What more could you ask for as a Minnesota Timberwolves fan after Friday’s Oklahoma City Thunder game?
A coach getting tossed for having his players’ backs against the officials. Anthony Edwards hits a go-ahead three-pointer over phenomenal defense by Cason Wallace. Edwards provided great help defense, blocked the league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the following defensive possession, and then on the final possession. Edwards manipulated Gilgeous-Alexander to the side of the floor with Jaden McDaniels for help, and picked the ball away clean to seal a 112-107 win against a Thunder team that is now 25-3 on the season.
ANTHONY EDWARDS GO-AHEAD 3 IN THE FINAL MINUTE
THUNDER BALL, DOWN 1, 37.8 SECONDS TO GO ON PRIME! pic.twitter.com/u1n4h1wMZD
— NBA (@NBA) December 20, 2025
The game featured Bones Hyland‘s heroic shot-making. Rudy Gobert’s 7 offensive rebounds and generally dominating. Julius Randle bullying his way to the free throw line. Donte DiVincenzo and Naz Reid hit massive shots in the second half. McDaniels played near-perfect defense for 37 minutes. Terrence Shannon Jr. had a good shift and perhaps the best game of the season for Rob Dillingham.
Truly, what more could fans want from the Wolves in a sellout Prince-themed national TV game? It was so impressive that even Julius Randle couldn’t help but smile Saturday when talking about the fans.
“Oh, they was in it,” he said at practice the next day. “They didn’t like some of the foul calls, some of the non-foul calls. They got Finchy thrown out. They was in it.”
It was the culmination of a Wolves team finally putting everything together for a full game. It was a statement win.
Still, they play the 11-17 Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, at 6:00 PM central. They’ll be without Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf) and Taurean Prince, and likely without Kyle Kuzma, who is dealing with a nagging illness. There will likely be less media coverage and lower energy from the fans. The Wolves will have to overcome the perfect situation for a trap game loss.
“Hopefully, this is the beginning of our mid-season awakening,” Chris Finch said after practice on Saturday. “We’ve played good basketball at times, but I think we can play with a little more urgency at times… unfortunate losses happen during the season, but some of those we need to guard against are exactly the types of teams we’ll see tomorrow.”
If the Wolves take care of business and beat the Bucks, the victory over the Thunder will mean a lot more. In fact, the upcoming schedule is full of these trap games. The Wolves play the New York Knicks at home and the Denver Nuggets on the road next week before a game against the 7-19 Brooklyn Nets next Saturday night.
The Wolves will have an opportunity to turn the page on an issue that has plagued them for what seems like Edwards’s entire time with the organization. Play up to and beat the best teams in the league, then take care of the teams far lower in the standings. It starts with Milwaukee this Sunday.
“We just got to treat [the Bucks] like they are OKC,” McDaniels said regarding the Bucks game on Saturday. “I mean, just come out like it’s a playoff game or something. Just like you know, we don’t play as well against teams without their stars or whatever. So just having the mindset from today knowing that we got to be ready to play because they beat us last year like this without Giannis.”
Last year, the Wolves played this part of their schedule in reverse. They lost to the Giannis-less Bucks, then beat Oklahoma City right before Christmas. This year, they will have the chance to beat OKC and cement the win with a win over Milwaukee.
Fans got everything they could have asked for against the Thunder: highlights and an incredible atmosphere. The Wolves gained a statement win on the season. However, we still don’t know whether this was the start, something magical that fuels the Wolves for the rest of the season, or just another example of the same old Wolves. Luckily, we should have our answer by Sunday and in the coming weeks.