The Wolves beat the Lakers 114-96 on Monday night to move to 24-14 overall.
Here are three observations from the win from our Kyle Ratke.
About The Jerseys . . .
The Lakers came out wearing their Classic uniforms, which just happen to be the Minneapolis Lakers uniforms. I probably wouldn’t care about this had the game not been played in Minneapolis. But it was.
I get the technicalities of things. Yes, the Minneapolis Lakers are indeed the Los Angeles Lakers. But if you couldn’t tell, I was a little bitter about it.
New Year, Same Butler
The Jimmy Butler Show continued for Minnesota. Butler finished with a game-high 28 points to go with nine rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block.
In his last 15 games, Butler is averaging 26.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.9 steals per game while shooting 51.3 percent from the field. The Wolves are 11-4 during that stretch. It took some time for Butler to get rolling with the Wolves, but he is, and it’s basketball beauty.
It would be a huge surprise if Butler wasn’t representing the Wolves at the All-Star Game next month.
7/8
With the win, the Wolves moved to 2-0 against the Lakers this season, and have won seven of their last eight games. Minnesota just wrapped up a 10-5 month of December, its best record that month since 2003-04.
The Wolves head to Brooklyn to play the Nets on Wednesday, but after that, things get pretty tough, having the Celtics, Pelicans, Cavaliers, Thunder, Knicks and Blazers on the horizon. All of those teams would make the playoffs If they started today besides the Knicks, who are a half game out. The Wolves, who are 2.5 games back from the three seed in the West, are about to get tested in a big way.
Tipoff on Wednesday against the Nets is set for 6 p.m. on Fox Sports North and 830 WCCO.