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Wolves-Rockets Featured Pure Chaos and the Biggest OT Comeback Ever

The Timberwolves were up by 11 late in regulation. Then down by 13 in OT. And through all the madness, they pulled off an unbelievable win.
Will Ragatz|
Mar 25, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo (0) works around Houston Rockets guard Amen Thompson (1) in the first quarter at Target Center.
Mar 25, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo (0) works around Houston Rockets guard Amen Thompson (1) in the first quarter at Target Center. | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

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Minnesota Timberwolves

The ending to Wednesday night's Timberwolves-Rockets game at Target Center has to be seen to be believed. And even those up late enough to see it go down may not believe what they watched for a long time.

The last nine minutes of regulation and overtime featured two massive runs, some highly questionable Scott Foster officiating, a bloody lip, and the largest OT comeback in the history of the NBA (or at least in the play-by-play tracking era). But before we get into that, let's set the stage.

In an important clash between Western Conference foes jockeying for playoff positioning, Minnesota and Houston were playing a fairly unremarkable game through 44 minutes of regulation. It was an intense, physical affair that featured an abnormally tough shooting night for Kevin Durant. The Wolves managed to create just enough offense without their superstar, Anthony Edwards, to take an 11-point lead via a five-point Jaden McDaniels spurt with a little under four minutes to play.

At that point, the Wolves had roughly a 98 percent chance to win, according to ESPN. And then one of the craziest finishes in NBA history began.

The Rockets cut their deficit to nine. And then referee Scott Foster — who has a history of making himself part of the story — called a questionable flagrant foul on Julius Randle for running through an Alperen Sengun screen. Sengun made two free throws and a dunk on the ensuing possession, and suddenly Minnesota's lead was down to five.

Durant then got a dunk. And then another to bring the Rockets within a point. On the other end of the floor, the Wolves were turning it over left and right. Durant, who was just 3 for 14 earlier in the game, drilled a tough midrange shot over Randle to put Houston up 94-93. They had scored 12 straight. That is, until Randle responded with a floater on the other end to put the Wolves back on top.

And the madness was just beginning. On the other end, Durant got the ball and was isolated on Rudy Gobert after a switch. He created some space, but Gobert recovered to block KD's jumper in highlight fashion for his fifth block of the night.

The Rockets still had possession and a sideline inbounds. And with Sengun trying to break free from Gobert, officials called an away-from-the-play on the Wolves' center before the ball was inbounded. That meant the Rockets got one free throw to tie the game, which Durant made. They also got the ball back. (Oh, and Gobert fouled out). On that final play, Naz Reid stole a Durant pass and got the ball ahead to Randle, whose game-winning layup attempt was blocked by a leaping Sengun at the buzzer.

After blocking the shot, Sengun came crashing to the floor and bloodied his lip.

Somehow, the game was headed to overtime. And it only got crazier from there. The Rockets began OT with a three from Reed Sheppard, who had hit one of his first nine attempts from deep. With Houston up five, Reid was — for reasons that remain unclear — given a technical foul and then ejected from the game by Foster after a charge call on Reid was upheld on review. Durant hit one more free throw and then buried a three to put the Rockets up nine.

After dunks by Amen Thompson and Sengun, the Rockets were up 108-95 with three minutes to play. Dating back to regulation, they had gone on an absurd 26-2 run. At that point, well after 11 p.m. central time, many Wolves fans probably turned their TVs off. There are almost certainly some fans who left the building. The Rockets' win percentage was 99.7, per ESPN's model.

Anyone who stopped watching or exited the building missed history.

It started with a corner three from veteran Mike Conley, who was playing for the first time in over three weeks due to injuries to Edwards and Ayo Dosumu. Conley was 0 for 4 from deep at that point, but his seemingly harmless three went in and cut it to a ten-point game. Then came an and-one putback from Kyle Anderson that cut it to seven. Then a rare eight-second violation from the Rockets, followed by a Donte DiVincenzo layup to make it a five-point game.

The Wolves got another stop. Randle drove for a layup to cut the deficit to three. The Wolves got another stop. DiVincenzo buried a three from the top of the key — his fifth of the night — to tie it at 108 and send the crowd into a frenzy.

The Wolves got yet another stop, with the rebound secured by Terrence Shannon Jr. — who had entered the game for the first time in the final minutes of overtime. And that's when Randle, using a slight little push-off to create space, buried a stepback jumper to put the Wolves up 110-108 and complete a 15-0 run that spanned about 2:36 of game time.

But the game wasn't over. The Rockets had a chance, and Durant drew a foul on Randle. All he needed was to make two free throws to perhaps send the game to a second overtime. But Durant, who had made his first ten shots at the line, missed the first one short. He intentionally missed the second one, and the Rockets had one final chance after the ball went out of bounds. But they never got a shot off as the final buzzer sounded on a truly improbable, unbelievable Timberwolves victory.

Even after laying it all out or watching the highlights, it's hard to wrap your head around what just happened. For most of OT, the Wolves were playing without their leading scorer in McDaniels (who left with some sort of injury), Gobert (fouled out), and Reid (ejected), not to mention Edwards and Dosunmu. And they still found a way to close the game on a 15-0 run and escape with a huge win — one they seemed to have wrapped up themselves with four minutes left in regulation.

With the dust settled, the Wolves are 45-28 and 1.5 games up on the Rockets in the No. 5 seed in the West. They get a couple days to decompress after a night of chaos before taking on the Pistons on Saturday.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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