Timberwolves Wrap: A deflating loss to the Knicks

The Timberwolves trailed the Knicks by 17 points in the fourth quarter on Wednesday night before coming back to tie the game, but ultimately lost in the final seconds.

Well, this one felt pretty backwards for much of the tilt…until the end, of course.

Indeed, the Timberwolves trailed by something like seven to 10 points for much of the first three quarters, including by nine points at halftime and seven as the fourth quarter began. And then in the early stages of the final frame, the Knicks expanded their lead to 17 points with 7:41 remaining in the game.

But from that point on, the Wolves went on a 22-5 run to tie the game at 104 with just over 24 seconds remaining on a pair of Karl-Anthony Towns free throws.

After a timeout, the Knicks got the ball to Carmelo Anthony in the mid-post on the right side of the floor, and he rose up and knocked down a contested mid-range jumper over Andrew Wiggins with 2.3 seconds left on the game clock.

The Wolves advanced the ball to mid-court with a timeout, and came back on the floor with Zach LaVine as the inbounder — curious, considering that Ricky Rubio typically inbounds and LaVine is the team’s best three-point shooter.

But the ball was never touched by the Wolves again, as LaVine’s inbounds pass was deflected by Anthony as he was contesting the play. It bounced around for the final two seconds, and a shot was never attempted.

The play was likely a Towns catch on the right wing with a primary option of kicking the ball back to LaVine for a potential game-winning three just beyond the break — good design, if the ball had gotten to Towns.

A couple of random thoughts regarding tonight’s tilt:

• The bench was miserable. Kris Dunn was horrific on offense and defensively in the second half, to the point that Ricky Rubio reentered the game early in the fourth quarter. Nemanja Bejlica and Shabazz Muhammad had rough shooting nights as well, and Tyus Jones barely played. Everyone on the bench had a negative plus-minus, while all of the starters possessed positive marks.
• Jones played alongside Rubio in the closing minutes of the third quarter and next to Dunn early in the fourth. It didn’t work too well and thus didn’t last long, but it’s something to keep an eye on moving forward.
• Towns was a monster, converting his first nine shot attempts of the night en route to a career-high 47 points and 18 rebounds. He struggled from the outside, missing all three of his three-point attempts, but was active in the paint and on the glass.
• Rubio played much better than he has of late and was rewarded with 38 minutes played on the night. His defense was key, and Derrick Rose was sufficiently limited by the Wolves’ activity on that end of the floor for much of the night.
• Other than the weird backwardness of the Wolves coming back from a large deficit and ultimately losing, there were some other odd things that happened. For one: the Wolves shot just 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) from three-point range, but a previously-struggling Andrew Wiggins knocked down three of his four attempts, and while LaVine shot just 1-of-5 from beyond the arc, he hit the game-tying shot with less than a minute on the clock.

Tweet of the Night

Star of the Night

Karl-Anthony Towns: 47 points (15-22 FG, 0-3 3P, 17-20), 18 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists, one steal

Towns was fantastic early on the offensive end of the floor, and far more active on defense than Wolves fans are accustomed to seeing. He knocked down a few long two-pointers early but never got his long-range stroke going. At the same time, he was outstanding in the post, and active in transition as well.

Obviously, shooting 17-of-20 from the charity stripe helps immensely, but it was a fitting reward for him given his aggressiveness in the paint on this night.

Notable Timberwolves Lines

• Andrew Wiggins: 19 points (8-20 FG, 3-4 3P, 0-1 FT), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, one steal, one turnover
• Zach LaVine: 17 points (5-13 FG, 1-5 3P, 6-6 FT), 2 rebounds, one assist, one steal, 3 turnovers
• Ricky Rubio: 8 points (2-5 FG, 0-2 3P, 4-4 FT), 6 assists, 3 steals, 2 rebounds, 2 turnovers

Next: Timberwolves Blogcaps: November 21-27

Who’s Up Next?

The Wolves play these same Knicks in New York on Friday night as part of a rare home-and-home. The game tips off at 6:30 p.m. Central Time as Minnesota tries once again to get back on track.