Timberwolves outlast Nets on second half of back to back
The Timberwolves didn’t make it easy on themselves and it certainly wasn’t pretty, but they found a way to win on the second half of a back to back Saturday night, beating the Brooklyn Nets 101-86 at Target Center in Minneapolis.
The Timberwolves' offense was mostly cold, but their defense was as good as always, even with center Rudy Gobert out of the lineup due to a left ankle sprain. The Nets didn't score more than 23 points in any of the four quarters.
Jaden McDaniels, who was quiet most of the night, hit a 3-pointer with just under five minutes remaining, and Anthony Edwards found Kyle Anderson under the hoop for a layup that gave the Wolves an 11-point lead, their largest of the night at the point in the game, late in the fourth quarter, enough of a cushion to pull out the win.
"We needed a win desperately," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. "Still not playing really sharp basketball, particularly on the offensive end, but defensively we're really strong."
After Dorian Finney-Smith hit a 3-pointer for the Nets to cut the lead back to eight, Edwards quickly scored back-to-back baskets to push the Wolves' lead back to 12.
The lackluster offensive effort early resulted in the Timberwolves (40-17) falling behind by as many as 10 in the first quarter. While they answered with a 10-0 run to close out the frame — and take a one-point lead into the second quarter — the offense continued to struggle as the Nets (21-35) took a 45-42 advantage at halftime.
"I thought tonight we missed a ton of kickout opportunities. We put the ball on the deck, we go there, there's massive traffic in the paint and we're still trying to kind of bulldoze our way through to the rim," Finch said.
For much of the night, Karl-Anthony Towns was the only effective offensive weapon. He finished with 28 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Edwards was ice cold in the first half, but found a rhythm after the break. After scoring just eight points in the first 24 minutes, Edwards tallied 10 points in the third quarter and put up 11 more in the fourth to help the Wolves close it out.
Edwards finished with a game-high 29 points and eight rebounds.
Anderson got the start in place of Gobert and filled in admirably. He finished with 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting, nine rebounds and three assists.
With 53 seconds remaining, Edwards threw down an emphatic dunk that pushed the Timberwolves’ lead to 12. The Target Center crowd gave a loud applause as their Wolves were ensured of securing win No. 40 of the season.
Briefly
- Mike Conley hit a 3-pointer with 22.5 seconds remaining as the shot clock expired and Dennis Schroder came charging at him. It caused a bit of a scuffle and led to a lengthy review by the officials, who issued technicals on Schroder and Finney-Smith as well as McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. All four technicals offset and Brooklyn retained possession, albeit meaningless as the game was already well in hand.
Final key stats
- Anthony Edwards: 29 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block
- Karl-Anthony Towns: 28 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal
- Mike Conley: 14 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal
- Kyle Anderson: 12 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block
