The Minnesota Timberwolves finally get a break this week.
After Wednesday night’s game in Los Angeles, the team has a three-day break before beginning a five-game homestand back at Target Center. They will fly home after one of their better performances of the season, even though both the final score and second half experience may not appear that way.
The Timberwolves defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 113-107, their second close win in three games over a Clippers squad missing Blake Griffin and only tonight getting Danilo Gallinari back from a lengthy absence.
There were points in this game — like in several others this season — where the Timberwolves could have turned this into a blowout and saved their weary starters some minutes.
While the first quarter was close, the Minnesota lead snowballed into double digits midway through the second quarter and made it as high as 19 points at 6:09 in the third, after some momentum-swinging buckets on offense and decent defensive performance.
Yes, DeAndre Jordan was having a monster night, but the Wolves offense was moving at such a ridiculous scoring rate that it might not matter.
Step forward Lou Williams, one of the best “professional scorers” — as Jim Petersen put it on the Timberwolves broadcast — off the bench in the NBA. Williams got into a zone late in the third quarter and early in the fourth where it seemed like every shot that he took was destined to drop, and the Wolves’ offense dried up for the first time in the evening.
The lead dropped from 19 to 14.
Then 11.
Then it was just eight after Williams beat the third-quarter buzzer, and it got all the way down as low as three after one of several emphatic Jordan put-back dunks.
The Timberwolves, once again, needed someone to step up and get them the last few steps over the finish line. Two players caught the eye in the closing minutes, the first no surprise to anyone who has watched this team this season.
Jimmy Butler decided that it was time for the game to be over, and took scoring into his own hands with shots and drives that were exactly what a stagnant Minnesota offense needed to make a run. Butler’s team-high 42 minutes were absolutely necessary — once again — and his final line of 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists demonstrated his impact on all facets of the game.
The second player may not be a surprising name, but after much of the media coverage this season, it is a pleasure to say that Karl-Anthony Towns’ defense was critical to the final minutes of this game.
Towns had struggled to deal with Jordan’s size and strength as the game grew later, but he blocked two shots at key points late in the game and influenced other shots and passes, one of the first times this season that Towns as rim protector was a compliment and not a punchline.
Towns finished with his usual 21 points and 12 rebounds, but for once his defense caught the eye in a good way, at least at the end of the game.
While Towns and Butler made winning plays late, the Timberwolves would not have built their lead without another immaculate game from Taj Gibson, who had a double-double by halftime and finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Gibson seemed to be everywhere on the floor in the early stages of the game, and Minnesota’s 46-43 edge in total rebounding was largely due to Gibson’s smart positioning on the defensive glass on the rare occasions when Jordan — who had 12 offensive rebounds — could not grab the ball.
The other players in the Wolves’ eight-man rotation all had fine games as well.
Andrew Wiggins was likely the weakest of the five starters, and his shot selection was questionable at times. However, he still finished with 16 points and broke his short slump from beyond the 3-point arc. Jeff Teague and Jamal Crawford both hit crucial 3s in the second half and scored in double figures — Teague with 19, Crawford with 11.
Crawford also received a nice video tribute and ovation on his return to Los Angeles, where he played from 2012-17. Tyus Jones and Gorgui Dieng were both fine in their minutes.
Jones getting a mere 10 minutes is a question for another day.
Even with the Clippers’ run in the second half, the Timberwolves never surrendered the lead.
This was their first victory of the season in which they never trailed, and though there were points of weakness in their game, most notably the 15 turnovers, there was plenty to like. They return home 15-11, with three games against opponents well under .500 (Dallas, Sacramento and Phoenix) and two close challenges (Philadelphia and Portland) to come in the next 12 days.
On Wednesday, as Crawford put it after the game, the Timberwolves “took care of business.”
The three days off will be nice, but there is more business to take care of starting on Sunday.
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