Karl-Anthony Towns was in casual wear on the sidelines Sunday night, watching as the Timberwolves fell behind by nine to the San Antonio Spurs in the fourth quarter.
It had the flavor of some of the six other losses the Wolves have had without Towns, who was taking a planned rest for his dislocated left wrist a night after making his return.
The Wolves were down nine with just under nine minutes left and it seemed like the Spurs would win without much fuss.
But a Wolves team that coach Ryan Saunders said was "fed up" with seven straight losses finally was angry enough to put one in the win column with a 96-88 victory over the Spurs — and they finally raised their winning percentage from zero in games played without Towns.
"These guys are showing what they can do when we're committed to [defense], because that's what this group needs," Saunders said. "The fact that we did this without Karl tonight does make a difference. It helps with confidence."
In a twist, the team with the worst defensive efficiency in the NBA used a solid effort on that end of the floor to overcome a choppy offensive night outside of D'Angelo Russell (27 points, five rebounds, five assists) and Malik Beasley (24 points). It wasn't the prettiest of victories, given San Antonio shot 38% to the Wolves' 42%, but the Wolves were in no position to critique the cosmetics of a win.
"It was good to get one," Russell said. "But we try to keep a 'So what, what's next' mentality. We beat a team, now let's prepare for the next one and have that same mentality and detail going into the next game."
Russell keyed the comeback with 10 fourth-quarter points while scoring six points in a 12-2 Wolves run that gave them an 81-79 lead with 5 minutes, 14 seconds remaining. The Wolves held the Spurs to nine points the rest of the way.
