Anthony Edwards scored 47 points in Cleveland on Monday night, and the Wolves still lost, 127-125 in overtime. The free-throw line is where I’d put this one, ahead of the defense and Edwards’ 34 shots. Both teams took 23 free throws. Cleveland made 17. Minnesota made 14. That three-point gap is bigger than the two-point margin.
It also isn’t a one-night thing. Through four games the Wolves are shooting 60.7% from the line, last of the 30 teams on Basketball Reference’s team page. Last season they were 29th. The 3-0 start hid it because every win came by 22 points or more. Monday, in the first close game of the season, they needed several and missed them.
The misses that decided it
The Basketball Reference play-by-play puts the important ones inside the last 35 seconds of regulation and of overtime.
| When | Score before | Shooter | Result | What followed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0:25, 4th quarter | Wolves 112-111 | Jonathan Kuminga | 1 of 2 | Harden’s jumper tied it at 113 |
| 0:34, overtime | Cavs 123-121 | Kuminga | 1 of 2 | Wolves down 123-122 instead of tied |
| 0:09, overtime | Cavs 125-122 | LaMelo Ball | 0 of 2 | Edwards missed a three at 0:03 |
Kuminga’s first miss is the one I keep coming back to. Make it and the Wolves lead 114-111 with 25 seconds left, and James Harden’s seven-footer at 0:10 only cuts it to one. Instead, the score was 113-113, Edwards had a layup blocked by Peyton Watson with four seconds left and the game went to overtime.
In overtime, Edwards scored 11 of Minnesota’s 12 points. The other one was Kuminga’s free throw at 0:34. Harden then made both of his at 0:13 for a 125-122 lead, and Ball missed both of his after Sam Merrill fouled him with 9.2 seconds left. Peyton Watson made two free throws at 0:03, and Edwards’ 28-footer at the buzzer only made the final 127-125.
Rudy Gobert went 5-of-8, and every one of his misses came on the second free throw of a trip, three times in the first half. Edwards went 4-of-6. Add it all up and the Wolves left nine points at the line in a game they lost by two.
Last season’s number says this is the roster
If the Wolves had shot last season’s 75.2% on 23 attempts, they would have made about 17, the same as Cleveland. That’s the gap, and 75.2% was already 29th in the league, per Basketball Reference. This roster also lost Julius Randle, who made 80.2% of his free throws last year, per Basketball Reference. The two starters with the weakest marks, Gobert and Kuminga, made 52.6% and 72.4% last season. The full Wolves roster and contract guide has the rest of the rotation.
Here’s the season so far against each player’s 2025-26 mark, from Basketball Reference.
| Player | 2026-27 FT | 2025-26 FT% |
|---|---|---|
| Anthony Edwards | 15-of-20 | 79.6% |
| Rudy Gobert | 12-of-24 | 52.6% |
| Jonathan Kuminga | 7-of-14 | 72.4% |
| LaMelo Ball | 5-of-9 | 89.9% |
Ball is the easy one. He made 89.9% for Charlotte last season and 84.3% the year before, and 5-of-9 in four games is a small sample I’d ignore. I expect him to be one of the team’s best free-throw shooters by April.
Gobert is the hard one. I wrote before the season that his 52.6% at the line was the reason to wait on an extension, and 12-of-24 is right on that number. He went 0-for-9 from the field Monday too, with 20 rebounds, eight of them on the offensive glass. He played 36 minutes anyway, and at the end Chris Finch was subbing him in and out by possession, which I read as a free-throw decision: Ayo Dosunmu replaced him on offense with 26 seconds left in regulation, and Gobert came back in for defense during Kuminga’s trip to the line. That’s the right call, and it’s also a sign of how narrow Gobert’s late-game role is.
Kuminga is the one who has to fix it
Kuminga is the swing player. He’s the forward the Wolves want attacking the rim, and attacking the rim late in a close game means going to the line. Monday he drew a shooting foul in the final 25 seconds of regulation and another in the final 34 seconds of overtime, and he made one of two both times.
He’s 7-of-14 this season. He made 72.4% last season between Golden State and Atlanta and 74.6% in 2023-24, so I expect the 50% to rise. In October I said his free throws were the stat to watch, mostly for how often he got there. Now the makes matter as much as the trips. He had a double-double Monday with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and he was +10. He’s doing the job. He has to finish it at the line.
Why I’m not blaming Edwards
Edwards took 34 shots and went 5-of-15 from three. On another night I’d write about the volume. He played 41 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back, after Sunday’s win over Toronto, and he scored 11 of the Wolves’ 12 points in overtime. Minnesota led by 15 in the second quarter and lost the third 36-26, and Ball had seven turnovers. There are other things to fix. None of them cost the Wolves as directly as nine missed free throws.
I made the case after the opener that Edwards should keep taking threes, and 47 points in Cleveland doesn’t change my mind. My preview of how to attack James Harden covers what I wanted the Wolves to do in Cleveland. The free throws, the shots nobody guarded, cost them more on Monday.
What to watch Wednesday
Golden State comes to Target Center on Wednesday, the first team Kuminga played for. The Wolves are 3-1. The free throws are the first number I’d check in that box score. If the team is still near 60%, Finch has to start thinking about who’s on the floor when the other team starts fouling. If Kuminga gets back toward his 72% and Ball toward his 89.9%, the problem takes care of itself, and I expect it to.