The Wolves and Pistons fought it out as five players and two coaches got ejected during the Wolves 19-point win.
Nothing can ever be normal with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Sunday night the Wolves took on the Detroit Pistons in one of the most unhinged games in the NBA this season. The Pistons were without Cade Cunningham and Tobias Harris, but as Wolves fans know all too well, the opposing team missing two of their top players does not mean an automatic win for the Wolves.
As has been the case so often with this Timberwolves team, they came out of the gates without much energy or execution. In the first quarter alone the Wolves gave up nine offensive rebounds while turning the ball over five times. The sloppy play led to the Wolves losing the first quarter 34-20.
Early in the second quarter, the game went off the rails. It started when Isaiah Stewart shoved Donte DiVincenzo following an offensive foul with Stewart receiving a technical foul. A few possessions later, all hell broke loose.
Minnesota Timberwolves + Detroit Pistons brawl pic.twitter.com/Q39tdcfr30
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) March 30, 2025
After a lengthy video review, five players were ejected including DiVincenzo and Naz Reid for the Wolves along with Stewart, Marcus Sasser, and Ron Holland for the Pistons. Timberwolves assistant Pablo Prigioni and Pistons head coach J. B. Bickerstaff were also ejected from the game.
Following the skirmish, the game did proceed as normal with the Wolves taking control of the game. In the two and a half quarters following the fight, the Timberwolves outscored the Pistons 87-57, putting the Wolves up 20 with a few minutes left in the game, allowing Timberwolves coach Chris Finch to empty the bench.
The Wolves went on to win 123-101. After scoring just five points in the first half Anthony Edwards exploded in the third quarter with 20 points including three 3-pointers. Rudy Gobert was outstanding the entire game putting up 19 points and 25 rebounds.
Malik Beasley led Detroit with 27 points including six makes from beyond the arc in the first half. Minnesota was able to cool him off in the second half, preventing him from making another shot from deep.
This story will be updated throughout the night after coach and player media availabilities.
Key Takeaways
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
The Malice at Target Palice
The most notable aspect of the game was the fight early in the second quarter. The tone of the game shifted from that point as the Wolves seemed to wake up from that point forward.
After the game, Finch went over his vantage point of the whole situation.
“Two guys went at it and spilled over into the crowd, which was super dangerous. Obviously it just kept escalating and escalating, mostly from their side, to be honest with you. I thought leading up to that, that the game was way too physical. I thought it was a little lopsided in its physicality, and I thought that it was bound to happen. It just felt like it was coming. You’ve just been in enough basketball games to kind of feel this coming. It’s unfortunate, but we knew they were a super physical team. They hit you, they hold you, all the stuff that you want your physical teams to do. But I just thought it got to a point where players were going to take matters into their own hands. You don’t ever want that. There was a lot of a lot of antics alongside of it, too. But both teams settled down and tried to play basketball after that.”
Mike Conley also gave his perspective on everything that went down.
“I plead the fifth. No, just the heat of the moment. I didn’t really see how it started with Naz, but I just saw Donte get into the middle of that, and then everybody got sent into the stands. At that point, just trying to grab guys off and get our guys out the bottom of the pile. It’s like one of those football piles where you don’t know what’s going on underneath. So you break it up as fast as we could and prevent our guys from missing games and stuff like that. It’s part of the game. It’s been a part of the game for a long time, the emotional part. But it happens, and I’m happy for the way we responded to it.”
It will be interesting to see whether or not any players receive a suspension for what happened tonight. The most obvious candidate for that would be Stewart who has a history of starting situations like the one tonight.
For the Wolves, DiVincenzo and Reid could receive suspensions as they were the ones ejected from the game. One aspect of what happened to keep in mind is that the fight did spill over into the stands, which may make it more likely for someone to receive a suspension.
In the short term, the Wolves did what they needed to do tonight whether it was because of or despite what happened in the fight. Edwards, who had five points in the first and 20 in the third quarter, really seemed to step up his game following the altercation between the two teams.
Edwards had a very simple reason why his shooting turned around in the second half.
“I took that damn cast off my hand. That was about it.”
Ant also noted that he got the stitches in his hand removed right after the game. The hope is that with his hand injury beginning to heal, his recent shooting slump will now be a thing of the past. The Wolves as a team will also look to put slow starts like the one they had tonight in the rear-view.
Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images
Rudy Gobert Dominant on Both Ends of the Court
In a season that has seen some up-and-down play from the four-time Defensive Player of the Year, Gobert was sensational in tonight’s game scoring 19 points along with 25 rebounds, just three shy of his career-high.
The Timberwolves clearly made it a point of emphasis to get Gobert involved in the offense as the Wolves big man scored Minnesota’s first six points of the game. As the game went on, Gobert did most of his work on the offensive glass, grabbing a total of ten offensive rebounds.
Rudy Gobert monster dunk, great ball movement pic.twitter.com/qyCGxY5lAf
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) March 31, 2025
Gobert talked after the game about how his teammates have helped him on both ends of the court.
“I think offensively they’ve been great just looking for me, whether it’s in the pocket, lobs, trying to make the right play, the right pass and trusting me. That’s huge. And defensively just them pushing me every day, challenging me to be the best defender in the world. That’s what I think I am, so I gotta bring that every single minute when I’m on the floor.”
For this current iteration of the Wolves to reach their ceiling, they are going to need Gobert the dominant force he was a season ago while also keeping him involved in the offense so opposing teams can’t ignore him.
Tonight and the last couple of games, the Wolves have been able to do that. As with many aspects of this Timberwolves team, it is to be seen if they can keep it up on a consistent basis.
Up Next
The Timberwolves head out on a five-game road trip, which will wrap their road schedule for the regular season. The trip starts with a matchup against the rival Denver Nuggets. The Wolves have won all three previous games against the Nuggets this season.
It will be a late night for those in Minnesota as the game begins at 9:00 PM CT. Fans can watch the game airing nationally on TNT.