On Wednesday evening, in the altitude of Denver, Karl-Anthony Towns got things going for the Minnesota Timberwolves and, per usual, Jimmy Butler brought them home.
The Denver Nuggets fell 112-104 to the Wolves in what could be a potential playoff matchup come season’s end. Minnesota and Denver – along with the Oklahoma City Thunder, New Orleans Pelicans, and Portland Trail Blazers – represent the formidable Western Conference’s upper-middle class.
Though 60 percent of the season looms, the top three seeds in the West feel determined through the dominance of Golden State and Houston, while San Antonio is only growing in strength after the return of Kawhi Leonard.
Left unknown: Who is next?
After a one-point victory over Portland on Monday and Wednesday’s victory over Denver, the Wolves are making a strong case that they are in fact the standard of the teams fighting for the fourth and final home-court advantage slot come playoff time.
Towns vs. Jokic
In ways, this game felt like a playoff matchup. Two premier big men — Towns (25 points, 10 rebounds) and Nikola Jokic (22 points, six rebounds) — were going at each other.
On the offensive end, Towns inforced his will all night. Once down 14 points in the third quarter, the Minnesota big man willed his team back into the game with 11 points in the first four minutes of the 4th.
After the Nuggets called a timeout following that Towns dunk, the baton was passed to Jamal Crawford. Crawford – 20 points and seven assists — was doing Jamal things all game; dominating in one-on-one isolation and feeding Gorgui Dieng — 13 points, nine rebounds — with dribble-handoffs and pick and rolls consistently.
Two of Crawford’s four 3s in the middle of the fourth felt like a bridge. A bridge to Jimmy time.
Jimmy Gets Buckets
Butler, the Wolves heart, and soul, had a quiet first three quarters of the game, but his end-of-game heroics, that have now become the expectation, were again present.
The offense doesn’t zip around the perimeter like the Golden State and Houston’s of the world; it slowly and meticulously waits out its opponent and springs Buckets on them. With 25 points on the night, Butler logged his tenth game with 19-or-more points in the team’s past eleven games.
Another Quiet Night For Wiggins
If there was a wart in the game it was, again, Andrew Wiggins.
His cold shooting streak continued logging only seven points in 35 minutes of play. Wiggins was 3 of 12 from the floor and only got to the free throw line once.
In the shadows of Butler’s elite play of late, Wiggins has shot over 50 percent from the field in one of the past nine games. Over that stretch, he is made 49 of 143 of his field goal attempts (34.3 percent). Remove Wiggins’ good shooting game against Sacramento on the 14th and he has made three of his past 31 3-point attempts.
For the second-straight game, Tom Thibodeau has rolled with the hot hand; Crawford. The 37-year-old – but forever 21 – Crawford played all but 38 seconds of the fourth quarter.
In turn, Wiggins sat out the first 10 minutes and 28 seconds of the fourth, only checking in for Taj Gibson so the Wolves small-ball lineup could close out the game.
The Next Best Thing
Last season, the Wolves were 0-3 against the Pelicans, 1-3 against the Trailblazers, 1-3 against the Thunder and 2-2 against the Nuggets.
This season; 2-0 against the Pelicans, 1-0 against the Trailblazers, 2-1 against the Thunder and, now, 1-0 against the Nuggets.
Everything isn’t perfect in Minnesota but with a second-straight victory over a similar caliber opponent, the Wolves are beginning to make the assertion that they are the team to beat in the upper-middle class.
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