Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards. Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Timberwolves end pattern of 1,552 games with stunning win

By Sai Mohan | Last updated Feb 25, 2025 8:30 AM ET

The Timberwolves lumbered out of the All-Star break with back-to-back losses to the Thunder and Rockets. Down 102-80 entering the fourth quarter against the Thunder on Monday, they were on the verge of suffering a hat trick of losses.

That was until Anthony Edwards and Co. woke up. In a stunning turn of events, Minnesota outscored Oklahoma City 41-19 in the fourth quarter to force overtime before completing a 131-128 win.

The Timberwolves trailed by 16 points with 3:41 left in the fourth before going on a 16-0 run to force OT. Per ESPN Research, they became only the second team in the play-by-play era (since 1997-98) to script a win from that exact situation. Teams were 1-9,249 when trailing by at least 16 with 3:45 left before Chris Finch's men pulled off a miracle.

pic.twitter.com/OjjneeeuA7
— Timberwolves Muse (@Wolvesmuse) February 25, 2025

Teams had lost 1,552 straight games while trailing by 24+ in the 4th quarter.

Don't ever count the Wolves out pic.twitter.com/HoxSqvxIDd
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 25, 2025

The improbable comeback was all the more impressive given the quality of the opponent, the No. 1-seeded Thunder. Per OptaSTATS, no team had previously overcome a 20-point deficit against a .800 team on the road.

Tonight the @Timberwolves were:

- down by 20+ points entering the 4th
- on the road
- facing a team with an .800+ win pct

No other team in NBA history has been in that situation and come back to win the game.
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) February 25, 2025

While Edwards made the heroic game-saving block in overtime, the Timberwolves completed the comeback riding on timely clutch buckets from Naz Reid, Jaden McDaniels and rookie Terrence Shannon Jr. The Timberwolves needed all those contributions to pull off their largest comeback in the play-by-play era.

Minnesota completed a 25-point 2nd half comeback to WIN IT in OT

It's their largest comeback of the play-by-play era (1997-98)!

Here's how they did it ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/m3m59sVxJW
— NBA (@NBA) February 25, 2025

So, where does the comeback rank in NBA history? According to ESPN Research, the Timberwolves pulled off the fourth-largest fourth-quarter comeback in the play-by-play era, trailing only the 2002 Lakers (27 versus Mavericks), 2017 Hawks (26 versus Cavaliers) and 2019 Nets (25 versus Kings).

The Timberwolves are garnering the reputation of the "comeback kids" over the past few years. Lest we forget, they overcame a 20-point deficit against the Nuggets in Game 7 of the West semifinals last year.

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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