Friday night’s NBA Cup battle between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns was an instant classic, but the Wolves left the arena on the losing end after a collapse of epic proportions in the final minute.
A disastrous sequence of basketball from the Timberwolves pic.twitter.com/swD5xqYfzc
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) November 22, 2025
After trailing by as many as 18 points in the first half, Minnesota rallied with a strong third quarter, outscoring the Suns 33-19, to take a one-point lead into the fourth quarter. It was a back-and-forth, blow-for-blow affair in the fourth until the Wolves built a 113-105 lead with 1:09 to play. That’s when all hell broke loose.
Royce O’Neal’s layup cut the lead to 113-107 with 49.3 seconds to go. Then, Anthony Edwards’ inbound pass was stolen and Jordan Goodwin hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit to three points with 43.4 seconds remaining. Julius Randle turned the ball over 18 seconds later, and Goodwin raced down to the other end for a bucket to make it 113-112 with 21.4 seconds left.
The Suns fouled Edwards with 12.7 seconds left, giving Edwards, who had 41 points in the game, a chance to push the lead back to three points. But the Ant-Man missed both free throws, and after a Suns timeout, Collin Gillespie checked into the game, drove by Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo and buried a short jumper for a 114-113 lead with 6.4 seconds to go.
Randle’s heave from beyond the three-point line at the buzzer wasn’t close.
Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards – who had 41 points – missed two free throws with 12.7 seconds to go, giving the Suns a chance at the win.
There were 12 lead changes, and the game was tied five times. What’s more is that Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks both fouled out, so the Suns found a way to rally from an impossible situation without two of their best players. Gillespie played 34 minutes off the bench and scored a season-high 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting.
Edwards led the Wolves with 41 points on 14 of 24 shooting. He also busted out of a historic slump from three-point range, hitting 5 of 11 shots from deep.
The loss drops the Wolves to 10-6 overall, and 2-1 in the group play stage of the NBA Cup. They wrap up group play next Wednesday against Oklahoma City, and they might need a win to advance to the NBA Cup playoffs.
