Hawks at Timberwolves Live Notebook

After completing a trade with one another for the second time this season, the Hawks and Timberwolves will face in Minneapolis on Wednesday night. Atlanta looks to snap a two-game skid against the struggling Wolves, who have now lost 12 games in a row and sit in 14th place in the West. Minnesota will be extremely shorthanded after injuries and a four-team trade with the Hawks, Rockets, and Nuggets on Tuesday night reduced the team to just seven available players with rotation experience.

Even more responsibility than usual will be foisted upon Karl-Anthony Towns, who is having one of the most dominant scoring seasons by a center in NBA history. But the Wolves desperately lack firepower around Towns, which had dragged their offense down to 23rd in the NBA. Despite an efficient shot profile, the Wolves own the fourth-worst effective field goal percentage and second-worst 3-point percentage in the NBA -- trailing only the Hawks.

The Hawks, meanwhile, will finally get two bodies back after a wave of injuries tripped them up in recent games. Bruno Fernando and De'Andre Hunter are likely to play on Wednesday, though Cam Reddish, Alex Len, Jabari Parker, and DeAndre' Bembry remain out. Clint Capela won't join the team until later this week after being traded from Houston.

The Wolves defeated the Hawks, 125-113, in the only other meeting between the teams in November. Towns dropped an easy 28 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists while Trae Young had 37 points and nine assists. The Wolves crushed Atlanta in the second half of that game, and Lloyd Pierce lamented his team's lack of discipline in the second half. Both teams are in different places now, and the Hawks hope a different outcome awaits on Wednesday night.

The Hawks will start with Trae Young, Kevin Huerter, De'Andre Hunter, John Collins, and Damian Jones. Minnesota will counter with Jarrett Culver, Josh Okogie, Andrew Wiggins, Kelan Martin, and Towns.

Follow along below for live updates and insights from the game:

First Quarter

Hawks attacking the basket early

Atlanta has been most successful in the early going when it has gotten downhill and attacked the rim. The Hawks are 3-for-3 at the rim and 2-for-2 from floater range as the Wolves have been unable to keep the ball out of the paint or contain roll men. Young opened the game by hitting Jones for a lob, and Atlanta's point guard has gotten past the first line of defense at will. Prior to the last timeout, Young settled for a difficult off-the-bounce 3, which Lloyd Pierce probably could have lived without given how much success his team has had at the rim.

Collins has scored twice out of the post as the Wolves have been forced to defend him with smaller players, and Towns has not been sharp on defense thus far.

Hawks lead 16-11.

Turnovers plaguing both teams

Both teams are off to blazing shooting starts, but have been weighed down by nine combined turnovers with under three minutes to play in the first quarter. While Atlanta is 7-for-7 at the rim with a 75% effective field goal percentage, it has scored less than 1.2 points per possession because of four early turnovers -- two of which belong to Young. The Hawks have been a touch ambitious on some of their passes while the Wolves have been downright careless on some possessions.

Despite five giveaways, the Wolves have also been effective at the rim and gotten to the foul line seven times in the first 10 minutes. All six of Atlanta's turnovers have been live-ball turnovers, which has helped fuel the Minnesota transition attack. As each team's shooting regresses back to the mean, the more disciplined team moving forward will likely wind up with the edge in this game.

Second Quarter

Wolves unable to score without Towns

Minnesota struggled to contain the Hawks at the start of the game when Towns was on the court, but without him the Wolves have looked aimless on both ends of the floor. The Hawks' bench (with Young and Collins mixed in) has helped extend their lead to 15 points, and Minnesota has just nine points since Towns exited the game late in the first quarter while Atlanta has only continued to pour on points.

Hunter picks up third foul

De'Andre Hunter picked up his third foul with 8:38 remaining in the quarter closing out on Josh Okogie, and will likely remain on the bench for the remainder of the first half. Foul trouble has been a recurring issue for the rookie this season, and Hunter frequently finds himself chained to the bench. Tonight, the Hawks don't have many alternatives on the wing, and will use Jeff Teague to fill Hunter's minutes for the time being.

Even it has a full roster available, Atlanta needs Hunter to be more disciplined on defense. He doesn't always get a friendly whistle, but Hunter can also be overly handsy and sloppy with his footwork at times. He tends to lean into ball-handlers when he gets beat, which results in touch fouls. Like most rookies, he'll occasionally rotate late, which typically leads to contact out of desperation. A natural positional defender, he's still figuring out how to be active on defense without making mistakes.

In addition to strength, length, and agility, primary wing defenders must also have discipline. That will come for Hunter time, but for the time being he still does a lot of learning from the bench.

Both sides of Naz Reid

Rookie Naz Reid has given the Wolves a key lift with his energy and shooting late in the second quarter, but in addition to showing what makes him such a talented prospect, he has also exhibited why Ryan Saunders has been reticent to keep him in the rotation at times this season.

Reid has 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including two 3-pointers, and an impressive block at the rim on Collins. But he has also made a couple of mistakes that resulted in five points for Atlanta -- one when he failed to step out to contest Young's 3-point attempt, then as he and Towns lost Collins rolling to the basket. Reid has been a positive in the aggregate, but he's still a rookie figuring it out on defense, and the Hawks are clearly aware of that.

Halftime

Atlanta scored 1.20 points per possession in the first half, an excellent mark given their 16.4 turnover percentage. The Timberwolves played well enough in several areas to be leading the game, but turned the ball over on nearly 22 percent of their possessions and only took 10 free throws to Atlanta's 17. That has made the difference in the game so far.

Trae Young had 23 points and seven assists on 13 shots in the first half, thanks to nine free-throw attempts and three made triples. Towns led a balanced Wolves scoring effort with 13 points; three of his teammates at 10.

Atlanta will take a 64-56 lead into the second half.

Third Quarter

Reid starts third period

Naz Reid starts the third quarter in place of Kelan Martin, who played 13 minutes in the first half. Reid closed the first half with a strong effort, scoring 10 points in just nine minutes and earning a start in the second half.

The Hawks have done most of their damage in the paint, shooting 72 percent at the rim and 50 percent on short mid-rangers, and while Reid struggles with some of the mental aspects of defense, his size could help deter Atlanta inside. John Collins bullied most Minnesota wings who tried to guard him in the first half, and Minnesota decided to put more size on the floor to match the Hawks.

Collins continues to wreak havoc

Even with more size on the floor, Minnesota hasn't had an answer for John Collins tonight. He's up to 22 points and 11 rebounds on 9-of-14 shooting, and has scored in nearly every way imaginable. He has finished plays in the pick-and-roll, stepped beyond the arc for 3, crashed the glass for second-chance points, attacked the rim off the dribble, and gotten out in transition, and the Wolves simply haven't been able to contain his energy and explosiveness. He has crammed home dunks with authority and been an effective force on the other end of the floor as well.

Collins has heard the speculation surrounding his place on the Hawks moving forward, and his last 11 games seem to reflect an urgency to prove himself amid that conjecture. His fit with Clint Capela -- whenever the two eventually share the floor -- will be fascinating to watch, as will the minutes when Collins works as a solo big man.

Fourth Quarter

Hunter struggling as Hawks led lead narrow

It has been a perplexing game for De'Andre Hunter, who has 12 points on seven shots but has made a series of poor decisions and rookie mistakes. Hunter spent much of the first half on the bench with foul trouble and has been more assertive in the fourth quarter, but that has also led to four turnovers and two late-game errors that have cost the Hawks.

Hunter let the shot clock expire without realizing the situation, and later forced a contested layup in transition with under a minute to play, which allowed the Wolves to close the lead to five. Earlier in the game, he plainly mistook a Timberwolf for a Hawk and committed a downright absent-minded turnover. Between turnovers and his aforementioned foul trouble, Hunter has looked a step behind the game's pace all night.

These plays aren't characteristic of Hunter's overall game, but the rookie has had these sorts of games with increasing regularity over the last month. It's a strange trend, and I'm not quite sure what to make of it.

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