleted Pelicans squad, the second-worst team in the Western Conference.

But it didn’t, and the Wolves lost another game they should have won, 119-115 to New Orleans. Zion Williamson scored 29 for New Orleans on 12-for-16 shooting while Anthony Edwards had 29 for the Wolves on 5 for 19.

Even as their offense has improved this season, the Wolves want to be a defensive-minded team. Their defense wasn’t up to par Monday or Wednesday, and they tried to win in spite of that as New Orleans shot 53%.

The Wolves trailed 96-91 entering the fourth quarter, and it stayed close while the Wolves played the first few minutes with Edwards on the bench. When he checked back in, it was 103-103 with 6 minutes, 58 seconds to play. With the Wolves down three and 3:08 to play, Edwards knotted it back up 112-112 with a 3-pointer, but Bruce Brown put New Orleans ahead 115-113 with his own trey.

The Wolves tied the score when both Naz Reid and Julius Randle hit one of two free throws on the same possession before Kelly Olynyk scored to put New Orleans back ahead 117-115.

Edwards and Reid missed on consecutive Wolves possessions before the Pelicans rebounded a Brown miss and Williamson scored to put New Orleans up four with 13.6 seconds remaining.

Gobert in foul trouble early

The Wolves lamented their start in Monday’s loss to Indiana, and their start Wednesday became more difficult when Rudy Gobert got in early foul trouble with two fouls by the 8-minute, 8-second mark.

But they were able to get by in those minutes thanks to a strong start from Mike Conley, who started the night 3 for 3 for eight points. That included a pair of 3-pointers.

Edwards got his scoring throughout the first quarter at the free-throw line, four times; he got there 20 times against Indiana. He finished the quarter with nine points. The Pelicans didn’t make a 3 in the first quarter on three attempts, but they only trailed the Wolves 30-24 after one.

Pelicans take the lead

The Wolves went on an 8-0 run to start the second and pushed their lead to 14 as Gobert returned. But the Wolves let down their guard after that, and New Orleans went on an 11-0 run of its own that knotted the score 43-43 with 6:49 left in the quarter. The Pelicans took the lead on a Jordan Hawkins 3 following a Chris Finch timeout and extended that run to 14-0. They began heating up from outside, hitting five of their first six from deep.

The Wolves trailed New Orleans 62-61 at halftime after the Pelicans shot 53% in the first half. Williamson, who came in averaging 28.4 points in his career against the Wolves, had 16 in the first half.

Wolves get sloppy in third

The score stayed close coming out of halftime, neither team leading by more than five throughout the third. The Wolves got careless with the ball to the tune of nine turnovers.

Williamson continued to bully the Wolves with seven points in his opening shift of the quarter and forced McDaniels to the bench with four fouls. Williamson was up to 27 by the end of the third and the Wolves trailed 96-91 entering the fourth.

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