MINNEAPOLIS — The last time Jimmy Butler played in Target Center before Friday was March 30, 2019, when he was with the 76ers. It was just over two years ago but also was an eternity ago for the Timberwolves, given the organizational overhaul that has happened since, triggered in part by Butler's desire to get out of Minnesota.
Butler was back to a few boos from the couple of thousand spectators at Target Center as he was introduced to face a Wolves team that was more than up to the challenge in a 119-111 Minnesota win at Target Center.
Karl-Anthony Towns returned from a two-game absence for personal reasons and overcame first-half foul trouble to score 24. Ricky Rubio chipped in 17 points while the Wolves got significant bench production from Naz Reid (16 points), Juancho Hernangomez (14 points) and Jarred Vanderbilt (nine points, 14 rebounds). Butler finished with 30 points.
The Wolves led by as many as 10 before Miami cut it to 113-107 with 1:51 to play. Towns committed his sixth foul on Butler, and the Wolves had to play without him the rest of the way while clutching a four-point lead. But the Wolves got a key put-back from Reid and a layup from Vanderbilt to build a 117-111 lead. After Butler missed a layup with 19 seconds left, he put his hands on his knees, relinquishing this one to his former team.
Butler wasted little time getting going, scoring 11 in the first quarter. Miami jumped out to a 13-4 lead, Butler scoring nine of those.
D'Angelo Russell once again came off the bench, and with him sitting the opening minutes, the Wolves offense looked like it was in quicksand. Russell normally comes in around the six-minute mark each game, but Friday coach Chris Finch put him in less than four minutes into the game, looking to spark the offense. He did momentarily as the Wolves hit 3s on three straight possessions to cut it to 20-15.
But Minnesota's seven turnovers were costly the rest of the quarter, and Miami led 37-26 headed into the second quarter.
Over the past two games the Wolves have just folded when faced with an early deficit, but the bench plus Anthony Edwards had an inspired start to the second quarter that brought the Wolves back. With Reid and Vanderbilt doing the dirty work inside, the Wolves scored 13 of the first 15 points in the quarter to erase that deficit. Reid pitched in eight first-half points off the bench, which was important for the Wolves considering Towns had to exit the half early after picking up his third foul.
The Wolves held Miami to just one offensive rebound in the first half, had 16 second-chance points to Miami's zero and hit 10 of 21 from 3-point range as they took a 56-52 lead with 2:10 to play in the second. Four 3s from Trevor Ariza buoyed Miami to a 61-61 tie at the half.
The Wolves did a good job matching Miami's intensity to start the second half, and they also went to the line 10 times in the quarter and played the Heat to a draw for 11:30. But in the final 30 seconds the Heat got a pair of free throws from Butler and a 3 to beat the buzzer from Goran Dragic to take a 93-88 lead to the fourth.
But the Wolves got into the bonus early again in the fourth quarter thanks in part to Vanderbilt's hustle, and they went on a 9-0 run to take a 99-96 lead with 8:17 to play. Towns then scored seven straight for the Wolves, including a deep 3 that made it 106-99. The Wolves would have to close without Towns, but thanks to their bench, they were able to pull it off.
