Timberwolves Wrap: Towns leads comeback win over Wizards

The Timberwolves used another huge performance from Karl-Anthony Towns in overcoming a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to defeat the Wizards on the road.

Coming off of an emotional win over the Warriors in Sunday’s matinee at Target Center, a letdown on the road on Tuesday was certainly a possibility.

But the Wizards were playing on the second half of a back-to-back, and, quite simply, Karl-Anthony Towns could not be stopped.

After dropping 31 points and 16 rebounds on the defending champs on Sunday, Towns hung a 37-spot on Washington. He did it from everywhere, scoring with ease in the post and from the mid-range late. Then, he was at the free throw line consistently in the second half, and after not attempting a 3-pointer in the first 24 minutes, he knocked down all three of his long-range tries after halftime.

Towns put on a clinic, and virtually nobody else on the Wolves joined him until the fourth quarter. While KAT did much of his work early, Nemanja Bjelica started the game shooting just 2-for-11 before nailing his last five shots of the game. Andrew Wiggins was following up a solid showing against the Warriors with one of his worst performances in awhile before coming up big in the fourth quarter.

Jeff Teague had only 13 points and five assists, but had a game-clinching steal and dunk after the Wizards inbounded down just three points with 15.8 seconds on the clock.

The Wolves defense was awful early in the game but improved as the contest moved along. Late in the game, the rotations were once again crisp and a Towns-Wiggins-Bjelica frontcourt paired with Tyus Jones and Jamal Crawford hustled their way to a series of stops.

After falling behind by a 95-85 margin with 9:51 left in the game, Minnesota went on a 20-3 run spanning the next five minutes. Of the 20 points, Towns only had three. Bjelica, Wiggins, and Jones keyed the offensive success, and the entire unit was fantastic defensively.

It was touch-and-go in the final couple of minutes after a couple of turnover miscues allowed Washington to hang around. But all things considered, this was another impressive win for Tom Thibodeau’s crew.

Tweet of the Night

Highlight of the Night

https://twitter.com/thedailywolf/status/973730846577512448

Key Takeaways

• Andrew Wiggins was awful in the first half and still only finished the game with a single rebound and a single assist, but he had some huge hoops in the fourth quarter and played tough defense on the perimeter against a host of 3-point shooters.
• Derrick Rose watch: still a bad performance, but it at least didn’t feel quite as ugly as the Golden State game. He got into the second half of a game for the first time and was a +1 for the game. Rose’s defense was high-effort, which is helpful.
• The overall defensive performance was not quite on par with what Minnesota put together on Sunday against the Warriors, but the fourth quarter was great. There were still some defensive rebounding issues — strangely, Gorgui Dieng‘s minutes have plummeted in Jimmy Butler‘s absence as Thibodeau has simply played a smaller lineup with tons of Bjelica — but it was a solid all-around game on both ends of the floor.
• Towns played virtually the entire second half, only resting briefly towards the end of the third quarter but reentering quickly for defensive rebounding purposes.

Player of the Game

Karl-Anthony Towns: 37 points (13-17, 3-3 3P, 8-8 FT), 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, one steal

After scoring 31 points in 39 minutes on 24 shots on Sunday, Towns scored 37 points on just 17 points in 41 minutes on Tuesday. Yep, that’s more than two (2!) points per field goal attempt. Crazy.

For as much as Towns had the ball in his hands, KAT only turned it over a single time. For whatever reason, the Wizards rarely double-teamed him, simply asking Marcin Gortat and and Ian Mahinmi to be physical and guard the Wolves All-Star one-on-one. It didn’t work.

Notable Timberwolves Box Score Stats

• Andrew Wiggins: 16 points (7-14 FG, 0-2 3P, 2-2 FT), 2 blocks, one rebound, one assist, one steal
• Nemanja Bjelica: 17 points (7-16 FG, 3-7 3P), 8 rebounds, 7 assists, one steal, one block
• Taj Gibson: 10 points (5-8 FG, 0-2 FT), 8 rebounds, one steal, one block
• Jeff Teague: 13 points (6-11 FG, 0-3 3P, 1-1 FT), 5 assists, 2 steals, 2 rebounds, one block
• Tyus Jones: 8 points (3-6 FG, 0-2 3P, 2-2 FT), 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals

Next: Will the Butler-less Wolves make the playoffs?

What’s Next?

After a six-day break followed by three games in six days, the Wolves will now have another three-day break before heading to San Antonio to take on the Spurs, who are currently in a three-way tie for the No. 8 spot in the West.