DENVER – The Timberwolves capped off Hockey Day in Minnesota on Saturday by winning a basketball game in Colorado, showing promise and resilience that almost nobody back home saw.
Pre-empted in their usual local television slot by hockey from morning to night, the Wolves won 113-105 over a Denver team that had won five of its past six games and is often unbeatable at home on the second night of back-to-back games at the city's mile-high altitude.
The Wolves did it, winning twice in three games after they had lost 15 consecutive games before that.
This time, they needed veteran guard Mo Williams not for the career-high, franchise-record 52 points he scored in Tuesday's streak-busting victory at Indiana but for two strategic shots late in a game influenced in many ways by youngsters Andrew Wiggins and Robbie Hummel.
Still ill, but feeling better than he did Friday in a loss at Phoenix, Wiggins scored a career-high 31 points and delivered nine rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots and a steal in a 40-minute that might have left Cleveland Cavaliers fans muttering.
"It's almost astonishing his confidence level," Wolves coach Flip Saunders said. "He just keeps continuing to get better and amaze and do everything, whether it's offense, blocking shots, rebounds."
Still just 19, Wiggins did that Saturday despite feeling what he called "just sick."
"I still am a little, but I feel great," he said. "We got the win, played hard, executed down the stretch. Nothing feels better than that. … We've had games on the line this year where we messed up and we didn't finish it. Those were growing pains. Now we're learning. I think we're getting better every day now, every game. We've won two of the last three. That's great for us."
