Timberwolves Wrap: Wolves storm back to defeat Lakers in L.A.

The Timberwolves found themselves down double-digits late in the first half to the lottery-bound Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night but ultimately coasted to an easy win in Jimmy Butler‘s return.

Only 24 hours after a deflating loss in Denver, the Timberwolves came out flat in Los Angeles and flirted with disaster before coming to their senses in the third quarter.

Jimmy Butler started and played 23 minutes in the win. He looked rusty early on, missing his first couple of shot attempts from the field and struggling at the free throw line, largely coming up short with his shot. He looked winded at times, and understandably so after not playing for exactly six weeks.

The Wolves’ defense was significantly better with Butler, of course. They were far more active in the passing lanes, tallying 14 steals and forcing 20 Laker turnovers on the night.

It wasn’t a pretty performance from the Wolves by any means, but there was a solid stretch in the third quarter and especially early in the fourth frame that Minnesota’s offense was humming and their defense was sparking transition scoring opportunities.

Once again, Karl-Anthony Towns was in early foul trouble, picking up his third personal foul early in the second quarter. KAT was much better in the second half, however, and while his final stat line was modest, he was effective after struggling in the opening minutes of the game. And don’t overlook the four assists, three blocks and two steals; it was a solid all-around performance from the All-Star big man.

Now, only two must-win regular season games remain: Memphis on Monday, and Denver on Wednesday.

Highlights of the Game

Player of the Game

Jimmy Butler: 18 points (7-10 FG, 0-1 3P, 4-8 FT), 4 steals, 2 rebounds, one steal

Jeff Teague led the team with an efficient 25 points on 16 shots, but Butler managed to put up 18 points on only 10 shots in 23 minutes while uncharacteristically missing four of his eight free throw attempts.

As rusty as Butler looked early, he keyed the second half run that included the above alley-oop from Tyus Jones and a big and-one play in the paint. Butler was obviously exhausted but pushed through and didn’t have to play a single minute more than than what was needed.

Welcome back, Buckets.

Notable Timberwolves Box Score Lines

• Jeff Teague: 25 points (9-16 FG, 2-5 3P, 5-5 FT), 8 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals
• Taj Gibson: 18 points (8-13 FG, 2-3 FT), 10 rebounds, 3 blocks
• Karl-Anthony Towns: 14 points (5-13 FG, 1-4 3P, 3-3 FT), 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals
• Andrew Wiggins: 15 points (7-22 FG, 1-4 3P), 8 rebounds, 5 assists, one steal, one block

Teague and Gibson were solid on both ends of the court for the entire night. As noted earlier, Towns started slowly but was great down the stretch.

Wiggins was once again incredibly inefficient on offense, but continued his recent trend of increasing his non-scoring production with a nice showing in the rebounds and assists columns.

Next: The misconstrued career of Gorgui Dieng

What’s Next?

The Wolves will get two days off before hosting the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night at 7 p.m. CT. The Grizzlies have already beaten Minnesota twice this season despite holding the second-worst record in the entire NBA. It’s another must-win for the Wolves, of course.