Minnesota booted away another game in baffling fashion Monday in Sacramento, Calif. The Wolves squandered a 10-point lead in the final three minutes before falling in overtime to the hapless Kings.
It was the second straight game the Timberwolves gave away after appearing to take control late.
Chris Finch rubs forehead
Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch reacts during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, Nov. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Randall Benton)
It was a comedy of errors that led to the loss, most of which were mind-numbing mental miscues. How a team can allow that to happen twice in as many outings is anyone’s guess. But perhaps the Wolves are more susceptible to it than most.
They tend to play an emotional brand of basketball, with high highs and low lows. When they’re good, they’re great. When they’re bad, well …
The roster comprises a number of high-variance players, and only leans further in that direction as Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert age and veterans such as free-agent losses Kyle Anderson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker are replaced by young, potentially high-upside draft picks that require time and patience to pan out.
That roster transformation taking place when Naz Reid, Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards are all still in their mid-20s can lead to stretches of head-scratching basketball.
Minnesota will have bad performances. Covering up one leak will undoubtedly unplug another. The quality of play will ebb and flow far more than it does for the average top-tier team.
And there may only be so much Chris Finch and the Wolves’ coaching staff can do about it. Perhaps they can add more structure, call a timeout here instead of there, emphasize fundamental for the thousandth time.
But the roster is the roster. Edwards and Julius Randle are going to turn the ball over, sometimes in key moments. They’re going to over-isolate at inopportune times. Streaky shooters are going to go cold. Gobert is going to struggle to finish at the rim.
But what shouldn’t happen is for Minnesota to take something that works and change it to create new problems. That took place Monday in Sacramento. The Wolves seemed to have found a solution for its defensive frontcourt problem when Gobert is on the bench.
Teams scored at will on the Wolves when Randle and Reid shared the floor at the season’s outset. That two-man combo shared an abysmal defensive rating of 135 points allowed per 100 possessions through Halloween. Then Finch and Co. found a solution by playing Minnesota’s two power forwards with McDaniels and Jaylen Clark. Those lineups proved to feature enough perimeter defense to negate the lack of size and rim protection.
When Randle and Reid play with Clark, the defensive rating drops to a far more respectable 115, and that’s with a couple less-than-stellar defensive performances for the unit against Washington and Phoenix. There was proof of concept.
Which made it curious when Minnesota elected to play Randle and Reid without Clark at all on Monday, and frequently without McDaniels. The results reverted to the early season returns. In nine minutes of Reid and Randle, the Wolves were outscored by 10 points. The defense was bad, and the offense wasn’t good enough to counteract it.
Reid and Randle’s stretches of shared time came at critical junctures. Late in the first half, Minnesota led by 14 before that lineup allowed Sacramento to get within eight by the break. At the end of the third, the Wolves’ 11-point advantage was trimmed to five heading to the final frame.
Those were the spurts Sacramento needed to stay within striking distance, the Kings did it against lineups Minnesota has plenty of data to suggest don’t work. Perhaps the return of Terrence Shannon Jr. from injury tossed Minnesota’s rotations into flux. Finch played 10 guys on Monday, which cut Clark’s minutes to just six.
But some things — such as defensive stability — must be prioritized if Minnesota is to even hope to achieve a certain level of championship consistency.
There’s enough variance on this year’s roster. The Wolves can’t create more by reintroducing issues they’ve previously solved.