MINNEAPOLIS _ On Thursday, Karl-Anthony Towns was in a car headed for the airport when it was rear-ended by a semi truck, an accident Towns said he felt blessed to walk away from.
On Friday and Saturday, under the NBA's concussion protocol, watched the Wolves from the bench, a sports coat-clad cheerleader.
On Monday, cleared to play, Towns dominated.
Animated from the start, dominant at times, Towns fought off foul trouble to score 34 points with 21 rebounds and five assists in a much-needed 112-105 victory over Sacramento at Target Center.
Towns showed no ill-effects from the crash, absolutely no rust from the only two NBA games he's ever missed.
But he was not the only reason the Wolves (29-31) were able to win for the third time in four games.
Tyus Jones, filling in for the injured Jeff Teague at point guard, scored 16 points with eight assists. After the Kings cut a double-figure lead to four with 3 minutes left, he had two key steals. Derrick Rose came off the bench to score 20.
The Wolves shot 50.6 percent while holding the Kings (31-29) to just 38.9
Most importantly, with yet another road trip looming, the Wolves took advantage of a quick one-game homestand to beat a Western Conference rival ahead of them in the standings.
De'Aaron Fox scored 23 for the Kings. Marvin Bagley had 25 and Buddy Hield had 18.
Up 13 entering the fourth quarter, that lead was trimmed to eight. The Wolves went back up 15.
But then the Kings scored 10 straight to pull within 106-101 with 3:43 left. Rose scored, then Bagley hit a 3-pointer with 3 minutes left to pull the Kings within 108-104.
Rose made one of two free throws. Then Jones stole the ball from Fox, was fouled and hit one of two free throws for a six-point lead with 2:03 left.
Down the stretch Jones had two key steals and Towns had two big rebounds in the final 73 seconds. Rose hit a jumper late to put a bow on the victory.
Playing with some emotion, Towns _ and the Wolves _ started well. Towns scored the game's first basket, and Andrew Wiggins scored after that.
And then the Wolves went through a stretch in which they missed 16 of 18 shots.
Down 5-2 early, the Kings _ with Fox scoring 11 points _ went on a 23-8 run to take a 25-13 lead on Fox's basket with 3 minutes left in the quarter.
The Wolves shot just 39 percent in the quarter and missed all seven of their 3-point attempts.
The second quarter was a different story.
Down 11 early, the Wolves scored seven straight to pull within four. Hield and Nemanja Bjelica hit back-to-back 3s for the Kings.
And then the Wolves went on an 20-1 run. It started with Deng's 3-pointer, including two 3-pointers and nine points from Towns and ended with Towns' drive that put the Wolves up 48-39.
By the time the quarter was over the Wolves had turned nine Kings turnovers into 16 points, had gotten 18 second-quarter points and the Wolves had a 63-53 lead.
The Wolves pushed that lead to 74-58 on Towns' free throw early in the third quarter. The Kings responded with a 9-2 run to pull within 76-67 on Bagley's basket. But Dario Saric and Rose hit 3-pointers in a 10-2 run that put the Wolves back up 16 with 3:55 left in the quarter. That lead was 13 entering the fourth.
