Julius Randle sleepless after Austin Reeves’ winner
The Minnesota Timberwolves‘ The home crowd went from excited to heartbroken in a matter of seconds on Wednesday night. What looked like a hard-fought comeback victory turned into a heavy defeat as Austin Reeves buried a floater at the buzzer to raise Los Angeles Lakers to a 116-115 victory.
For Julius Randle and the Timberwolves, it was a brutal ending. Randle, who scored a game-high 33 points and helped spark Minnesota’s late surge, looked visibly stunned when Reaves’ shot went through the net.
After the game, the veteran striker admitted that the finish “knock on his head for a while“, a fair reaction after his layup with just seconds left seemed to seal the victory.
The night had all the hallmarks of a classic. Both teams entered the game without players, the Lakers were missing LeBron James and Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves were without their star guard. Anthony Edwards, due to a hamstring injury.
Nevertheless, the match brought one of the most entertaining endings of the new season.
Jake LaRavia, who caught fire for Los Angeles, was instrumental in building a 20-point cushion in the second half. The wolves, however, refused to give up. Randle and Jaden McDaniels, who finished with 30 points, sparked a 14-2 run in the closing minutes that gave Minnesota its first lead since the start of the second quarter.
But then came the dagger. With the ball in his hands and time running out, Reaves calmly dribbled into the lane and floated in a soft jumper as the buzzer sounded, the NBA’s first game-winning shot at the buzzer this season.
Reaves finished with 28 points, 16 assists (a career high) and a moment that will make headlines for weeks. Meanwhile, the Timberwolves fell to 2-3, their bench left in stunned silence after what felt like a stolen victory.
For Randle, the sting will linger. His late-game heroics were undone by one shot, a reminder that in the NBA, even one second can make the difference between celebration and sleeplessness.
2025-10-30 12:35:00
