For fans upset that the Los Angeles Lakers were wearing their throwback MPLS jerseys in Minneapolis on Monday, this was a win to savor.
Coming off a back-to-back where the Minnesota Timberwolves got off to a franchise-record 17-0 start against the Indiana Pacers, the Wolves nearly topped that mark with a 16-0 start against the former Minneapolis Lakers en route to a 114-96 victory.
“I liked the way we started the game,” said head coach Tom Thibodeau. “I thought the aggressiveness to start was great.”
Karl-Anthony Towns finished with four fouls, and while he still recorded his league-leading 30th double-double, his reduced minutes (26:41) created an opportunity for Gorgui Dieng.
Dieng had 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting and was the only player off the bench to finish with a positive plus-minus.
“Gorgui played a great game,” said Thibodeau. “I thought his activity, just all around gave us a great lift.”
Conversely, Tyus Jones’ foul trouble forced Thibodeau to be creative in replacing him. Aaron Brooks got nearly 15 minutes, but was a minus-4 with one assist, two turnovers and zero points scored.
The Jamal Crawford-Marcus Georges-Hunt backcourt didn’t work out much better, so it was up to Jimmy Butler to lead the offense in Jones’ absence.
“You can’t say enough about Jimmy, it’s just what he does,” said Thibodeau. “Timely buckets, big stops. Guards everyone. Gets to the line. Makes plays. Had nine assists.”
Butler led the Wolves with 28 points and played his customary 37 minutes. But the convincing win presented an opportunity to see what the bench can offer.
Jamal Crawford had nearly 20 minutes, and Nemanja Bjelica got nearly 15. Bjelica finished 2 of 4 from the field and 1 of 3 from deep, while Crawford only had three points total.
But while Crawford has already proven he can get hot and score vital points late in games, Bjelica is returning from injury and will play an important role off the bench if he can start hitting 3s and moving the ball like he was before he got hurt.
“I thought Bjelly had some good minutes tonight,” said Thibodeau. “It looked like he started to get his rhythm, which is a good sign.”
The game was over-officiated and became a slog at times.
But in some ways, the foul trouble was a blessing in disguise for the Wolves, who need to see what they have on their bench in order to reduce the starters’ minutes. It also could have led to a bad loss if the team had not made halftime adjustments based on the officiating.
“The foul trouble probably hurt us, and we talked about it at halftime, adjusting to the way the game was being called, both teams were getting a lot of free throws,” said Thibodeau who’s starters were a perfect 24 of 24 from the charity stripe.
“Concentrating on body position, pulling your hands back, that kind of stuff is important. But you also don’t want it to take away from the intensity in which you have to play in order to win.”
The Wolves found that balance Monday night, and it led to a convincing win over the Lakers. Thibodeau was willing to experiment with his lineups, and give his bench plenty of run.
It also inspired him to go long on the team’s improvement this season, which he said is rooted in commitment to defense and focus on the finer details:
Towns took a lot of heat for his defense this year, and after the game, he described how he’s improved on that end of the court while continuing to routinely record double-doubles:
And Andrew Wiggins played one of his most complete games this year. He had a season-high nine rebounds to go along with his 21 points, four assists and two steals:
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