Timberwolves Wrap: Butler lifts sloppy Wolves into All-Star Weekend

The Timberwolves played horrific defense for much of Thursday night’s win over the Lakers, but Jimmy Butler showed up when it mattered and lifted his squad to a win heading into All-Star Weekend.

The pre-All-Star break portion of the schedule closed as it began, with the Timberwolves playing sloppy defense and only seeming to play hard in the fourth quarter.

In between, of course, there was a six-week hot streak with fantastic defense, and a recent slog through an impossible schedule. But here we are, with the Timberwolves in a virtual tie with the San Antonio Spurs for the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference, although they technically sit a few percentage points behind the Spurs.

The Wolves and Lakers went up and down the floor with reckless abandon for the entire first quarter, with the frame ending in a 39-35 Lakers advantage. The second quarter was much of the same, although L.A. built a double-digit lead that the Wolves were barely able to erase, leading to a three-point halftime lead by the Lakers.

The third quarter saw the Wolves take a brief lead before the Lakers took it back with about 10 minutes remaining in the third. Partway through the third, Los Angeles expanded it’s lead to 15 points, and the Timberwolves were officially on their heels.

The Wolves bench played extremely well early in the fourth quarter, with an aggressive Tyus Jones and a piping hot Jamal Crawford keeping Minnesota in the game and slowly whittle away the deficit. As the starters began to slowly reenter the contest, the lead continued to dwindle.

Eventually, it was Jimmy Butler time, and Jimmy G. Buckets came to play on both ends of the floor.

The game was virtually over at that point, and while the Wolves offense once again seemingly ground to a halt with Butler playing in isolation throughout crunch time, they were able to do enough to escape with a win over a Lakers team that had won 12 of its last 18 games.

Tweet of the Night

Key Takeaways

• The defense remains a major concern, although keep this in mind: the Wolves flipped a switch for about six weeks and held a number of teams, including some good ones, under 100 points. There’s likely a switch to be flipped once again, and once the All-Star break is over, the playoffs will only be about seven weeks away. Here’s hoping that the timing of the next switch flip works perfectly.
• Towns struggled on offense tonight. He received a fair number of touches and simply missed a few shots that rimmed out, and should have been heading to the free throw line in some other cases. He did play hard, and did a good job distributing the basketball and rebounding as well.
• Jeff Teague was awesome for the first two-plus quarters (20 points on nine shots and six assists), and Jones played great in his second half stint. While crunch time involves Butler handling the ball more often than not, solid point guard play from Teague and Jones will be vital down the stretch of the season.
• Taj Gibson was awesome, scoring a career-high 28 points on 16 shots while also pulling down seven rebounds. He was in the right place at the right time often, receiving passes from Butler, Teague, and Towns and mostly converting tough shots in the paint. He also fouled out of this one in the final minute.
• Andrew Wiggins was invisible once again, scoring just eight points on 11 shots and routinely being out of position on defense.

Player of the Game

Jimmy Butler: 24 points (7-20 FG, 0-7 3P, 10-11 FT), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, one steal

Butler struggled from the field, missing a ghastly seven attempts from beyond the arc. He was awesome on defense, per usual, with the above two blocks sealing the game for his squad. Butler’s final minutes in this one were enough to get him our POTG award.

Notable Box Score Lines

• Taj Gibson: 28 points (11-16 FG, 6-6 FT), 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, one assist, one steal
• Karl-Anthony Towns: 10 points (2-9 FG, 0-2 3P, 6-6 FT), 19 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks
• Andrew Wiggins: 8 points (4-11 FG, 0-1 3P), 4 rebounds
• Jeff Teague: 20 points (6-9 FG, 2-3 3P, 6-7 FT), 6 assists, 3 rebounds, one block
• Jamal Crawford: 15 points (6-11 FG, 2-6 3P, 1-1 FT), 3 assists

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What’s Next?

The Timberwolves head back to the Midwest for an 8:30 p.m. CT tip-off against the Chicago Bulls in Butler’s return to United Center on Friday night. The game will be televised on ESPN.