MINNEAPOLIS _ Late in the fourth quarter, Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns pinned a shot from Anthony Davis against the backboard and as he came down, Towns looked back to mug at the crowd, reveling in his momentary dominance over another esteemed big man from Kentucky.
Moments later, Andrew Wiggins went flying through the air and it was all Pelicans forward Nikola Mirotic could do to get out of the way before Wiggins plowed him over.
Wiggins stuffed it through the hoop and the Target Center crowd, which lacked for causes of celebration, erupted in one of its loudest ovations all season.
Jimmy Butler wasn't in the building on Wednesday, as the Wolves played their first game with Butler's replacements in the lineup _ and the Wolves looked like a different team that was better for his absence in a 107-100 victory over the Pelicans.
Whereas Towns and Wiggins disappeared in the fourth quarter of a recent 0-5 road trip, here they were making key plays on both ends of the floor. And a Wolves squad that seemed to have an anvil on their backs the first month of the season looked free of burden.
Hallelujah.
Towns finished with 25 points and 16 rebounds and Wiggins pitched in 23 while Robert Covington and Dario Saric had 13 and nine points in their Wolves debuts. E'Twaun Moore had 31 and Anthony Davis 29 as the Pelicans erased a 21-point deficit to take a fourth-quarter lead, only for the Wolves to snatch it back in the final minutes.
The Wolves played a free-flowing brand of basketball on the offensive end with Karl-Anthony Towns and Jeff Teague guiding the way. Towns relished a chance to go up against another preeminent big man in Anthony Davis while Teague handled the responsibilities of ball distribution. He had 11 assists in the first half while Towns had 20 points on 8 of 10 shooting and 10 rebounds.
Covington started, but the Wolves didn't involve him much in the offense early _ understandable given Covington and Saric have only participated in one shootaround so far. On offense, Covington mostly stood around the 3-point line for spacing purposes as the other four Wolves initiated the action.
The unit of Covington, Tyus Jones, Saric, Josh Okogie and Gorgui Dieng. That unit clamped down defensively and held the Pelicans to just one field goal during the 4:46 it was on the floor together.
It was the combination that allowed to open a 21-point lead and the Wolves entered the locker room with a 67-54 lead.
The Wolves' fortunes changed in the third, as the Pelicans chipped away at the lead while the Wolves struggled to run the kind of offense they had in the first half. Led by Davis and Moore on offense and the suffocating Jrue Holiday on defense, New Orleans got within 83-81 with under a minute remaining in the quarter. The Wolves had more turnovers in the third (seven) than they had made shots (six) while Towns didn't register a point or rebound as he sat most of the quarter with four fouls.
But Okogie provided a much-needed burst of energy in the fourth. First, he went end-to-end for a layup following a steal, then threw his body on the line for a rebound. Then for an encore, bailed the Wolves out of a late shot-clock sequence with a 3-pointer. All of a sudden, the Wolves were back up 11 with 9:07 to play. The lead and energy left when Okogie checked out, allowing the Pelicans to grab a two-point lead with 5:45 left.
The Wolves fought back, getting the lead again on a Wiggins made 3 and a Towns 3-point play, a sign that maybe things will be different.
