Timberwolves overcome sluggish start, injuries to stop Pistons 118-105

Sunday wasn't the easiest victory the Timberwolves had in beating Detroit 118-105 at Target Center.

For the second game in a row, the Wolves allowed the Pistons to hang around through three quarters. But for the second straight game, the Wolves made sure they did enough to come away with a win.

The day ended with a struggling Anthony Edwards hitting a dagger three, high-fiving and pointing to the crowd on his way down the floor as he flashed a wide smile. That came at the end of an inconsistent effort from the Wolves, who ended up with a fourth consecutive victory.

"I was telling somebody today, honestly, that last year we probably would have lost these two games," guard Malik Beasley said. "But now we continue to play hard, continue to play as a team. We'd rather have bad wins than bad losses. So it feels good to get those wins."

It's easier to stomach those things when you're winning. Edwards wasn't himself — 17 points on 4-for-12 shooting — but the Wolves had enough strong contributions with Beasley's 20 points and nine rebounds, Jaden McDaniels' strong two-way play with 13 off the bench and a reliable Karl-Anthony Towns with 24 points and 12 rebounds. D'Angelo Russell returned from a left shin contusion to score 22.

"It's a good test of our maturity right now …" coach Chris Finch said. "Every time we had a chance to stretch the lead I thought we kind of got a little bit sloppy. Attention to detail wasn't where it probably needed to be and those are things we have to work on and work through."

It's easier to work through those issues when the wins continue to come, and the 26-23 Wolves are three games over .500 for the first time since they were 4-1 on Nov. 2, 2019.

While the Wolves were inconsistent most of the afternoon and let Detroit answer almost any time they made a run, Sunday did continue the trend of the Wolves getting contributions up and down the lineup. Even though the scorching hot Taurean Prince exited because of a left ankle sprain after two minutes and Naz Reid exited with an apparent leg injury, the Wolves still got big contributions from the up-and-down Beasley, who hit five of nine threes, and McDaniels. Finch didn't have updates on the status of Prince and Reid after the game. Jordan McLaughlin pitched in another solid effort running the offense off the bench with four points and four assists and was a plus-14 on the day.

McDaniels led a fourth-quarter charge after hitting a corner three, coming up with a monster block on Rodney McGruder, and hitting another corner three on the next possession to put the Wolves ahead 13 with 7 minutes, 47 seconds remaining. The lead didn't grow to that size again until the final score.

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"The more comfortable he gets, the better he's going to be," Russell said of McDaniels. "The older he gets, the better he's going to be. Simple as that. He's just making those plays a little more consistent for us when we need them. I think that's huge for our team because we got somebody to make those plays above the rim, offensively and defensively."

Patrick Beverley pitched in 10 points and six rebounds and drew a technical by getting in Hamidou Diallo's head. He brought some energy to the arena at a time most players and maybe some fans would be taking a midday nap.

The Wolves were awake just in time Sunday.