Minnesota Timberwolves at Portland Trailblazers
Date: October 22nd, 2025
Time: 9:00 PM CDT
Location: Moda Center
Television Coverage: FanDuel Sports Network – North
Radio Coverage: Wolves App, iHeart Radio
Do you remember that horrible, sinking, gut-twisting feeling as Game 5 of the 2025 Western Conference Finals slipped away? Of course you do. You can probably still see the Thunder’s confetti falling in slow motion, like a recurring stress dream. That night, Oklahoma City didn’t just beat Minnesota.
They exposed them. It was like watching a prizefighter realize, mid-bout, that the other guy has a longer reach, faster hands, and an extra lung. The Wolves weren’t there yet. Not on OKC’s level. Not then.
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But that was May. And May feels like a different lifetime.
Now it’s October. The bruises have healed, the excuses have faded, and this version of the Timberwolves, somehow both the same and completely different, is about to take another swing. Sure, the summer didn’t come with a blockbuster headline. No Kevin Durant trade, no desperate retooling. Nickeil Alexander-Walker walked, but otherwise? The band stayed together. And for all the “they stood pat, they’re done improving” takes that have floated around the national media, that stability might actually be the story.
Because here’s the quiet truth: the Timberwolves finally look like a real basketball program. Not a collection of cool parts. Not a “maybe this works if we squint.” A functioning, balanced, grown-up basketball team.
The Ant Ascension
It all starts with Anthony Edwards, obviously. He’s the sun everything else orbits. He’s 24 now, and we’ve seen the evolution in real time. He’s already the best two-way guard in the league, and his shot chart keeps expanding like a video game map. If the midrange jumper he’s been repping all summer is legit, then buckle up, because we’re going to see the best version of Ant we’ve ever seen. Maybe the best version yet of a Minnesota superstar period.
And that’s the thing about this group: as Ant levels up, so do the young players surrounding him. Terrence Shannon Jr. looks ready to be the microwave scorer this bench needed. Jaylen Clark’s energy has “I’m going to ruin your night” potential defensively. Rob Dillingham might actually solve the Mike Conley backup minutes issue, which, if you watched last season, you know is like saying someone found the cure for hangovers. The young guys have real roles now, not just “break glass in case of injury” cameos.
Randle, Rewired
Then there’s Julius Randle. Last year started off like an awkward marriage. By December, Wolves Twitter was ready to send him back to Manhattan in a crate. But credit where it’s due: he adapted. He stopped pounding the air out of the ball, started hitting cutters, and suddenly became the bruising secondary playmaker Finch envisioned all along. By April, he was torching the Lakers and Warriors in the playoffs, and for a few nights, he was Minnesota’s best player. If that version sticks — the self-aware, team-first, still-a-bulldozer version — he’s the perfect co-star for Ant. The Wolves don’t need him to be Batman. They just need him to be an oversized Robin with a mean streak.
Depth, Chemistry, and the Conley Question
And then we arrive at the great Minnesota existential riddle: what happens when Mike Conley sits?
Last year’s answer: mild panic, confusion, and the basketball equivalent of spinning in circles. Conley’s leadership and IQ are invaluable. He’s basically a human stabilizer bar, but he’s 37 and the Wolves can’t drive him into the ground. Enter Dillingham, DiVincenzo, and some creative lineups that’ll ask Ant and even Randle to handle the rock. The goal is simple: survive those non-Conley minutes without turning every possession into an escape room puzzle. Finch has the pieces. Now it’s about trust.
Energy. Hustle. And Exorcising Portland.
The ghosts still live in Portland, though. Remember last fall’s back-to-back debacle? Minnesota rolled into Moda Center like they were already 2–0, then got smacked twice by a young Blazer team. Those losses didn’t just sting. They exposed the Wolves’ biggest flaw: entitlement. They thought they could coast. They learned the hard way that in the NBA, you don’t get to skip steps.
That’s what makes tonight important. Not so much because beating Portland in October matters for standings, but because it’s the tone-setter. The Wolves can’t afford to “feel their way” into this season. They need to walk in angry, focused, and hungry. Ant has to treat it like Game 7 energy, not preseason cardio. Randle needs to bring that playoff force. Rudy has to control the paint. The wings, Jaden, DiVincenzo, TSJ, Clark, have to make sure Portland’s young guards don’t get comfortable. And the bench? This is their moment to show that Minnesota has ten guys who belong in any playoff rotation.
Big Picture
This team is deeper, more cohesive, and more dangerous than casual fans realize. The narrative that “they didn’t improve” misses the point. Minnesota’s improvement was internal. The chemistry that eluded them for five months last season finally clicked in March and April. That continuity is the offseason upgrade.
Look, we all saw what OKC did to them. The Wolves have a chip on their shoulder the size of Target Center. But that’s the beauty of continuity. The lessons actually stick this time. If this team keeps that edge, plays like the underdog that knows it’s not anymore, and gets MVP-level Ant for 82 games?
Well, that “horrible feeling” from last May might finally be replaced by a new one — the feeling you get when you realize your team actually belongs on the mountaintop.
Game one is the first step.
