The Timberwolves have won their home opener in each of the past 10 seasons, according to Basketball Reference’s schedules. I want that streak extended against Toronto on Sunday, October 25. I also want Minnesota to start treating the rest of its home schedule with the same expectation of leaving with a win.
Last season’s 26-15 record at Target Center, counted from Basketball Reference’s regular-season results, is the number that interests me more. That is a winning home court. For a team trying to make the most of Anthony Edwards, I would set the demand higher: get to 30 home wins. Sunday should be the first installment.
Ten opening wins are worth keeping in perspective
The run started with a 116-80 win over Memphis on November 1, 2016, per Basketball Reference’s 2016-17 schedule. It followed a 101-106 loss to Portland in the previous home opener on November 2, 2015, recorded in the 2015-16 schedule.
The Memphis result shows how little one opening night can explain about a team. Minnesota finished the 2016-17 regular season 31-51, according to Basketball Reference. A home debut won by 36 points did not make those Wolves a winning team.
Minnesota also beat Detroit 111-101 in its December 23, 2020 home opener, then finished that season 23-49, per Basketball Reference. Winning the first one at home can coexist with a difficult season. The streak is a piece of franchise history worth enjoying, but I would not use it to forecast what comes next.
I like it most as a standard the next team gets to inherit. Players and lineups change. The expectation that the first crowd gets a win can stay. Now I would like the current Wolves to make that feeling less dependent on the occasion.
Last season leaves room for a tougher home target
The 2025-26 schedule records a 114-110 win over Indiana on October 26, 2025 to keep the home-opener run going. Across the full regular season, Minnesota won 49 games. Of those, 26 came at home and 23 on the road.
Three more wins at home than away is a modest difference. I would want Target Center to contribute more separation than that. A team can play well on the road and still leave too many opportunities behind in its own building.
My 30-win target would mean four more home wins than last season. That is my target for this team. Win more of the games that come with familiar surroundings and a crowd behind you.
That should affect how we react to a home defeat, too. An opponent making difficult jumpers is sometimes going to beat good defense. But I would be much less accepting of a loss built on missed assignments, a poor start or possessions spent waiting for Edwards to manufacture something. Those are the failures I want Minnesota to treat as fixable before the next home date.
The opening schedule analysis looks at the longer stretch ahead. My demand here applies to individual home games: the Wolves should arrive with a way to compete even when their best scorer has an ordinary night.
Toronto gets the same standard as everyone else
Basketball Reference’s current Minnesota schedule lists Sunday’s Toronto game at 7 p.m. Eastern, or 6 p.m. Central. It follows road wins of 131-106 at Miami and 115-93 at Orlando. Minnesota has already earned a good start before playing a regular-season game at home.
I would resist letting those results turn the home opener into a celebration that happens to include a game. The early wins give the Wolves something to protect. They should make Minnesota more demanding about its next performance.
Toronto was also the opponent in the October 26, 2024 home opener, which Minnesota won 112-101, per the 2024-25 schedule.
Our Toronto preview calls for nearby passing options around LaMelo Ball. I like that as a concrete assignment underneath the larger home expectation. Give the offense a continuation when the first action stalls. Make the next pass available before a possession becomes a difficult individual shot.
The full Wolves roster and depth chart lays out the personnel. Whoever is on the floor should be helping produce a usable possession. The home crowd should get to respond to that work, rather than being asked to supply the energy that starts it.
Carry the expectation into the ordinary nights
After Toronto, the schedule sends Minnesota to Cleveland on Monday, then brings Golden State and the Clippers to Target Center on Wednesday and Friday, according to Basketball Reference. The home opener will quickly become one result among others.
Opening night supplies its own attention. A regular home date needs the team to bring the same purpose without the introduction to a new season doing some of the work.
I would judge that purpose through the stretches when a game becomes uncomfortable. Get organized after a bad possession. Keep moving when Edwards draws attention. Find a body when a shot goes up. A home standard has to survive those moments, because an opponent will not disappear just because the crowd expects a win.
An eleventh straight home-opening victory would be worth enjoying. Give Target Center a team that expects to win there again on Wednesday.