MINNEAPOLIS — On Saturday, the Timberwolves played on the tail end of a back to back set of games for the first time. It did not go well for them. They followed a win over the Lakers with a blowout at the hands of the Clippers.
On Wednesday, the Wolves beat the Kings before taking on the Spurs on Thursday in a similar scenario — playing the next day after a win.
In Los Angeles, the Wolves did what they are prone to do after a win — come out flat. But that wasn't the case Thursday, as they jumped on San Antonio from the start for a wire-to-wire 115-90 victory at Target Center for their second consecutive win.
The Wolves entered the night shorthanded on their bench but ended up with six players in double figures in one of their most complete efforts of the season. Karl-Anthony Towns led the way with 25 points and 12 rebounds as the Wolves raced out to a 20-point lead in the first quarter and gave almost all of it back in the second quarter before steadying themselves the rest of the way.
Naz Reid (foot soreness) and Josh Okogie (back spasms) missed the game for the Wolves and as a result that left their bench short-staffed but Jaden McDaniels, Malik Beasley and Taurean Prince picked up the slack. McDaniels had his best offensive game of the season with 13 points. Beasley looked to regain his shooting touch with 15 points and Prince had his best game of the short season with 13 points in 15 minutes before he was ejected in the third quarter for a Flagrant-2 foul against Lonnie Walker. D'Angelo Russell had 22 points on 6-of-19 shooting.
Devin Vassell had 18 points for the Spurs while Tre Jones had eight off the bench.
The Wolves couldn't have asked for a better start to the game, as Edwards scored the first seven, prompting Gregg Popovich to call a timeout just 2 minutes, 2 seconds into the game.
The Wolves continued to pour it on in the opening minutes as they opened a 22-3 lead with Towns and Russell getting on the board with 11 and six points in the first each, respectively.
San Antonio was clanging anything it threw up early and had just the three points until the 4:40 mark of the first. The Spurs entered the second down 14 and trailed 47-34 with 6:20 to play before making a push on an 11-3 run.
San Antonio got as close as 57-53 before the Wolves closed the half strong with a 9-0 run. Towns converted a layup as the buzzer sounded to finish with 19 in the first half. That helped make up for some foul trouble for Edwards, who had to go to the bench late in the second quarter with three fouls. The Wolves shot 52% for the half while the Spurs made up for their subpar first quarter by shooting 60% in the second quarter.
McDaniels, Beasley and Prince combined to shoot 9 of 14 for 26 points in the half.
That helped make up for the fact that Edwards went through the rest of the game without a point until garbage time. The Wolves were able to keep the momentum going through the third quarter and kept the lead in double digits most of the time before Prince was ejected for smacking Walker in the face on a drive to the basket late in the quarter.
The bench helped them push the lead to as much as 18, their largest lead since the first quarter. Coach Chris Finch opted to play Towns, Russell and Edwards on the floor to start the fourth, and the Wolves were able to put the game away in the fourth in extending the lead back to 20.
