Timberwolves Wrap: Wolves dominate Suns in Sunday matinee

The Timberwolves washed (most) of the bad taste of Friday night’s loss to the Heat out of the mouths of their fans with a dominant Sunday performance in a win over the Phoenix Suns.

The Timberwolves improved to 2-1 on their first true homestand of the season with a relatively easy, double-digit win over the Phoenix Suns at Target Center on Sunday afternoon.

The home team built a lead of 14 points in the first half that was promptly given back by a shorthanded bench that suffered from the second consecutive game without Nemanja Bjelica. In addition, Tyus Jones was added to the starting lineup in place of the injured Jeff Teague, who missed his second game in a row, meaning that the second unit played with Aaron Brooks for the first time this season.

Tom Thibodeau had a short trigger with his bench in this one — and for once, this was almost certainly the right call — and the starters restored order prior to halftime, taking a five-point lead into the break.

The third quarter saw the Wolves expand their lead once again, primarily due to active work on the boards and solid transition offense — not two things that fans are used to hearing about this year’s squad to this point in the season. Andrew Wiggins drilled his first four 3-point attempts in this one as well, and Karl-Anthony Towns had a solid flurry in the third quarter to help Minnesota build a 13-point lead heading to the final frame.

The Timberwolves lead ballooned to 16 points early in the quarter, but a rough patch from the bench saw it shrink to 10 points. After Thibodeau went with a hybrid five-man unit of both reserves and starters for much of the middle part of the quarter, the starters came in to stabilize things down the stretch and salt away a solid victory.

Tweets of the Night

Key Takeaways

• The Timberwolves clearly had a focus to get Towns the ball early and often. On their first offensive possession, KAT received a catch in the post, and it was a sign of things to come. While it took Towns 26 shots to tally 32 points, he was effective despite being guarded by Tyson Chandler for much of the game.
• Tyus Jones was awesome, and just barely missed a 4×5 game with nine points, seven assists, seven (!) steals, and four rebounds. He also added two blocks, believe it or not. Also, zero turnovers.
• Jimmy Butler got things started off right for the Wolves, scoring 10 of the first 16 points for the home team. He had a solid all-around game as well, hunting his own shot in the opening stages and as the Wolves were trying to close things out late. There was plenty of facilitating and great defense in between, too.
• Outside of Gorgui Dieng, the Bjelica-less and Jones-less bench was horrible.

Player of the Game

Jimmy Butler: 25 points (11-19 FG, 0-1 3P, 3-5 FT), 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, one block, one turnover

As mentioned above, Butler was great all afternoon and did an outstanding job setting the tone early in the game. He continues to be a jack-of-all-trades for the Wolves, contributing in myriad ways beyond simply keying the offensive attack.

Interestingly enough, Butler handled the ball and initiated the offense often for the Wolves in this one. Teague being out absolutely had something to do with it, but the Point Jimmy look is certainly one that I’ll continue to clamor for more of moving forward.

Notable Box Score Lines

• Karl-Anthony Towns: 32 points (12-26 FG, 2-6 3P, 6-6 FT), 12 rebounds, 2 assists, one block, one turnover
• Andrew Wiggins: 21 points (8-18 FG, 4-6 3P, 1-4 FT), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, one steal, one block, 2 turnovers
• Taj Gibson: 16 points (8-12 FG), 14 rebounds, 3 assists, one steal, 3 turnovers
• Tyus Jones: 9 points (3-6 FG, 1-3 3P, 2-2 FT), 7 assists, 7 steals, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, zero turnovers
• Gorgui Dieng: 11 points (5-8 FG, 1-3 3P), 6 rebounds, 2 assists, one turnover, 20 minutes

As noted above, Towns was solid albeit relatively inefficient. Wiggins was hot early and decent throughout, although the stretch of minutes alluded to by Jon in the above tweet was awesome. We’ve been seeing a lot more of those moments from Wiggins so far this year than Wolves fans are accustomed to seeing.

Gibson did most of his damage early along with Butler. Jones was great throughout the game, just missing a 4×5 game, adding two blocks, and not turning the ball over in 39 minutes of running a starting unit with which he isn’t used to playing heavy minutes. Also, Dieng was great off the bench in 20 minutes as he filled Bjelly’s role in spelling Gibson alongside the starters.

Next: Should Karl-Anthony Towns just play power forward?

What’s Next?

The 12-8 Timberwolves will get the John Wall-less Washington Wizards on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. That will conclude the four-game homestand before the Wolves head back on the road to see the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday on the second night of a home-road back-to-back.