During Andrew Wiggins' postgame media scrum, Jeff Teague was walking over to his locker and asked Wiggins if he notched a career high in assists during Thursday's 116-102 victory over Portland.
"Nah," Wiggins said with a smile.
Then after his session ended, Wiggins went over to bust Teague's chops for not taking an open three that would have resulted in a Wiggins assist.
Wiggins might have been able to top that mark, nine, if he had needed to play in the fourth quarter of one of the easiest wins and most complete games the Wolves have played all season — and one of Wiggins' best performances in weeks.
"I feel like I was in a good rhythm the whole game," Wiggins said. "I feel like everybody was, and I feel like we played great defense. Our defense turned into easy offense where a lot of us got good looks. "
Wiggins helped create some of those with eight assists to pair with his 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting in 26 minutes. It was the kind of efficient night that was a hallmark of his earlier performances this season, when he started with one of the best stretches of his career.
But since mid-November, there have been interruptions to Wiggins' "rhythm." A wrist injury, a pair of illnesses and Karl-Anthony Towns' absence, which on Thursday extended to 12 games because of a left knee sprain, have all had an impact. The latter has allowed opponents to focus on Wiggins more than they otherwise might. But perhaps Thursday's game can reignite Wiggins.
"As a coach, that's what you'd hope," Wolves coach Ryan Saunders said. "There have been things of his that were out of our control. But we've got to make sure that we just weather those, and we don't want to look at those as things that maybe made us take any types of steps back."
