National Basketball Association
Preview
Minnesota at Washington
When: 7:00 PM ET, Monday, January 13, 2025
Where: Capital One Arena, Washington, District of Columbia

Coming off a heartbreaking loss at home, the Minnesota Timberwolves head to Washington on Monday hoping to bounce back at the expense of the struggling Wizards.

Minnesota dropped a 127-125 decision to Memphis on Saturday, a byproduct of the Timberwolves giving up 21 offensive rebounds. The Grizzlies turned their work on the glass into a 25-9 advantage for second-chance points.

Minnesota ranks in the lower half of the NBA in offensive rebounding allowed for the season, checking in at No. 18 with 11.2 surrendered per game. The Timberwolves rank right in the middle of the league in second-chance points allowed per game, with the 25 given up to Memphis more than 11 above Minnesota's 13.8 average yield.

Washington, meanwhile, allows both the most offensive rebounds and second-chance points in the NBA, a few of the many contributing factors to the Wizards' league-worst record. Their woes continued on Sunday in the first leg of a back-to-back, dropping a 136-95 decision at home to Oklahoma City.

The loss was Washington's sixth straight and eight in the last nine games. The Wizards dropped their last two by a combined 74 points, as their NBA-worst scoring defense (122.7 ppg) continues to struggle.

Washington coach Brian Keefe made only one statement following Sunday's loss, focusing specifically on defensive energy.

"That's on me," Keefe said. "I didn't do a good enough job to get our guys to play a full 48 (minutes)."

A rare bright spot for the Wizards in the blowout loss was that Corey Kispert rebounded to score a team-high 17 points after going scoreless in Friday's 138-105 blowout loss to Chicago. Kispert went for a season-high 23 points in a Jan. 7 loss to Houston, then matched it the next night in Philadelphia before his 0-for-5 shooting slump against the Bulls.

As Keefe and the Wizards search for some answers to address their woes, Minnesota comes into Monday's affair having recently made some tweaks of its own. Most notably, veteran guard Mike Conley is coming off the bench after starting his first 30 games of the campaign.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told reporters on Saturday that Conley plays a valuable role in reserve duty.

"Bringing Mike off the bench, I can put him wherever I need him," Finch said. "I can bring him in early. I can hold him out. I can run him longer. I can sub him for almost anybody. I try to keep his minutes down, and starting him, trying to get him to play with certain lineup combinations, all three of those things were not achievable at the time, but now I feel I can do all that."

Finch said Conley's reshaped role helps big man Julius Randle specifically. Randle, who is averaging 19.6 points per game, went for 23 points and 10 rebounds in a win Thursday over Orlando.

Conley had a game-high plus-23 rating with his nine points against the Magic.

Minnesota's leading scorer, Anthony Edwards, is averaging 25.4 points per game after posting 15 against Memphis.

--Field Level Media

Stats and Records
Team Comparison
  W/L Strk Home Away Day Night Div Conf
Minnesota 20-18 L1 10-8 10-10 2-2 18-16 2-3 16-11
Washington 6-31 L6 5-15 1-15 0-1 6-30 4-3 5-19
Last Meeting
Minnesota Washington
Date Away Home Pts Reb FG% Pts Reb FG%
4/9/24 WAS 121 MIN 130 130 44 47.8 121 41 49.4
Player Stats
Previous Matchup
Points Player Total FG% FTM
Minnesota A. Edwards 51 58.6 11
Washington C. Kispert 25 52.9 2
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
Minnesota R. Gobert 16 5 11
Washington A. Gill 9 1 8
Assists Player  
Minnesota A. Edwards 7
Washington J. Poole 6
Season
Points Player Total FG% FTM
Minnesota A. Edwards 1028 43.8 137
Washington J. Poole 704 43.3 134
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
Minnesota R. Gobert 428 136 292
Washington J. Valanciunas 322 97 225
Assists Player  
Minnesota J. Randle 174
Washington J. Poole 163
Quickchart Matchup
Minnesota Minnesota Off vs  Washington Washington Defense
Minnesota Off vs Washington - Points For 109.3 Points For
Minnesota Off vs Washington - Points Against 122.7 Points Against
Minnesota - FG% 45.9 FG%
Washington - FG% 47.5 FG%
Minnesota - Reb 43.5 Reb
Washington - Reb 48.4 Reb
Washington Washington Off vs  Minnesota Minnesota Defense
Washington Off vs Minnesota - Points For 108.4 Points For
Washington Off vs Minnesota - Points Against 107.7 Points Against
Washington - FG% 44.2 FG%
Minnesota - FG% 45.4 FG%
Washington - Reb 44.2 Reb
Minnesota - Reb 43.4 Reb