Takeaways: Timberwolves make it back-to-back victories with strong 4th quarter against Spurs

Chris Hine, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Nov 30, 2025

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Timberwolves took a double-digit lead on Saturday against the Boston Celtics and had to hang on for dear life at the finish line. They took another double-digit lead Sunday against the San Antonio Spurs, and for a change, they were able to win comfortably, securing a 125-112 victory at Target Center.

The Wolves went small, with center Rudy Gobert staying on the bench in the fourth quarter, and their offense hummed against a San Antonio team that was without its best defender in 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama.

Anthony Edwards finished with 32 points and became the Wolves’ franchise leader in 30-point games. Julius Randle had 22 points, 12 assists and six rebounds, while Naz Reid had 15 points and Donte DiVincenzo added 18.

De’Aaron Fox led the Spurs with 25. San Antonio played its seventh game in a row without Wembanyama because of a left calf strain.

With Edwards off the floor to start the fourth quarter, coach Chris Finch went with a Randle-Reid frontcourt, and the Wolves flipped a four-point deficit into a 103-98 lead just 3 minutes, 35 seconds into the quarter. Reid had six points during that spurt.

Coming out of a Spurs timeout, the Wolves kept pouring it on, with Randle making multiple great passes to either find open cutters, like when he set up Donte DiVincenzo for a layup, or start a chain of good ball movement that resulted in a Mike Conley corner 3.

It was a 25-7 run as the Spurs called multiple timeouts to stop the bleeding, and the Wolves defense finally found its footing to get stops at the defensive end after struggling for three quarters.

Wolves defense struggles inside

San Antonio thrived on the Wolves whenever the Spurs attacked the paint. No matter what lineup the Wolves had out there, the Spurs were in attack mode. Through three quarters, they were 31 for 41 from two-point range and had 52 paint points as they led 93-89 after three. The Spurs were just 7 for 25 from 3-point range.

Fox has success vs. Wolves

Fox has enjoyed playing the Wolves in his career. Coming into the evening, he was averaging 23.3 points in his career against the Wolves, the third most he has averaged against any team in his career. Coincidentally, the team he has done best against is San Antonio (25 points per game). As good as Jaden McDaniels has been guarding some of the league’s best perimeter players, he has never been able to solve Fox.

Fox again orchestrated the Spurs offense to 62 first-half points, 19 of those he scored himself. San Antonio led 62-61 at the half. Edwards had 16 while Randle had 15. But the Wolves did a better job against him in the second half, holding him to just six points.

Odd first for Edwards

Edwards was 6 for 7 for 14 points after the first quarter, but it was a weird one for him and the Wolves. He also had five turnovers in the quarter and picked up his third technical foul in four games. Edwards hadn’t earned a technical this season before Monday’s game at Sacramento. Last season, he earned the league limit of 16 and was suspended for a game late in the season.

The Wolves shot 61% in the first quarter (14 for 23), but their defense allowed San Antonio to shoot 63%, and they trailed 37-32 after one.

Spurs shorthanded

San Antonio came into the game without a few key contributors, but the injuries haven’t slowed them down much. In Wembanayma’s absence, all the Spurs did was go 5-1 in the games he missed before Sunday. San Antonio was also without reigning Rookie of the Year, point guard Stephon Castle, who was out because of a hip injury. Castle missed his fifth consecutive game.

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