No trap game for Timberwolves, who beat Pistons in Detroit
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch often calls Jaden McDaniels the barometer of the team’s offense.
If McDaniels, who’s not a focal point of the Wolves’ offense, gets going, it generally means Minnesota is playing in a flow, making the right play and moving the ball well.
So on a night that McDaniels tallied 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting, here’s what the stat lines looked like for his teammates:
Anthony Edwards had 27 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Karl-Anthony Towns also recorded 27 points and had six boards and four assists. Rudy Gobert tallied 19 points and 16 boards. And Naz Reid, Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker had nine, eight and seven points, respectively.
That all added up to a 124-117 Timberwolves victory over the Detroit Pistons Wednesday night in Detroit — putting away a bottom feeder and avoiding losing a trap game, something they struggled with last season, including two losses to the Pistons.
The Timberwolves (29-11) had their offense firing on all cylinders on a night that their defense didn’t make the road trip. Despite scoring 39 points in the opening quarter — including a highlight-reel dunk from Edwards — Minnesota was trailing because it allowed the Pistons (4-37) to score 40 points in the first frame.
"It's ridiculous, I mean, we're just trading baskets and when that happens everyone thinks it's always going to be too easy," Finch told reporters postgame. "We're a defensive-led team and that was not acceptable. It really wasn't like they were shooting the lights out, I mean, they were running it, they were executing their offense at a high level, but we were doing nothing to impact that."
The Wolves’ defense improved in the second quarter, and they scored another 31 points in the second frame to take a 70-62 advantage into the halftime break. Minnesota pushed its lead to 11 in the third frame, but Detroit went on an 11-4 run, eventually closing the gap to three late in the quarter.
But a couple big buckets from Alexander-Walker and Edwards helped the Wolves push their lead back to eight by the end of the frame.
Minnesota proceeded to open the fourth quarter on an 11-2 run to take firm control of the contest. While the Pistons were able to cut the gap to as few as six with just under four minutes remaining in the contest, 3-pointers from McDaniels and Towns followed by a layup from Edwards quickly pushed the Timberwolves’ lead back to 14.
"He got it in all different ways, which is good to see. Probably hit the biggest shot of the night when they tightened the game back up to three, gets the bounce-in 3 from the right corner," Finch said of McDaniels. "Feeling like his offense is getting a little more consistent every night. We got a lot of guys who can score, we got a lot of guys who can really help offensively, we just have to let them."
Final key stats
- Anthony Edwards: 27 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds
- Karl-Anthony Towns: 27 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists
- Jaden McDaniels: 23 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal
- Rudy Gobert: 19 points, 16 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block
- Jaden Ivey: 32 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal
