After losing to the Warriors four days earlier, the Timberwolves had a team meeting to air out some issues with the team riding a five-game losing streak.
They haven’t lost in the three games since, this time coming away with a 123-111 victory over the NBA-leading Thunder. Instead of a smattering of boos from the Target Center crowd, they were on their feet multiple times throughout the fourth quarter as the Wolves played one of their most complete games of the season.
In order to beat the Thunder, teams typically need contributions up and down the roster, and the Wolves got those in a big way from the likes of Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels. Reid had 18 points (6-for-10 shooting) and seven rebounds off the bench while McDaniels turned in an exemplary night of work at both ends of the floor. He finished with 21 points on 5-for-5 from three-point range.
Anthony Edwards had 26 points for the Wolves, shooting 9-for-17, and Rudy Gobert finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Defending league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 30 points for last year’s NBA champions.
What it means
The Wolves remain as mercurial as ever. After losing five in a row, the team has now won three consecutive games and knocked off the defending champions again at home, improving their record to 2-1 against the Thunder this season.
If January has shown anything about the Wolves, it’s that they are capable of big swings in their quality of play. Some of their best and worst basketball has come in the month, not that far apart from each other.
Key stat
The Wolves had 22 points off nine Thunder turnovers in the first half. The Wolves were turning defense into offense at a great clip in the first half, and that’s what enabled them to build a double-digit lead early. That was compared to the Thunder converting eight Wolves turnovers into just eight points.
Strong start
The Wolves have lacked motivation at times this season at the start of games. That’s rarely the case against the Thunder, and that proved to be true again on this night.
