Timberwolves Wrap: Another dominant, wire-to-wire win for the Wolves

The Timberwolves started a new winning streak with their second win in just over 24 hours with a wire-to-wire home victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

On Christmas Day, the Timberwolves defeated the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center, extending their winning streak to four games at the time. On New Year’s Day, the Wolves started a new streak, winning for the second time in as many days and the second time in a week over the Lakers.

The Wolves have now won eight out of their last 10 games and two in a row, with a winnable game upcoming on Wednesday in Brooklyn. Then, a stretch of six consecutive games against teams with records at or above the .500 mark, starting with a nationally-televised game against the Celtics in Boston on Friday night.

On Sunday evening in Indianapolis, the Wolves opened up their matchup against the Pacers with a 17-0 lead. On Monday night at Target Center in Minneapolis, the Wolves started the game with a 16-0 advantage. And after leading wire-to-wire during Sunday’s win, the Wolves did the same thing on Monday, too.

The Timberwolves defense was stifling early on, and the Lakers, much like the Pacers before them, missed the few open or semi-open looks that they were afforded early in the game. On this night, however, the Wolves kept the ball moving on offense and took advantage of their struggling opponent.

Andrew Wiggins opened the game with eight of the Wolves’ first 14 points, including a mid-range jumper, an old-fashioned 3-point play, and a jumper drained from beyond the arc. As the game progressed, the Wolves were able to keep the Lakers in the penalty and keep the visitors at arm’s length with proficient shooting from the free throw line, finishing the game with a 27-for-30 mark at the charity stripe.

The Wolves led by 12 points at halftime before the Lakers used a quick burst at the start of the third quarter to get the game to within two possessions. But the Timberwolves surged once again and maintained a double-digit advantage until their lead finally ballooning to 20 points with a few minutes left in the final frame.

Tweets of the Night

Key Takeaways

• Outside of a semi-lazy stretch early int he second half, the Wolves defense was active and impressive once again.
• As long as we’re nitpicking, it’s fair to note that the offense still gets stagnant at times. And while the TNT crew’s Christmas night criticism of how slow the Timberwolves play was somewhat unfounded (Brian and I discussed this on the podcast), they do tend to slip into funks where isolation-ball is the preferred option, but it seems to take them forever to clear the floor and get into said iso set. Jimmy Butler was guilty of stringing this along a little bit in the third quarter when the Lakers were hanging around, but the Wolves eventually snapped out of it.
• Nemanja Bjelica continues to look uncomfortable, although he did hit his first 3-pointer since returning from injury.
• Towns was in early foul trouble and Gorgui Dieng once again performed admirably in KAT’s temporary absence, finishing the game with 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting.
• Despite the 18-point win, Butler still played 37 minutes. Wiggins logged 35 minutes while Taj Gibson played 33. Tyus Jones and Towns only played 27 minutes a piece, largely due to foul trouble.

Player of the Game

Jimmy Butler: 28 points (8-14 FG, 1-1 3P, 11-11 FT), 9 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, one block

Butler was great once again. He did have seven turnovers, but that was largely due to his extended play at the point guard spot after Jones got into foul trouble and Aaron Brooks was once again ineffective. Butler ran the point for approximately seven minutes with mixed results.

However, it continues to be true that the Wolves’ offense runs better when Butler handles the ball on the perimeter, and preferably in ball-screen action. Jimmy Buckets’ nine assists and 11 free throw attempts — and 28 points on just 14 shots — confirm this as fact.

Notable Box Score Lines

• Karl-Anthony Towns: 16 points (7-13 FG, 2-4 3P), 13 rebounds, 2 steals, one block, one assist, 4 turnovers
• Andrew Wiggins: 21 points (7-16 FG, 1-5 3P, 6-7 FT), 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, one block
• Gorgui Dieng: 17 points (7-8 FG, 3-4 FT), 4 rebounds, 2 blocks
• Taj Gibson: 14 points (5-9 FG, 4-4 FT), 5 rebounds, one assist

Towns was solid but only played 27 minutes due to early foul trouble. Wiggins was great early from a scoring perspective, but finally had another one of those stat-stuffing box score lines that we’ve been waiting for: that’s right, Wiggins had nine rebounds in this one, to go along with four assists.

Dieng was great off the bench in extended minutes, and Gibson was solid as always. The bench didn’t do much outside of Dieng, with Jamal Crawford shooting just 1-for-7 from the floor.

Next: Karl-Anthony Towns dominated in December

What’s Next?

The Timberwolves head east to face the Nets at Barclays Center in Brooklyn at 6:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday night before continuing on to Boston for Friday night’s ESPN telecast.