Takeaways: Timberwolves melt down late for second game in a row, fall to Kings in overtime

Chris Hine, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Nov 25, 2025

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The Timberwolves did it again.

For the second consecutive game they gave away a victory, this time losing on the road to a lowly Sacramento team 117-112 in overtime on Monday night after blowing Friday’s game at Phoenix.

The Wolves relinquished a 10-point lead late in the fourth quarter before falling in an overtime in which they never led. Poor shot selection in the fourth quarter and OT, plus some mind-boggling turnovers in the extra session, enabled the Kings, who were without big man Domantas Sabonis, to beat the Wolves at home for the first time in seven meetings dating to February 2022.

Sacramento’s DeMar DeRozan caught a rhythm down the stretch and into the extra session, finishing with 33 points. He scored 14 in the fourth quarter and overtime. Anthony Edwards led the Wolves with 43 points, but he took some questionable shots in isolation late in the game as the Wolves halfcourt offense ground to a halt.

The Wolves had two turnovers on bad passes in the backcourt in the overtime, just as they had two turnovers in the backcourt late against Phoenix. Then, as the icing on the cake, Julius Randle threw away an inbound pass with 19.2 seconds left and the Wolves down four. The Wolves lost to a team with a losing record for the first time this season.

Fourth-quarter lead evaporates again

Mike Conley sparked an early fourth-quarter run that put the Wolves up 91-79. He drew an offensive foul before he hit Rudy Gobert for a lob dunk on the next trip down, then nailed a three following a Wolves stop for a 7-0 Wolves an the 12-point lead.

The Wolves scored only two points over the next 5:15 before Edwards snapped the drought with a free throw. He then followed that with a pair of free throws, then a three-point play that put the Wolves up 99-89 with 3:04 to play. Then the Kings scored 10 consecutive points in a flash as Edwards missed two straight shots and Jaden McDaniels missed a three, as the Wolves offense bogged down in isolation late. DeRozan tied the score at 101-101 with a pair of free throws before missing a midrange free-throw jumper toward the end of regulation, extending the game an extra five minutes.

Inconsistent first half

Both teams played a pretty similar first half. They each had seven turnovers, scored five points off those turnovers and each had 13 fast-break points. The Wolves shot 44%, the Kings shot 42%. The first and second quarters were 27-23 Wolves. There was stretches of play when neither team had much interest in playing good offense, but the Wolves did so for longer stretches.

After opening a 9-2 lead in the first 3:19, the Wolves went 3:36 without scoring a point as the Kings tied the score. the Wolves looked a bit disinterested and allowed the Kings to tie it.

In the second quarter, Edwards sparked a 17-7 run with some good defense and five of his 17 first-half points. But with Gobert off the floor, coach Chris Finch opted not to put in Jaylen Clark to help shore up the defense, and Sacramento had a 9-0 run to close the half before a Donte DiVincenzo three made it 54-46 at the half.

Shannon returns to lineup and rotation

Terrence Shannon Jr. made his return to the rotation after missing nine games because of a toe bruise. Play-by-play broadcaster Alan Horton mentioned on the telecast Shannon had been trying to play with the injury before sitting out for around three weeks.

Shannon was back in the mix as he checked in at the 5:05 mark of the first quarter. Finch deployed 10 players in the first half as both Clark and Rob Dillingham saw playing time, so Shannon’s return did not mean someone else sat on the bench.

At one point in the first quarter, Finch had a lineup of Naz Reid playing at center along with a lineup of Conley, Edwards, Clark and Shannon.

Edwards gets first technical

Last season, Edwards received more than 16 technical fouls, which meant he was suspended for a game, a game the Wolves lost at last-place Utah. It took until Game 17 for Edwards to pick up his first technical of the 2025-26 season, which came in the third quarter after he complained about multiple calls.

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