The Minnesota Timberwolves snapped their seven-game losing streak with a win over the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday evening.
The Minnesota Timberwolves played well on Saturday night and had a chance to top the San Antonio Spurs in overtime.
Instead, the losing streak ballooned to seven. To make matters worse prior to Sunday’s re-match, Karl-Anthony Towns was ruled out as the Wolves try to ease him back into action.
On the other side of the ledger, the Wolves got Josh Okogie back on Sunday, and the Spurs were without DeMar DeRozan due to personal reasons.
As it turned out, the Wolves played well enough defensively to slow down a punchless San Antonio offense.
After a massive first half from Lonnie Walker, he went cold in the second half and the Spurs relied almost exclusively on Patty Mills and LaMarcus Aldridge, who combined to shoot just 16-of-40 from the field and 4-for-16 from beyond the arc.
The Wolves had an inconsistent night offensively. D’Angelo Russell carried them through the first quarter while Malik Beasley took over the offense during the middle stages of the game. Down the stretch, the Wolves used a balanced attack with both Russell and Ricky Rubio on the floor.
The Spurs continued to struggle offensively, and the Wolves did just enough defensively and on the glass to put the game away late.
Okogie and Jarred Vanderbilt were vital to Minnesota’s defensive success in crunch-time. Combined with Rubio and Towns, the Wolves have the makings of a strong defensive unit for late-game situations.
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Other Minnesota Timberwolves Players
Jarrett Culver, and Ed Davis were the other starters in this game, but they played fairly inconsequential roles in the result.
Davis had some solid minutes with the starting group at the beginning of the first and third quarters and had six points and six rebounds in 18 minutes. Culver was good defensively once again but has appeared to have back-slid again on the offensive end of the floor. He shot just 1-of-5 from the floor but did contribute four assists, three rebounds, and a block.
Josh Okogie was fantastic in his return, scoring six points and grabbing four rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench. He was 3-of-3 shooting inside the arc and 0-of-2 on 3-point attempts; his jumper looked shaky and uncomfortable but it was clear that he was up to the challenge of taking on the toughest defensive assignment. Having Okogie back and being able to slide Culver onto a bit of an easier cover will make a huge difference for the Wolves moving forward.
Anthony Edwards had what was probably the worst game of his career. He was scoreless and missed all eight of his shot attempts from the field. Edwards did have six rebounds but also committed two turnovers and was generally out of control on offense.
Up next for the Minnesota Timberwolves
The Wolves will now enjoy two off-days at home until consecutive games against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday and Friday.