It wasn’t a blowout like we thought it would be when the Wolves were up 71-54 at half against the Cavaliers, but the Wolves still came away with a 131-123 to come away their first win of the season.
It came in front of a sold-out crowd in the team’s home opener. The Wolves are now 20-4 in their last 24 home openers, which is pretty remarkable. The 131 points scored is the most the team has scored in a home opener in franchise history.
Jimmy Butler led the Wolves with 33 points to go with seven rebounds and four steals in 36 minutes. Butler showed signs of fatigue, but hit a clutch jumper late in the fourth and shot a near perfect 10-for-12 from the field, 1-for-1 from the 3-point line and 12-for-12 from the free-throw line.
Three quick observations from the game:
- I really liked how Andrew Wiggins started the game. After scoring 10 points in the first quarter against the Spurs on Wednesday, Wiggins put up nine in the first against the Cavaliers. He wasn’t the most-efficient player on Wednesday night (8-for-21 from the field), but he was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free-throw line and showed flashes on the defensive end of the ball, finishing with three steals. You’ve gotta like what you’ve seen from Wiggins so far this season. He finished the game with 22 points.
- You might look at Karl-Anthony Towns’ stat line and be disappointed (12 points and nine rebounds), but Towns absolute brought it on the defensive end. He finished with four blocks, including one late in the fourth that iced the game for the Wolves.
- Overall, the second unit played much better on Friday night than in the season opener. Anthony Tolliver let it fly from deep, hitting 3-of-7 3-point attempts, getting fouled on another in which he sunk two of three free throws. That's a big difference after attempting just one shot on Wednesday - and it wasn't a three. Derrick Rose bounced back after a not-so-great season opener, finishing with 12 points, eight assists and four rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench for Minnesota. Tyus Jones finished with eight points and shot 3-for-6 from the field. In fact, Rose, Tolliver and Jones were a +20, +15 and +10, respectively. Solid bench play from a unit that looks much-improved compared to last season. Gorgui Dieng had his second-straight game with 10 or more points, finishing with 11 points. He only had 10 games like that all of last season.
Kevin Love led the Cavs with 25 points, 19 rebounds and seven assists. Cedi Osman added 22 points and eight assists.
The Wolves have a quick turnaround as they travel to play the Mavericks on Saturday night in Dallas. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT on FOX Sports North Plus and 830 WCCO.