Minnesota Timberwolves – New Orleans Pelicans · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 11 January 2022

MIN125–128NOP

Is it worth watching?

Highly recommended

It was more exciting than 90% of NBA games since 2017

· It was still open in the final minutes

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ NOP winsMIN wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when NOP leads and falls when MIN does.

This is how the game was decided.

Brandon Ingram decided it, the New Orleans Pelicans player with the most points (33, with 4 rebounds and 9 assists; +2 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Devonte' Graham's (+14). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in New Orleans Pelicans 128-125 Minnesota Timberwolves (January 11, 2022) was hit by Brandon Ingram: a three-pointer with 1.3 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the New Orleans Pelicans up 128-125. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of New Orleans Pelicans 128-125 Minnesota Timberwolves (January 11, 2022) was a 9-0 run by the New Orleans Pelicans between the second quarter and the third quarter, from 58-59 to 67-59. The Minnesota Timberwolves' best was a 7-0 run in the third quarter (from 7:12 to 6:17), from 62-75 to 69-75.

What were the keys of the last New Orleans Pelicans vs Minnesota Timberwolves game?

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Brandon Ingram makes 26-foot three point jumper (Jonas Valanciunas assists).

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Brandon Ingram decided this game: his points put his team ahead with 1.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is one of the 3 games he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Ingram decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

11 January 2022 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401360434:740; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · MIN

Towns · Edwards · Beverley · Okogie · Prince

Closing lineup · NOP

Ingram · Hart · Graham · Valanciunas · Jones

Q1Q2Q3Q4

MIN

Karl-Anthony Towns

42′ · -2

Anthony Edwards

37′ · -2

D'Angelo Russell

34′ · +11

Jarred Vanderbilt

26′ · -13

Patrick Beverley

21′ · -18

Jaden McDaniels

28′ · +2

Malik Beasley

30′ · +12

Josh Okogie

7′ · -6

Jaylen Nowell

2′ · -2

Naz Reid

6′ · +1

Taurean Prince

8′ · +2

NOP

Brandon Ingram

37′ · +2

Josh Hart

36′ · -1

Devonte' Graham

32′ · +14

Jonas Valanciunas

28′ · +8

Herbert Jones

25′ · -8

Garrett Temple

18′ · -2

Jaxson Hayes

19′ · 0

Jose Alvarado

12′ · +2

Nickeil Alexander-Walker

27′ · +6

Gary Clark

6′ · -6

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. MIN and NOP.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Russell, Towns, Vanderbilt, Edwards, and Beverley played 9.9 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.
Russell, Towns, Beasley, Edwards, and McDaniels played 7.3 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 9 points.
Russell, Towns, Beasley, Vanderbilt, and Edwards played 7.0 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.

New Orleans Pelicans

Ingram, Hart, Graham, Jones, and Valanciunas played 17.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 7 points.
Hart, Graham, Alexander-Walker, Temple, and Valanciunas played 6.5 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 5 points.
Ingram, Hayes, Alexander-Walker, Alvarado, and Temple played 6.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 5 points.

▸See every lineup of the game

Minnesota Timberwolves

Towns, Beasley, Prince, McDaniels, and Beverley played 4.3 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
Russell, Beasley, Vanderbilt, Reid, and Edwards played 3.3 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Towns, Vanderbilt, Edwards, McDaniels, and Beverley played 2.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.
Russell, Towns, Vanderbilt, Edwards, and McDaniels played 2.6 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Russell, Towns, Prince, Edwards, and McDaniels played 2.1 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Beasley, Okogie, Reid, McDaniels, and Beverley played 2.0 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Towns, Beasley, Okogie, Nowell, and McDaniels played 1.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
Towns, Beasley, Okogie, McDaniels, and Beverley played 1.3 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Russell, Towns, Beasley, Prince, and McDaniels played 1.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 4 points.

New Orleans Pelicans

Ingram, Hart, Hayes, Alexander-Walker, and Jones played 3.3 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.
Ingram, Clark, Hayes, Alexander-Walker, and Alvarado played 3.2 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Ingram, Hart, Graham, Hayes, and Alexander-Walker played 2.8 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 6 points.
Graham, Clark, Hayes, Alexander-Walker, and Temple played 1.6 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Hart, Graham, Alexander-Walker, Jones, and Valanciunas played 1.3 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Hart, Alexander-Walker, Jones, Temple, and Valanciunas played 1.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Karl-Anthony Towns covered 4.57 km, more than anyone in the game.

Karl-Anthony Towns touched the ball 82 times, a game high.
Brandon Ingram made 55 passes, a game high.
Jonas Valanciunas defended 7 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 5.
Jonas Valanciunas had 23 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Minnesota Timberwolves

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Karl-Anthony Towns	4.57	6.0	82	53
Anthony Edwards	4.22	6.3	62	36
D'Angelo Russell	3.77	6.2	69	49
Jaden McDaniels	3.59	7.1	43	33
Malik Beasley	3.54	6.4	33	22
Jarred Vanderbilt	3.48	7.5	39	30
Patrick Beverley	2.61	6.7	43	34
Taurean Prince	0.98	6.8	9	7
Josh Okogie	0.84	6.9	2	1
Naz Reid	0.82	7.4	8	4
Jaylen Nowell	0.23	7.3	3	2

New Orleans Pelicans

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Josh Hart	4.25	6.5	65	43
Brandon Ingram	4.23	6.3	81	55
Devonte' Graham	3.75	6.5	65	49
Nickeil Alexander-Walker	3.43	7.0	56	46
Herbert Jones	3.22	7.1	25

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2021-22 regular season, not this game.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Patrick Beverley drew 0.33 charges per game over his 57 games.
He ranks 5 of 386 in the league.
Anthony Edwards recovered 1.1 loose balls per game over his 72 games.
He ranks 5 of 386 in the league.
Jaden McDaniels defended 4.0 shots at the rim per game over his 70 games, and opponents made 12 fewer out of every 100 than usual.
He ranks 4 of 131 in the league.

New Orleans Pelicans

Herbert Jones deflected 3.2 passes per game over his 77 games.
He ranks 7 of 386 in the league.
Josh Hart recovered 1.0 loose balls per game over his 54 games.
He ranks 17 of 386 in the league.
Jonas Valančiūnas contested 9.6 shots per game over his 74 games.
He ranks 18 of 386 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The New Orleans Pelicans have won 22 of their 46 games against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

22-24record of the New Orleans Pelicans · NBA 2013-14 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

1-3in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 2013-14 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

15.155

89.9% of capacity

Smoothie King Center · New Orleans

Scoring

253

combined points

31.8 above the season average (221.2)

⚖️ The last two minutes

Official NBA L2M report: every call in the endgame, reviewed by the league.

18 calls reviewed3 errors admitted by the NBA

Foul: Offensive · 00:09.1

D'Angelo Russell → Josh Hart

Russell (MIN) moves laterally into Hart's (NOP) path and continues to re-establish himself in Hart's path as he delivers contact.

Foul: Personal · 00:34.1

Anthony Edwards → Devonte' Graham

Edwards (MIN) holds Graham's (NOP) arm and affects his SQBR as Graham attempts to release from the contact.

Foul: Personal · 00:59.2

Karl-Anthony Towns → Jonas Valanciunas

Towns (MIN) holds Valanciunas' (NOP) arm off ball and affects his FOM as he cuts to the perimeter.