Timberwolves wrap: Timberwolves ugly win

The Minnesota Timberwolves came away with a very ugly victory in their home opener against the Utah Jazz.

The Minnesota Timberwolves came away with their first victory of the season even though it was far from pretty.

As one of the most famous lunch ladies in history would say, “I made’em EXTRA sloppy for ya’s; I know you’s kids like ’em sloppy.” That’s exactly how the first half went for the Minnesota Timberwolves, as they had nine turnovers in the first 24 minutes of play.

One of their lone bright spots in the first quarter, Andrew Wiggins, scored 12 of their first 16 points including a strong two-hand slam after receiving a beautiful underhand pass from Jimmy Butler:

Wiggins wasn’t done there as he hit a deep, deep 3 at the buzzer to give Minnesota a 46-42 lead going into the half.

Elsewhere for the Timberwolves, they struggled to get anything going offensively and appeared to take turns isolating from the block. This wasn’t very effective as the lack of ball movement and off-ball movement made it easy for the Jazz to key in on the Wolves playmakers.

The third quarter started out with much of the same and Minnesota looked out of sorts and lackadaisical. Rodney Hood hit three 3’s in a row and was on fire.

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Fortunately, Minnesota closed out the quarter strong, very strong, 12-0 run strong and led 70-65 heading into the last 12 minutes of the game.

The game got a little chippy in the fourth. Tyus Jones was confoundingly called for a technical foul after trying to drive baseline and accidentally making contact with Ricky Rubio‘s chin. Rubio, of course, had no problem selling the call and forcing the refs to go to the monitor. A few plays later, Jimmy Butler and Rubio yapped it up and drew a double technical foul.

As far as in-game action goes, Jamal Crawford took over for the beginning of the quarter, scoring 11 of the teams 13 points during one stretch and showing why he was brought to Minnesota in the first place.

Minnesota let up a bit down the stretch and allowed the Jazz to retake the lead 96-95 very late into the game.

Crawford then hit a huge clutch three to give Minnesota the lead with under 30 seconds left and Minnesota wouldn’t relinquish the lead.

Tweet of the night

Key Takeaways:

• The Timberwolves were out of sorts in the first half. Their offense was completely stagnant as they appeared to take turns iso’ing. Despite all of that, they still took the lead going into the half, that’s talent.
• The box score suggests Minnesota’s defense played a good half. However, they benefited from unorganized play from Utah and a few lucky missed shots. In the end, it was a positive step forward from Wednesday night.
• Wiggins has all the tools to be a dominant player, as he scored 12 of the Wolves first 16 points. That’s nothing new though.
• Minnesota showed once again that they are a team who will battle. They didn’t go away despite a poor start to the second half, they held a lead for most of it. Despite blowing the lead late, the battled back and showed no quit.
• Butler won’t let other teams clown him or his teammates. For something as small as a tech on Jones, Butler made sure Rubio knew this is a new Wolves team with a new attitude.
• For the second straight game Minnesota went small for major parts of the game down the stretch. This time, Thibs opted to enter Gibson into the game on defense and for the last couple of minutes.

Player of the game:

Nemanja Bjelica: 10 points, 5 rebounds, 4-5 field goals, 13 minutes

Bjelica, once again, was the catalyst to a bench that sparked the Timberwolves back into the game. Despite his limited minutes, he made a huge impact as he seemed nearly impossible in scoring the basketball.

Notable box scores:

Ricky Rubio: 19 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, 4-10 field goals

Karl-Anthony Towns: 20 points, 10 rebounds, 7-12 field goals

Andrew Wiggins: 21 points, 5 rebounds, 7-19 field goals

Jamal Crawford: 17 points, 6-10 field goals, 3-5 3-pointers

Dunking With Wolves standings:

1. Christian Anton: 2-0, 4 point differential
2. Cooper Langby: 2-0, 4 point differential
3. George Rinaldi: 2-0, 5 point differential
4. Ben Beecken: 2-0, 6 point differential
5. Brian Sampson: 2-0, 8 point differential
6. Ali Siddiqui: 2-0, 8 point differential
7. Josh Bungum: 2-0, 9 point differential
8. Sam Nygaard: 2-0, 11 point differential
9. Alex Monseth: 2-0, 15 point differential
10. Andrew Neururer: 1-1, 13 point differential
11. Jake Paynting: 1-1, 13 point differential
12. Reed Redmond: 1-1, 13 point differential
13. Ken Bradley, 1-1, 15 point differential
14. Antoine Bass: 1-1, 21 point differential
15. Max Neuhaus: 1-1, 24 point differential