Takeaways: Timberwolves shake off doldrums, beat Heat 125-115

MIAMI – The only thing predictable about the Timberwolves is their unpredictability.

After turning in two of their worst performances of the season over the previous three games, the Wolves came out and turned in an impressive 125-115 victory over the scrappy Miami Heat.

The Wolves had an efficient night offensively with multiple players clicking. Anthony Edwards had it going early for 33 points while Naz Reid and Julius Randle helped the team navigate Rudy Gobert’s foul trouble in the third quarter with 29 and 23 points, respectively.

Two nights after he left the floor early during the team’s loss to Atlanta, Edwards was in better spirits. He joked that he got plenty of rest for his matchup against Davion Mitchell.

“I just try to get as much sleep as possible because Davion Mitchell always give me a hard time. … I try to get in bed by 9:30. I know it’s finna be a long day,” Edwards said.

He and the team brought the energy from the jump, especially on the defensive end. That was lacking over the last week, and their performance against Miami was a welcome return to what the Wolves could be. Edwards said one of the differences was that the Wolves actually paid attention to the game plan. Why is it hard for them to do that regularly?

“I don’t know, we hard-headed, we want to make the game harder,” Edwards said. “But we listened tonight and it worked.”

To Randle, this rough week the Wolves have had is nothing new in his 12-year career.

“It’s important not to just overreact to every single thing,” Randle said. “We knew we didn’t play our best last game. I mean, it’s 82 games. It’s going to happen. We don’t want to use that as an excuse, but just move on to the next one and play the game that’s in front of you.”

To coach Chris Finch, the Wolves had set a good tone for the game on the defensive end of the floor, with him singling out Donte DiVincenzo for his effort there early. Then he liked how the Wolves responded when the team fell behind momentarily in the third quarter after Rudy Gobert was out because of foul trouble.

“I thought we had really consistent energy for most of the evening,” Finch said. “But the key to me was when they came back and took the lead, like we studied ourselves and we made a response and played really some of our best basketball at that point in time.”

The Wolves closed the third with a four-point lead then pulled away in the fourth.

Edwards started the night with 14 of the Wolves’ 27 first-quarter points as the Wolves opened up a nine-point lead. But Miami’s fast-paced offense got in gear toward the end of the quarter to cut that lead to two behind seven from Nikola Jovic.

The Wolves took a 10-point lead in the second behind an 8-0 run that featured a pretty pass from Edwards to Gobert and a Bones Hyland steal, which led to a layup from Randle. The Wolves led 56-50 at the half. The Wolves had a small lead most of the night until Gobert got in foul trouble in the third quarter with four fouls. The Heat took a 68-66 lead on a Norman Powell three at the 6:55 mark.

The Wolves offense saved them in the quarter as Randle scored 12 and Reid had 11 to give the Wolves a 90-86 lead entering the fourth. They held the Heat scoreless in the first 2:08 of the fourth quarter as they took their largest lead of the game to that point, 97-86. But even after the Heat scored a few buckets, the Wolves kept pouring it on with Edwards resting. Bones Hyland had a couple of layups while Reid got a three-point play and Donte DiVincenzo hit his first three of the night to put the Wolves up 109-90 and force another Heat timeout.

BOXSCORE: Wolves 125, Miami 115

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