Sleepy Wolves blasted by Hawks in NYE matinee despite Edwards' big game

Sometimes, it's pretty easy to tell when one team simply wants it more than the other. Having lost seven straight games, the Atlanta Hawks came out with all kinds of energy and intensity for Wednesday's afternoon tipoff on New Year's Eve. The Timberwolves were nowhere near matching them in that regard, and it led to an ugly 126-102 loss for Minnesota at State Farm Arena.

It's the Wolves' most lopsided defeat of the season, barely topping a 23-point loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden in early November. It's their biggest regular season margin of defeat since a 26-point loss to the Knicks in December 2024.

Anthony Edwards came to play for the Wolves, at least on the offensive end of the floor, in their yearly game in his home city. He scored 24 of their 49 points in the first half and finished with 30 in the game, all of them coming in the first three quarters. But outside of Edwards and Julius Randle (19 points), no one else provided much offense. Donte DiVincenzo, Bones Hyland, and Jaylen Clark were a combined 3 for 19 from the field. The Wolves turned the ball over 14 times.

And the bigger issue is that no one on the Wolves' roster, their two stars included, offered any sort of resistance on the defensive end. The Hawks shot 49 percent from the field and 38 percent from deep for the game. They had 38 assists on 51 made baskets. Everything was far too easy for Atlanta, especially near the basket, as they had a 64-36 advantage in points in the paint. Breakout star Jalen Johnson torched Minnesota for 34 points on 15-of-22 shooting and added 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Onyeka Okongwu and Kristaps Porzingis combined for 33 points.

The Hawks didn't even need much from their second-leading scorer, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who had 11 points on 12 shots in his first game against the Timberwolves since leaving Minnesota this offseason. NAW came into this one averaging 20.6 points per game.

The first quarter wasn't great for the Wolves (they lost it 26-33), though that's nothing new. But instead of turning up the effort and execution in the second, they lost that period by 14. Chris Finch's team trailed by as many as 27 points in the first half and went into the break down by 21.

The Wolves went on a little spurt to start the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 14 points. But that was as close as they'd get. The Hawks pushed it back to 25 to end the third and led by at least 20 for the entirety of the fourth. There ended up being over half a quarter of garbage time for the Wolves' reserves to get some action. Finch pulled all of his starters with around eight minutes left, which led to Edwards throwing a towel in frustration and heading to the locker room.

The Timberwolves (21-13) will look to shake this one off in their first game of 2026, which comes in Miami against the Heat on Saturday at 4 p.m. CT.

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