Timberwolves Wrap: Wolves hang on, win third straight

The Timberwolves led big early but trailed at halftime before pulling away down the stretch and hanging on to beat the Thunder for their third straight victory.

Finally, the Timberwolves have a three-game winning streak. It was a fitting win: the Wolves led by nine points early in the game but trailed by five at halftime and felt like a typical, fall of 2016 Wolves loss. Until they hung on, that is.

And not just hung on, actually, but expanded the lead down the stretch. Ricky Rubio, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Andrew Wiggins were all fantastic down the stretch in yet another Zach LaVine-less game as the third-year guard missed his second straight game due to a hip contusion.

Russell Westbrook notched yet another triple-double, but shot just 7-of-23 from the field, including 1-of-14 in the second half, and committed 10 turnovers. His only make was a breakaway dunk with less than two minutes remaining and the game all but decided.

The Wolves offense was decent enough in the first half but open shots simply weren’t falling. In the second half, the offense continued to flow but the open shooters knocked down their attempts.

Rubio was masterful, controlling the game in the pick-and-roll and making life difficult for Westbrook on the other end of the floor. When the Wolves switched into Wiggins isolation sets or threw the ball into Towns in the post, they were successful enough to keep Oklahoma City off balance.

Westbrook simply didn’t shoot well, but the Wolves largely let him shoot from the outside and he really didn’t get into the paint much throughout the evening.

This was a big win for the Wolves. After beating a poor team in the Dallas Mavericks earlier in the week and a playoff squad in the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, the Wolves beat another playoff team in the Thunder on Friday night.

Now, on to Dallas for a matinee on Sunday with a real chance to extend the winning streak to four games.

Tweet of the Night

Star of the Night

Ricky Rubio: 14 points (6-12 FG, 0-2 3P, 2-2 FT), 14 assists, 4 steals, 4 rebounds, 5 turnovers

Rubio was great, for all of the reasons stated above. He did turn the ball over five times, although one was with less than two seconds left when he voluntarily allowed the shot clock to expire. Given his assist-to-turnover ratio over the past few contests, he was due to have a couple of miscues here and there.

When the game could have gone off the rails, Rubio kept control. He also kept Westbrook in check, along with the scheme devised by Tom Thibodeau and his coaching staff. It was an impressive all-around performance from the Wolves’ floor general.

Notable Timberwolves Lines

• Karl-Anthony Towns: 29 points (11-17 FG, 0-2 3P, 7-7 FT), 17 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals, one assist, 2 turnovers
• Andrew Wiggins: 19 points (9-22 FG, 0-3 3P, 1-1 FT), 6 rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block, 4 turnovers
• Brandon Rush: 11 points (4-9 FG, 3-6 3P), 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, one assist, one rebound

Towns easily could have been named our Star of the Game with a dominant double-double and aggressive play down the stretch. Importantly, he played well while Nemanja Bjelica fouled out and Gorgui Dieng shot just 1-of-10 on the night and logged five personal fouls of his own.

Wiggins was good enough, pulling down an uncharacteristic six rebounds despite an inefficient shooting night and just a single free throw attempt.

Rush was solid once again, knowing exactly where to be on offense for Rubio and Kris Dunn to find him, and being active enough on defense and the glass to add value in those areas as well.

Next: Timberwolves Mid-Season Review: Backcourt Starters

Who’s Up Next?

The Wolves head down I-35 to Dallas for a 1:00 p.m. matinee against the lowly Mavericks. The game time was bumped up due to the late-afternoon Cowboys playoff game.