featured-image

Wolves Move To Third In West With Win Over Kings

The Wolves outscored the Kings 34-17 in the third quarter, leading to a 118-100 win in Sacramento on Monday night.

It marked the team’s second-straight win without All-Star Jimmy Butler, who is out indefinitely after surgery on his right knee. These wins have come against two of the worst teams in the NBA record wise, but with the Western Conference so tight, you’ll take wins where you can get them.

Karl-Anthony Towns led the Wolves with 26 points and 17 rebounds. Andrew Wiggins added 22 points. Jeff Teague finished with 20 points, seven assists and three steals. Taj Gibson scored 15 points and hauled in five rebounds. Nemanja Bjelica, who is starting for Butler, had a nice all-round game of 12 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists. Gorgui Dieng led the bench with 10 points and six rebounds. The Wolves shot a scorching 52 percent from the field, 43.8 percent from the 3-point line and 91.7 percent from the free-throw line.

Skal Labissiere led Sacramento with 20 points. Willie Cauley-Stein added 17 points and five rebounds. Buddy Hield led the bench with 16 points and five rebounds. Rookie De’Aaron Fox finished with 13 points and five assists. Bogdan Bogdanovic rounded things out with 11 points and six rebounds.

The Wolves improve to 38-26 overall, third place in the West by a half game over the Spurs.

The Kings fall to 18-42, 14th in the West.

Highlight of the Night

With 5:54 left in the fourth quarter, Towns caught the ball at the 3-point line. Instead of settling for a three or deep two, Towns drove down towards the basket and threw down a huge two-handed slam.

Apologies to Willie Cauley-Stein.

Numbers Game

  • Teague now has 20 or more points in four of his last five games and nine on the season.
  • In six games without Butler this season, Wiggins is averaging 24.7 points per game.
  • Gibson shot 6-for-7 from the field and is shooting a scorching 58 percent from the field, which marks a career high for the nine-year veteran.

Player of the Game

Towns was an absolute animal in the win, finishing with 26 points, 17 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. Even more impressive is that he shot a near perfect 9-for-10 from the field and 8-for-8 from the free-throw line.

The double-double machine has 54 double-doubles on the season, still the most in the NBA.

Up Next

The Wolves remain on the road for Thursday’s contest against the Blazers in Portland. Tipoff is set for 9:30 p.m. on TNT and 830 WCCO.