Karl-Anthony Towns had one of his most brilliant games of the season Tuesday night in a 129-114 victory over the Warriors. Towns took advantage of an undersized and undermanned Warriors team to attack the basket relentlessly for 39 points.
Timberwolves enjoy comfortable 129-114 victory over Golden State
The Warriors didn't have enough firepower outside of Steph Curry to match up and the Wolves snapped a five-game losing streak on the tail end of back-to-backs.
March 2, 2022 at 5:07AM
His only disappointment came when coach Chris Finch took him out before he could score 40.
"Feed him, feed him, feed him," guard D'Angelo Russell said of the Wolves' strategy. "If you run out of food, feed him the fork."
But the part of the night when the Wolves put the knife in the Warriors — and a moment indicative of what the ceiling on this Wolves team can be — was when Towns was resting to start the fourth quarter and a lineup of mostly bench players was on the Target Center floor.
The Wolves, who were without an injured Anthony Edwards (left knee), led 96-87 and Warriors coach Steve Kerr kept Stephen Curry on the floor after Curry had scored 16 of his 34 points in the third quarter. It felt like a precarious moment. Curry could lead a Warriors charge back in it, or the Wolves could pull away. The latter happened, as the Wolves clamped down defensively to open the quarter on a 10-3 run and coasted to a win that ended a five-game losing streak on the tail end of back-to-back games.
"[The bench] has been critical for our abilities," Finch said. "Rest our starters, not have to figure out lineup combinations in and around those guys. That's happened more frequently than it had been earlier in the season."
Russell complemented Towns with 22 points and seven assists but just as important as Russell's and Towns' outputs were 20 points from Malik Beasley, who helped stifle a couple of Warriors runs in the third. Taurean Prince pitched in 11 points while Finch singled out the defense of guard Jordan McLaughlin, who stuck to Curry (10-for-24) for stretches about as well as anyone could expect against Golden State's basketball magician.
"We played him I think 18 straight minutes, which is probably not very responsible," Finch said.
Not that McLaughlin minded the playing time, especially after he spent the first half of the season trying to crack the rotation.
"[Curry] makes things happen on the court at all times, and so just trying to deny him the ball and make everything tough for him," McLaughlin said.
The bench helped make it so Towns didn't have to carry the Wolves to the finish line on a night they played without Edwards, who was out because of a lingering left knee injury. When Towns found out Edwards was out, it altered his mentality.
"Didn't know Anthony was not going to play. So when I heard that, it just raised competitive juices in me," Towns said
It helped Towns' cause that the Warriors were without several injured key contributors in Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala. It also helped that Andrew Wiggins turned in a throwback performance for the Target Center crowd with 12 points on 5-for-13 shooting.
The game was there for the Wolves to grab early in the fourth quarter. Other teams of recent vintage might not have done so, and the Wolves walked out of Target Center with disappointing losses. Instead, Kerr pulled Curry halfway through the quarter, effectively conceding the night. The bench gave him the early exit.
"The one year I was a part of the playoffs, it was because of how good our bench was," Towns said. "Having a bench like that play the way they played, especially in these games recently and everything, that's what you need to make the playoffs."
Coach Chris Finch said the team reviewed film of every Edwards play in clutch time this season, and he graded out fairly well.
