Timberwolves Wrap: A shorthanded home loss to Charlotte

The Timberwolves were surprisingly shorthanded on Tuesday night, and it led to a home loss to the Charlotte Hornets by the final score of 104-95.

Ricky Rubio and Andrew Wiggins both sat out the game with sore knees after playing last night in Atlanta and even taking part in shootaround on Tuesday afternoon. The team announced that Wiggins would not play shortly before tip-off but Rubio’s absence was a bit more of a last-second surprise.

Add in Kevin Garnett‘s absence on the second night of a back-to-back and the Timberwolves were down three starters. That meant the Zach LaVine and Kevin Martin were the Wolves’ starting back court and Adreian Payne stepped in at power forward to allow Nemanja Bjelica to remain in his sixth-man role.

The Timberwolves actually started out the game with a 21-11 lead on the strength of solid outside shooting and a whole lot of Karl-Anthony Towns.

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But since what used to be the Wolves’ bench was suddenly three-fifths of the starting lineup, Tuesday night’s new bench unit that featured Tyus Jones and Damjan Rudez faltered mightily, leading to a four-point halftime deficit.

The margin ballooned to double-digits early in the fourth quarter and the Timberwolves never got within six points despite a couple of small bursts.

While this could certainly be considered a “schedule loss”, missing two top players and a third complementary starter made this a near-certain loss. A full-strength Wolves squad would have likely managed to win this game, and while we have no idea if there is any concern at this point of Rubio or Wiggins missing Thursday and Friday’s games, it was frustrating that they were unable to go on Tuesday.

Then again, it’s a game that won’t likely matter in the grand scheme of things, and there is no sense in risking the future of the team on the second night of a back-to-back. So, it’s a loss, and they’ll lace them up again on Thursday night against the Golden State Warriors.

Tweets of the Night

Star of the Night

Jeremy Lamb: 20 points (8-10 FG, 2-3 3P), 4 rebounds, one steal, one turnover, 23 minutes

Lamb played out of his mind on Tuesday evening, dropping 20 points on 10 shots in just 23 minutes. He had impressive dunk and a couple of big three-pointers.

Jeremy Lin would have been the other option for the Hornets, as he score 19 points on 11 shots in 26 minutes and had his way with Jones and LaVine on offense.

Other Notable Lines

• Karl-Anthony Towns – 19 points (7-16 FG, 0-1 3P, 5-5 FT), 13 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists, one steal, 2 turnovers, 30 minutes
• Nemanja Bjelica – 13 points (4-7 FG, 3-5 3P, 2-2 FT), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, one block, one turnover
• Zach LaVine – 20 points (9-19 FG, 1-4 3P, 1-2 FT), 8 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 8 turnovers

Next: Can The Timberwolves Sustain Their Hot Start?

Up Next

The Timberwolves will get an off day on Wednesday, hopefully used to get Wiggins and Rubio ready to play on national television later in the week.

The Wolves will host the defending champion Golden State Warriors on Thursday night in a game that will be on TNT. The Warriors are currently 8-0 but have the front-end of a back-to-back to play on Wednesday before traveling to Minneapolis.