Takeaways: Timberwolves’ win streak hits four with 124-110 NBA Cup victory over Kings

With his head down and hooded sweatshirt on, Jaden McDaniels was asked how he was feeling following the Timberwolves’ 124-110 victory over the Kings on Friday night at Target Center.

Speaking for a lot of people who were glad their rough workday was over, McDaniels said in a low voice, “I just want to go home, to be honest.”

The Wolves survived three different exits McDaniels made because of injury: one to the face in the first quarter; one when teammate Naz Reid accidentally hit him with some friendly fire to a sensitive area in the second quarter; and in the third quarter, the scariest one of the bunch, when he slipped and did a split on a drive to the hoop after his right leg gave way.

After that one, McDaniels threw his jersey on the ground and went to the locker room, only to re-emerge before the fourth quarter.

“He a soldier. ‘Many men,’ y’all heard 50 Cent? That’s Jaden,” Anthony Edwards said.

McDaniels finished with 13 points and said he would be good to go for Saturday night’s game against Denver. He played in every game last season.

“He’s tough, no doubt about it,” coach Chris Finch said of McDaniels. “He takes a lot of hits out there on a day-to-day basis just with the way he guards and who he guards, fighting through screens. Thankfully, none of them were serious enough to keep him from returning.”

Anthony Edwards had 30 points while Julius Randle had 26 points and 11 rebounds. Domantas Sabonis had 34 points for Sacramento, but only three came in the fourth.

After a sluggish game most of the night, the Wolves locked down in a fourth quarter they won 32-19.

Edwards had nine points in the first half but came out of the halftime break with 17, eight of which were at the foul line, in the third quarter. He said he got “rewarded” for attacking the rim.

“In the first half, I mean, every call not gonna get made how you want it to go. We human. So sometimes they may miss calls,” Edwards said. “Sometimes I might be wrong, but I definitely put pressure on myself to get downhill and make them call something either the offensive foul on me or defensive foul on them.”

The Wolves improved to 2-0 in the group stage of the NBA Cup, the league’s in-season tournament. They have Phoenix and Oklahoma City remaining as part of Group A in the Western Conference. Each winner of the three groups advances to the quarterfinals of the tournament, with one second-place team getting a wild-card berth. Head-to-head and margin-of-victory tiebreakers figure into that, and after a 40-point win over the Jazz in their first Cup game, the Wolves now have a scoring margin of plus-54. Even if they lose a game in group play, they have set themselves up well to capture a wild-card spot.

“I’m just ready to go to Vegas, man,” McDaniels said. “I’m just ready to go to Vegas.”

After the kind of night he had, who could blame him?

BOXSCORE: Wolves 124, Sacramento 110

NBA standings

The bright green court the Wolves use for the NBA in-season tournament games was back for the second time, and it could be the last time. That should satisfy fans annoyed by how bright it looks on their screens. The court could return one more time if the Wolves play host to a quarterfinal game in the next stage.