It wasn’t necessarily how they drew it up, and it wasn’t with the players they
expected, but the Wolves got a huge win in Los Angeles on Thursday night,
defeating the Lakers 120-105. With the victory, the Wolves are back at .500 and
took another step towards closing the gap between them and the West’s No. 8
seed.
With several notable players already out with injury, the Wolves were dealt
another blow when Derrick Rose did not return for the second half after he began
experiencing soreness in his recently-sprained right ankle. It’s another tough
break for Minnesota on the injury front, but Rose’s injury turned out to be a
chance for a few Wolves players who usually spend their games at the end of the
bench to shine.
The Wolves’ reserves had a huge night. Minnesota got an early spark from backup
point guard Jerryd Bayless, who reached double-digits in the first half. He also
hit a layup at the second period buzzer to put the Wolves within three going
into the break. In what ended up being the defining stretch of the game, the
Wolves trotted out a lineup of Andrew Wiggins, Jared Terrell, Luol Deng, Dario
Saric and Gorgui Dieng to start the fourth. That group went on an 8-0 run to and
put the Wolves in prime position to finish out the game strong.
The Wolves ended up out-scoring the Lakers 36-23 in the fourth quarter, thanks
in large part to that bench group’s efforts. Terrell finished with 10 points
including 2-of-3 shooting from three, Deng had seven and Bayless had an
impressive 16 to lead the Wolves reserves. Minnesota’s second unit scored 41
points. That was a huge difference-maker tonight.
the rook @JaredTerrell32 netted his first career double-figure game in prime
time! pic.twitter.com/fdMBfEnxFu
The other big difference tonight was the Wolves’ relentlessness rebounding the
ball. In what is becoming a very positive trend, Minnesota crushed the Lakers on
the offensive glass, leading to 32second-chance points, a season high. Minnesota
won the overall rebounding battle 55-39. Another positive statistic was the
Wolves’ performance at the line, where they went 22-for 25. The Lakers were just
nine-of-14 from the charity stripe.
Wiggins was excellent as well tonight, playing aggressively, crashing the boards
and picking up primary ball-handling duties for the Wolves on multiple occasions
due to their lack of depth at point guard. He finished with 23 points, eight
rebounds, three assists and two steals. It was a do-it-all type of effort from
Wiggins that should do wonders getting him out of the slump he had been
struggling with the last few games.
always follow your shot, kids. pic.twitter.com/SUz4Md8JCN
As usual, Karl-Anthony Towns was also fantastic, finishing with 27 points, 12
rebounds, five assists, two blocks and a steal. With that line, Towns tied
Nikola Jokic for the most games with at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five
assists this season with a total of eight.
Good teams find a way to win, especially on the road, and the Wolves’ case to be
considered a legitimate threat to break into the Western Conference playoff race
is growing stronger by the game. Though they have been against lesser
competition, the Wolves have now won three straight and are doing well to take
advantage of a softer spot in their schedule. The Jazz await on Friday
night–that will be a tougher test.
Player: Jerryd Bayless
Player: Jared Terrell
Media Content:
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