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Match Facts
On paper, this is one of the clearest mismatches on the Tuesday board. Minnesota comes in healthy, sitting at 12-8 and inside the top six in the Western Conference, riding a two-game winning streak and looking more like a legitimate playoff seed than a fringe team. The Timberwolves just handled San Antonio 125-112, closing with a dominant 36-19 fourth quarter fueled by Anthony Edwards’ efficient scoring, Julius Randle’s playmaking and a disruptive zone defense that completely flipped the game late.
New Orleans is in the opposite place. The Pelicans are 3-18, last in the West, and trying to stop a three-game slide while working through an absurd injury list. They were blown off the floor early in Los Angeles on Sunday, trailing 46-26 after one and 72-46 in the second, but they did not fold. With seven players out, including four regular starters, they actually outscored the Lakers over the final three quarters and lost 133-121 in a game that could have turned into complete embarrassment. Interim coach James Borrego has clearly sold this shorthanded group on competing regardless of circumstances, but that mentality runs straight into a Wolves team that is bigger, deeper and trending upward.
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For a broader look at how both teams stack up in the league landscape, their season profiles and splits can be reviewed via the ScoresAndStats NBA teams page.
Match details are summarized here.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Matchup | Minnesota Timberwolves at New Orleans Pelicans |
| Venue | Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA |
| Date / Time | Tuesday, December 2, 2025 – 8:00 PM ET |
| Records | Timberwolves 12-8, Pelicans 3-18 |
Line and Odds
The oddsmakers are treating this exactly as you would expect: a playoff-caliber team laying a serious number on the road against an injury-ravaged bottom feeder.
| Market | Timberwolves | Pelicans |
|---|---|---|
| Spread | -9.0 (-112) | +9.0 (-109) |
| Moneyline | -395 | +310 |
| Total Points | 234.5 (Over/Under) |
For updated numbers, live movement and alternate markets, you can track the full board on the ScoresAndStats NBA scores and odds screen.
Movement Matchup
Minnesota’s movement is all positive right now. The win in Minnesota over the Spurs was exactly the kind of game that tells you this team has multiple gears. Anthony Edwards played like a first option, dropping 32 points on over 70 percent shooting and putting constant pressure on the defense. Julius Randle quietly turned in one of the most complete offensive games of his career, adding 22 points and 12 assists against a single turnover. When they needed to close the door, Chris Finch went to a zone, leaned on Jaden McDaniels’ length and versatility and watched the game tilt completely. They ran away 36-19 in the fourth with Rudy Gobert sitting and Edwards playing limited minutes, which says a lot about depth and tactical flexibility.
New Orleans’ movement is more about survival than momentum. The loss in Los Angeles could have turned into a 30- or 40-point humiliation after the first quarter. Instead, Borrego’s patchwork lineup leaned into effort, toughness and attacking mindset. Bryce McGowens exploded for a career-high 23 points, Saddiq Bey posted a 22-point, 11-rebound double-double, and Jeremiah Fears chipped in 21. That kind of production from deep in the rotation is exactly what coaches mean when they talk about “character” games. The issue is that all of this is happening against the backdrop of a 3-18 record, a long injury sheet and constant lineup shuffling. The Pelicans can compete in stretches, but asking this group to string together 48 clean minutes against a locked-in Minnesota team is a different level of difficulty than chasing a game that is already basically lost.
Breakdown Injury Reports
New Orleans’ health situation is the defining factor around this game. Minnesota, by contrast, is in relatively good shape and closer to full strength.
Minnesota Timberwolves injury report:
| Player | Status | Injury |
|---|---|---|
| None reported | – | – |
New Orleans Pelicans injury report:
| Player | Status | Injury |
|---|---|---|
| Zion Williamson (F) | Out | Hamstring |
| Trey Murphy III (F) | Out | Elbow |
| Jordan Poole (G) | Out | Quad |
| Herb Jones (F) | Out | Calf |
| Jordan Hawkins (G) | Out | Illness |
| Karlo Matkovic (F) | Out | Calf |
| Dejounte Murray (G) | Out | Achilles |
Even if one or two of these players upgrades closer to tip, the baseline is clear: Minnesota has continuity and health; New Orleans has neither.
Minnesota Timberwolves Recent Performance
The Timberwolves are playing like a team that understands exactly what it is. Offensively, they rank around the top ten in scoring at roughly 119 points per game, but it is the efficiency that jumps off the page. Shooting nearly 49 percent from the field and close to 39 percent from three, they do not waste possessions. Edwards has taken another step as a primary scorer, combining volume with efficiency and increasingly better reads as a passer when defenses load up on him. Randle gives them a second high-usage option who can punish mismatches, wreck switches and now, as the Spurs game showed, create for others at a high level.
The shooting around those two matters just as much. Minnesota sits near the very top of the league in three-point percentage. When DiVincenzo and McDaniels are hitting from outside, the floor opens up completely. That spacing, combined with Gobert’s screening and rim gravity, creates the kind of offensive environment where even a solid half-court defense can get shredded over time.
On the other end, the Timberwolves allow roughly 114 points per game, which sits in the top third of the league. The raw number undersells what they can do when they tighten the screws. Gobert remains one of the elite rim protectors and defensive anchors in the sport, McDaniels can erase primary creators for extended stretches, and Edwards has the physical tools to be a plus on the ball when locked in. Finch’s willingness to lean on zone more proactively this season adds another wrinkle; as he said, they sometimes look more active in the zone than in man-to-man, and using it as a weapon late has already flipped games. That combination of versatility and buy-in is why Minnesota sits where it does in the West right now.
New Orleans Pelicans Recent Performance
For New Orleans, everything starts and ends with availability. With Zion, Murphy, Poole, Herb Jones, Hawkins, Murray and Matkovic all out against the Lakers, Borrego was essentially coaching a Summer League-type roster against LeBron James and Anthony Davis in a regular-season environment. The first quarter looked like a mismatch of that magnitude. The response after that did not. McGowens’ 23, Bey’s 22 and 11, and Fears’ 21 showed that there is offensive talent lurking deeper on the bench than most realize. The Pelicans did not stop attacking, got into the paint, and refused to let the game completely unravel.
From a macro standpoint, this is still a 3-18 team that has struggled badly to put together complete performances. They have shown they can block shots and force opponents into awkward finishes; their block rate sits at or near the top of the league, and they do a good job of taking away easy two-point looks when the defense is set. The problem is getting into those set situations consistently. When they are scrambling in transition, surrendering early offense or playing from two or three passes behind, even strong rim protection cannot bail them out.
Offensively, the lack of continuity and constant lineup churn kills rhythm. Players who should be complementary pieces are suddenly asked to carry primary usage against starting-caliber defenses. Role players have stepped up in single games, but the lack of a stable hierarchy makes it difficult to know where the ball is going in big spots. Borrego has at least instilled a baseline expectation of effort and fight, but effort alone is not enough against a team with Minnesota’s size and shot-making.
Betting Insights and Trends
Laying nine on the road is not trivial, but the gap between these two teams in their current states supports that kind of number. Minnesota is trending up, healthy, balanced on both ends and has already shown it can close games out with different defensive looks and different scorers stepping up. New Orleans is trying to patch together rotation minutes out of necessity, and even their recent “positives” came in the context of a double-digit loss.
The Wolves’ offensive efficiency is a problem for the Pelicans’ defense. New Orleans can block shots and bother drivers at the rim, but they are up against one of the league’s best three-point shooting teams that does not rely solely on the paint for its scoring. Minnesota can pull bigs away from the basket, stretch the floor with four shooters around a screener and force Pelicans defenders into long closeouts they have not consistently handled well. If the Wolves get a normal night from deep, the Pelicans’ defense will bend early and often.
On the other side, the Pelicans’ best path to hanging around is to drag this into a grind and lean on effort, offensive rebounding and whistle variance. If the game gets choppy, if the Wolves lose focus defensively, or if Minnesota’s shooters go cold, the backdoor will absolutely be open. But that is more about “how could the dog get there” than a likely baseline scenario.
From a macro betting perspective, this is exactly the sort of spot that shows up clearly in model outputs and daily rankings. How that translates into sides, totals and derivative markets is covered in more depth in the ScoresAndStats NBA expert betting guide, which ties team-level profiles like Minnesota’s and New Orleans’ into market-level edges.
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This is one of those games where everything points one way unless you are specifically hunting for volatility. Minnesota has the talent, health, and form. New Orleans has heart, but heart plus a long injury report usually just means you lose by 12 instead of 25.
Projected Score: Timberwolves 122, Pelicans 111
With that projection, the recommended side is Minnesota -9. The gap in offensive efficiency, the Wolves’ defensive ceiling and the Pelicans’ current rotation all point to a double-digit margin more often than not. Nine does leave room for a late backdoor, but you are still getting a couple of points of cushion versus the projection.
On the total, 122-111 combines for 233, just under the 234.5 number. The lean is toward the under. Minnesota’s defense is good enough to keep the Pelicans under control over four quarters, and New Orleans’ offensive inconsistency, plus the possibility of a late slowdown if the game gets out of hand, all tilt this slightly below the current line.
Side lean: Timberwolves -9.0
Total lean: Under 234.5
For bettors looking to build out the rest of the card or stack this with other NBA sides and totals, daily model plays and records are aggregated in the ScoresAndStats NBA picks section, which lets you slot this handicap into a broader, data-backed approach.
