Timberwolves Wrap: Towns leads Wolves to win over Warriors

The Timberwolves halted their three-game losing streak with an impressive win over the Golden State Warriors on Sunday afternoon at Target Center.

Karl-Anthony Towns showed up and showed out on Sunday. And when KAT shows out … well, there isn’t anyone in the league that can stop him.

Towns put up 31 points, 16 rebounds, two assists, and a steal and dominated down the stretch as the Timberwolves held off the Steph Curry-less Warriors and improved to 26-8 on their home floor. Kevin Durant had 39 points but took 32 shots to get there as the Wolves defense stepped up and played well for the entire second half.

After a strong start to the game and leading by 10 points after the first quarter, the Wolves began their all-too-familiar defensive slide and it lasted throughout the second frame. The Warriors outscored their hosts by a 38-21 margin in the second quarter and were able to use a relentless fastbreak attack and a sudden flurry of 3-pointers to build a seven-point halftime lead.

Minnesota was mostly able to keep pace on offense throughout the afternoon, however, and after grabbing a quick lead in the third quarter settled for a tie game heading to the final 12 minutes.

The fourth quarter saw Towns simply decide to take over. He scored 14 points in the frame, scoring in the post over a physical Draymond Green, getting to the free throw line, hitting mid-range jumpers, and mixing in a step-back 3-pointer for good measure.

In the final moments of the game, Towns hit a tough, fadeaway jumper over Green to give the Wolves a three-point lead. Then, after helping to force Durant into a tough missed three, he pump-faked his own straightaway 3-point attempt and drove for a floater in the lane. Towns missed it short, but followed up with a put-back to stretch the Wolves lead to five. The game was all but over at that point.

The non-KAT story of the game was the Wolves defense; there was a clear sense of urgency that, quite frankly, is rarely present for this squad. The rotations were crisp and shots were largely contested. Other than a couple of bad breakdowns that allowed the Warriors second and third opportunities off of offensive rebounds, Minnesota impressed on defense while Golden State resorted to chucking down the stretch in the fourth quarter.

Tweets of the Night

https://twitter.com/KarlTowns/status/972998752125505538

Highlights of the Night

Key Takeaways

• Derrick Rose played seven first-half minutes and was … quite bad. There’s really no other way to slice it. The first time he touched the ball he slipped and fell out of bounds. There was a missed wide-open floater and a couple of forced layup attempts with open teammates nearby. His one basket was a nice hustle play that led to a put-back. But it was absolutely rough overall. In related news, he didn’t see the court in the second half.
• Tom Thibodeau used his bench extra-sparingly in this one. Gorgui Dieng only played nine minutes, and Tyus Jones logged only 12. Rose played the aforementioned seven minutes, and Jamal Crawford played well over 22 minutes.
• For as much talk as there is about the minutes that the Wolves starters play, take a look at Golden State in this one. Kevin Durant played 39 minutes, and Klay Thompson was on the court for 40. Compare that to Nemanja Bjelica‘s 40 and Towns’ 39.
• The Pelicans lost to Utah on Sunday while Denver won. With the win, the Wolves moved into a virtual three-way tie for the No. 4 spot with New Orleans and Oklahoma City. The Thunder and Wolves have identical 39-29 records and have played two more games than the 38-28 Pelicans.
• While the Wolves played good defense for much of the night, there was a bit of luck involved in out-shooting Golden State from beyond the arc. The Warriors were just 10-of-36 (27.8 percent) while Minnesota shot at a 6-for-20 (30 percent) clip from long-range.
• Nemanja Bjelica struggled from the field in this one but made his presence felt with solid overall defense on Durant and awesome help defense both on the perimeter and in the paint. He notched four assists, three steals, and two blocks in a team-high 40 minutes.

Player of the Game

Karl-Anthony Towns: 31 points (13-24, 2-5 3P, 3-5 FT), 16 rebounds, 2 assists, one steal

Towns scored 31 points in 39 minutes while only shooting the ball 24 times from the floor. He only committed one turnover, despite being double-teamed nearly every time he touched the ball in the post.

Thankfully, the Wolves finally committed to running the offense completely through Towns. And as it turned out, Andrew Wiggins still got his shots, scoring 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting. This was exactly the type of offensive game that the Wolves needed to play in order to win, and Town stepped up to the plate big time when he was called upon down the stretch.

Notable Timberwolves Box Score Stats

• Andrew Wiggins: 23 points (9-16 FG, 2-4 3P, 3-4 FT), 5 rebounds, 3 assists
• Taj Gibson: 11 points (5-12 FG, 1-1 FT), 13 rebounds, 2 assists, one block
• Nemanja Bjelica: 10 points (4-12 FG, 1-4 3P, 1-2 FT), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks
• Jeff Teague: 10 points (3-8 FG, 0-3 3P, 4-5 FT), 10 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals
• Jamal Crawford: 12 points (4-9 FG, 1-4 3P, 3-3 FT), 2 rebounds, one assist, one steal

Next: The Towns vs. Davis debate rages on...

What’s Next?

The Timberwolves have Monday off before heading to our nation’s capital to take on the Wizards on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT. The Wizards will be coming off of two consecutive off days after getting blown-out by Miami on Saturday night.