Timberwolves Wrap: Wolves beat Kings again, 105-97

The Timberwolves won their second straight game, defeating the depleted Kings by a final score of 105-97 in Sacramento on Thursday night.

This was the rare game that felt in control from start to finish. There were lapses, of course, but the Wolves didn’t lose a single quarter and always seemed to have an answer for the few Kings mini-runs that there were.

The early stages of the game were controlled by Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine as the Wolves went on a 13-2 run early and took advantage of a weird concoction of Kings players and the absences of Rajon Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins.

The bench unit was key, helping the Wolves withstand the first couple of serious Kings runs that erased Minnesota’s largest first half leads and kept the Wolves’ second half leads at or around double digits and allowed some of the starters to rest for a bit longer down the stretch.

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LaVine stayed hot from beyond the arc throughout, ultimately converting on four of his seven long-range attempts, but he wasn’t even the most efficient marksman on the team. Nemanja Bjelica hit on four of five three-pointers, knocking down a couple in each half.

Combined with Tyus Jones, the Wolves bench played some extremely positive minutes. The only player on the team with a plus/minus below zero was Adreian Payne (not including Damjan Rudez and Greg Smith’s minute-plus of garbage time play); everyone else was a positive contributor.

Other than a couple of defensive lapses and a stretch of exceedingly sloppy turnovers in the third quarter, this was an impressive performance for Sam Mitchell’s bunch, albeit against a Kings team with only nine players who saw the court and without two of their top starters and sixth man in Omri Casspi.

Also notable: the Wolves defeated the Kings all four times that they played them this season. Not an easy feat, regardless of the opponent.

Tweets of the Night

Star of the Night

Zach LaVine -“ 18 points (6-10 FG, 4-7 3P, 2-2 FT), 3 steals, 2 assists, one rebound, one block, 2 turnovers

LaVine had another outstanding game, especially from a shooting perspective. He also showed off the defensive improvements that he’s continued to make, both on the ball and his activity off the ball. The change on that end of the floor is probably the most encouraging thing we’ve seen out of LaVine over the past couple of months.

Notable Timberwolves Lines

Karl-Anthony Towns – 17 points (6-16 FG, 1-1 3P, 4-6 FT), 10 rebounds, 3 assists, one block, one steal, one turnover

Andrew Wiggins – 18 points (5-12 FG, 1-2 3P, 4-5 FT), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, one steal, 2 turnovers

Ricky Rubio – 2 points (0-0 FG), 7 assists, 3 rebounds, one steal, 5 turnovers

Who’s Next?

The Wolves are headed even further north up the coast to take on the Trail Blazers in Portland on Saturday night before flying back to Minneapolis to take on the Houston Rockets on Monday evening.

Next: On Bill Simmons' Wolves-Thunder Comparison

There’s a real chance that the Wolves could finish this season on an impressive run of wins, with the lowly Pelicans on the schedule as the final game of the year next Wednesday night at Target Center.

Here’s hoping for a 5-0 finish to the season.