Timberwolves Wrap: Wiggins’ 40 points keys win over Clippers

Andrew Wiggins dropped 40 points and Jeff Teague had 30 as the Timberwolves held on to beat the Clippers in Los Angeles on Monday night.

With the Clippers missing DeAndre Jordan and the Timberwolves down Jimmy Butler and Jamal Crawford, it seemed to be a fairly evenly matched game before things tipped off. Blake Griffin is back and Louis Williams is playing at an All-Star level, so this game was never going to be easy.

And sure enough, this was a see-saw battle that saw the Wolves build a 10-point lead midway through the third quarter, but the Clippers used a quick run to retake the lead themselves. From that point on, neither team could gain separation of more than a couple of possessions.

The first quarter saw an aggressive version of Jeff Teague that Wolves fans simply haven’t seen enough of yet this season. He had nine points before the midway point of the opening frame and allowed the Wolves to keep pace with the Clippers.

Minnesota’s defense struggled mightily at the end of the first quarter and allowed the Clippers to pull within four. In the second quarter, the teams played to a draw and the Wolves led by a score of 61-57 at halftime.

The Wolves built up their lead early in the third quarter thanks to more dominance from Andrew Wiggins. After only attempting two field goals in the entire first half, Towns only attempted one more shot before exiting the game late in the third quarter. That’s right: he was 0-for-3 from the field with four points as the Wolves built their brief double-digit lead.

The Clippers got right back into things with a flurry of jumpers and sloppy play on offense from the Wolves, even taking a pair of brief leads. The Wolves were able to grab a 92-90 lead back before the final frame.

The fourth quarter saw the Wolves nearly pull away a couple of times. Minnesota took the lead for good on a bucket from Wiggins with 3:46 remaining and led by seven points with 56 seconds left. A pair of free throws from Montrezl Harrell and a charge called on Nemanja Bjelica, the Clippers got a dunk from West Johnson to cut the Wolves lead to just three points with 30 seconds showing on the clock.

On the inbounds pass, Karl-Anthony Towns tossed it carelessly back towards Jeff Teague, who wasn’t expecting the ball. It rolled out of bounds, and the Clippers had a chance with the ball and only a three-point deficit.

But Louis Williams missed a 3-pointer and on the ensuing rebound, the loose ball rolled out to mid-court. Wiggins dove on the floor and forced Blake Griffin to pick the ball up and dribble under duress, leading to a double-dribble. The Wolves got the ball back, and Towns made three of four free throw attempts down the stretch to put the game away.

The reason for the eight-point margin? A trio of technical fouls and a pair of coaches ejections in the closing seconds served to a) get Wiggins his 40-point game, and b) allow the Clippers to embarrass themselves.

Tweets of the Night

Key Takeaways

• The lack of touches for Towns continues to be confounding. Only two field goal attempts in the first half and three before the fourth quarter. It’s certainly less glaring on a night in which Wiggins scores 40 points, but the Wolves only threw the ball to him in the post a handful of times.
• To Towns’ credit, he played hard on the glass, grabbing 17 rebounds. He wasn’t great defensively, largely showing up a half-step late on rotations, but was overall a positive contributor.
• Wiggins was awesome early, went through a stretch of forced, contested jumpers that didn’t fall, and then finished with a flourish. He played hard on both ends, and did exactly what you’d want him to in the absence of Jimmy Butler.
• Jeff Teague was awesome, easily clearing his previous season-high of just 23 points by dropping 30 on just 14 shots without hitting a 3-pointer. Teague only had one turnover in 34 minutes and scored at will around Milos Teodosic. Late in the game, it was his orchestration of the offense that helped the Wolves get open shots when they needed them the most.
• Nemanja Bjelica had one of his more complete games. Turns out, playing 35 minutes allows a player to get his numbers and assert himself on both ends of the floor.
• The bench only managed 13 points but outside of some defensive struggles from Marcus Georges-Hunt (plus, he fouled out in just 21 minutes), they were decent.
• Beating the Clippers in L.A. without Butler and Crawford — even without DeAndre Jordan and Austin Rivers — isn’t anything to sneeze at. If the roster were to stay intact, this is probably a playoff team, and they just beat Houston a week ago. It was a good win for the Wolves.

Player of the Game

Andrew Wiggins: 40 points (16-28 FG, 3-7 3P, 5-8 FT), 6 rebounds, one assist, one block, 3 turnovers

Wiggins was great, and again had a couple of big rebounds late in the game, not to mention his hustle play that forced Griffin into a turnover late in a one possession game. That’s two straight games without Butler and two straight games of Good Andrew. Here’s hoping that something has clicked and that this continues.

Notable Box Score Lines

• Karl-Anthony Towns: 11 points (1-7 FG, 0-1 3P, 9-10 FT), 17 rebounds, 3 assists, one block
• Nemanja Bjelica: 18 points (6-13 FG, 3-9 3P, 3-4 FT), 9 rebounds, 4 assists, one steal
• Jeff Teague: 30 points (7-14 FG, 0-1 3P, 16-17 FT), 6 assists, 3 rebounds, one turnover
• Taj Gibson: 14 points (7-13 FG), 6 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists

Next: 3 trade ideas to send Kemba Walker to the Timberwolves

What’s Next?

The Timberwolves head up the coast to take on the Trail Blazers in Portland on Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. CT. The Blazers, who the Wolves are 2-0 against so far this season, dropped a one possession loss to the Nuggets in Denver on Monday.