No Andrew Wiggins (knee). No Ricky Rubio (knee). No Kevin Garnett (rest)… That ended up being a problem as Minnesota fell to the Charlotte Hornets 104-95 on Tuesday night at the Target Center.
The Timberwolves got out to a quick start despite the shuffled starting line up and lead 21-11 thanks to some great shooting from Zach LaVine and Adreian Payne.
The Hornets, who couldn’t buy a basket to begin the game, quickly warmed up and went on an 11-2 run.
Charlotte continued playing well into the second quarter and led 43-35 with eight minutes to go. Jeremy Lamb was a spark off of the bench for the Hornets as he at one point scored seven straight points, and ended the half with 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting.
Down by nine at one point, the Wolves closed the gap to finish out the half down by four, 63-59.
Minnesota did a nice job spreading the ball around all game with four of the five starters scoring at least ten points by the beginning of the third quarter.
With the game tied at 69, Charlotte went on a quick 6-0 run which led to Gorgui Dieng and Nemanja Bjelica subbing back into the game. Throughout the rest of the quarter the Wolves held their own and only trailed by five going into the fourth.
Tyus Jones and Andre Miller played on the court at the same time, which didn’t go as well as Minnesota hoped for. The Apple Valley native had a rough first outing finishing with a negative 23 plus/minus rating.
“I feel like it went alright. Obviously there’s things you can improve on. First game jitters, we could play in a million preseason games, but that first game everything seems sped up and you’re moving at 100 mph.”
Charlotte did a nice job closing out the game and staying composed in the fourth by making crucial shots and stops that prevented Minnesota from making any sort of comeback attempt.
Karl-Anthony Towns had another monster game despite only playing 30 minutes. Putting up 19 points (7-for-16), 13 rebounds and three blocks, which gives him five double-doubles in seven games. Towns looked like the better man on the floor all night against the more experienced Al Jefferson, holding the former Wolf to only nine points and four rebounds.
“I knew I had to come and bring my A-game on defense for him and just went out there and made it very hard for him to do a lot of his funky moves,” Towns said.
Zach LaVine reminded the crowd that he is the reigning NBA slam-dunk champion midway through the first quarter when he soared for a one handed flush.
The Wolves will get a breather (one day) before they take on the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors on Thursday night. The game will be nationally televised on TNT and will be available via radio on 830 WCCO.
