Timberwolves Wrap: Wolves escape with win over Nets

The Timberwolves led by many as 26 points in the first half but allowed the visiting Nets to hang around until the bitter end. Ultimately, the Wolves pulled out the 14-point win.

The Timberwolves needed a win on Saturday night in Jimmy Butler‘s return to the lineup, and they got one — although it was a bit tougher than it probably should have been.

After the game was tied at 8-8 in the early stages, the Wolves went on a 29-3 run that gave them a 37-11 lead early in the second quarter. But the Nets cut it to just 12 points by halftime, largely due to poor defense from the second unit followed by sluggish offense from the starters to round out the half.

The third quarter saw the Nets get within five points before a quick flurry from the Wolves pushed it all the way back up to 16. It settled at 13 by the end of the frame, giving the home team a bit more of a cushion heading to the fourth.

The final 12 minutes saw the Wolves mostly play well on both sides of the court. Perhaps the biggest separator was Karl-Anthony Towns‘ work on the glass; the Wolves star pulled down 19 boards on the night and dominated for a stretch early in the fourth quarter after having yet another quiet opening half.

The Wolves slogged through the final minutes of the game. After stretching their lead to 18 points following four made free throws on one possession (two of them due to the ejection of Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson), the Nets got back within eight in the final three minutes, causing the Target Center crowd to sit on their hands as their squad slowed things down to a crawl, simply trying to hold on.

Ultimately, Nik Stauskas couldn’t guard Andrew Wiggins one-on-one (surprise, surprise), and Wiggs scored on back-to-back possessions to keep the Nets at arm’s length.

Brooklyn had a couple of empty possessions and the dust settled with the Wolves earning a 14-point win that somehow wasn’t as large of a margin as it should have been but at the same time it was actually closer than the final score indicated.

Tweets of the Night

Key Takeaways

• If I hadn’t known any better, I would have assumed that the Wolves were the team playing their second game in just over 24 hours, and not the visiting Nets. Minnesota was sluggish for much of the night and was, put simply, lucky that Quincy Acy and DeMarre Carroll were shooting threes from the wing and not above-average shooters.
• The Wolves really didn’t play all that much better on defense in this one then they did in Golden State on Thursday (read: they were okay in both games); the Warriors are just amazingly good and the Nets … aren’t.
• Jeff Teague was horrible, scoring just two points on 0-of-4 shooting in just 24 minutes. Tyus Jones finished the game while Teague didn’t return in the fourth quarter.
• Jones, on the other hand, was okay in the first half and played great in the second.
• Towns was, once again, not involved in the offense at all in the first half. He received a handful of play-calls in the second half but had his shot blocked in the post by Acy on back-to-back possessions. He also struggled from beyond the arc once again and had to rely on offensive putbacks. Of course, pulling down a whopping 10(!) offensive rebounds will help that cause.

Player of the Game

Andrew Wiggins: 21 points (9-20 FG, 0-3 3P, 3-4 FT), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, one steal, one block

It’s tough to single out any Wolves player as the player of the game in this one. Towns had 16 points and 19 rebounds but missed a number of easy baskets and had too many lapses. Butler was shockingly inefficient in his return from a nine-day layoff. Nobody else made a significant and prolonged impact, outside of Jamal Crawford‘s hot stretch in the second quarter.

Wiggins had a quiet 21 points while also contributing an important five rebounds. He also scored back-to-back baskets in the post in the final two minutes when the Wolves needed to hold serve to escape with a victory. That’s enough to get him the nod on this night.

Notable Box Score Lines

• Karl-Anthony Towns: 16 points (7-16 FG, 0-4 3P, 2-2 FT), 19 rebounds, 3 blocks, one assist, one steal
• Jimmy Butler: 21 points (4-14 FG, 1-3 3P, 12-14 FT), 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, one block
• Taj Gibson: 14 points (7-13 FG, 0-1 3P), 5 rebounds, one steal, one block
• Jeff Teague: 2 points (0-4 FG, 0-1 3P, 2-2), 4 assists, 2 rebounds, one steal
• Tyus Jones: 13 points (6-8 FG, 1-2 3P), 5 assists, 2 rebounds, one steal, one block
• Jamal Crawford: 16 points (6-13 FG, 2-5 3P, 2-2 FT), 2 rebounds

Next: Tyus Jones has become an elite defender

What’s Next?

The Timberwolves head back out on the road after a one-game “homestand”. This time, they’ll head to Atlanta to face the Hawks on Monday night at 6:30 p.m. CT before heading north of the border to see the Raptors on Tuesday.