Timberwolves rebound with blowout win over Zion Williamson-less Pelicans

There was no suspense Friday night as Minnesota took care of business in a game it absolutely needed to win.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle goes to the basket against the New Orleans Pelicans in the first quarter at Target Center in Minneapolis on March 21, 2025. / Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

The last time the Minnesota Timberwolves took on the New Orleans Pelicans, just two days prior, they shot themselves in the foot just one too many times on their way to a frustrating and disappointing loss. It seemed they learned their lesson.

There wasn't any suspense Friday night at Target Center in Minneapolis as the Wolves cruised to a 134-93 blowout win.

While it was a slow start for the Wolves (41-31), who even found themselves down by four points to the Zion Williamson-less Pelicans (19-52) after they started the second quarter on a 12-2 run, Minnesota made sure it had an appropriate response. The Wolves immediately answered with a 12-0 run of their own that included a nice spark from Jaylen Clark, who knocked down a 3-pointer and came up with a steal that led to transition points, and never looked back from there.

The Minnesota lead expanded to 14 points by halftime and quickly surpassed 20 in the third quarter. It was the result of contributions from up and down the roster. Julius Randle got back to doing a bit of everything like he did during the eight-game win streak, finishing with 20 points, six rebounds and five assists. Anthony Edwards, who briefly exited the game during the third quarter but returned after appearing to tweak his quad, and Jaden McDaniels each scored 17 points.

Rudy Gobert had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds and had a game-best plus minus of plus-34. Naz Reid had 15 points, six assists and five boards off the bench. Donte DiVincenzo also provided a scoring punch off the bench with 13 points. Mike Conley, who didn't start as Joe Ingles got his first starting nod of the season Friday night, didn't score but had six assists and was plus-18 in just 10 minutes. Clark had 11 points and a pair of steals in another strong showing.

Ingles got the start because his family was in town for the first time this season. Ingles' son, Jacob, has autism and they decided to stay based in Orlando as they found a good school for him. Jacob recently has been able to sit through an NBA game for the first time, and Wolves coach Chris Finch started Ingles so that Jacob would be able to see him play.

"Sometimes you got to do the human thing," Finch said. "And we always talk about all these minutes matter, and those minutes matter for another reason. But someone put it in my head today as an idea to make sure that (Ingles) can see the floor, and I figured if we're gonna do it, let's do it in style. Guys were behind it, and I think it gave us just the right boost that we needed and change of energy. Not often that you get to do those types of things, but we're really happy that we could."

C.J. McCollum led the Pelicans with a team-high 15 points.

The Wolves played the right way all around, assisting on 40 of their 48 made field goals. They forced the Pelicans into 26 turnovers that they turned in to 37 points. They won the battle of the boards, a struggle last time out, 36-33.

While too often Minnesota has taken short-handed teams like the Pelicans, who remain without Dejounte Murray, too, among a slew of other key contributors, lightly, but that couldn't have been further from the case on Friday as they took care of business against an inferior opponent in a game they absolutely needed to win. Now they need to keep it rolling.

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