The Wolves earned a critical victory over the Sacramento Kings on Monday night as they continue to inch closer to a 2019 playoff berth. You won’t find many wins more important than this one. The Wolves have begun to put together an impressive stretch of games—the kind of stretch they will need to claw back into the No. 8 seed in the brutal Western Conference.
With a 112-105 victory over the Kings, the Wolves moved to 4-1 in their last five games. They continue to get contributions from players up and down their roster. Against the Knicks it was Anthony Tolliver and Taj Gibson, on Monday night, it was Derrick Rose, Tyus Jones and of course, Karl-Anthony Towns.
Early on it seemed like this might not be such a happy night, but the Wolves set the tone for this game in the second quarter, coming to life after a slow start. More specifically, Towns came to life. Minnesota seemed to loosen up, play with more freedom and importantly, have a little fun with things. The quarter was punctuated by two massive dunks from Towns, one a fast-break windmill and the other a ferocious put-back off a Dario Saric miss. The Wolves ended up outscoring the Kings 44-23 in the quarter and took a 10-point lead into the break that they would not relinquish. Towns had 24 points and 13 rebounds in the half including 18 second-quarter points.
Despite things getting a little close in the fourth quarter, the Wolves maintained control for the majority of the contest. Towns was phenomenal, putting up a massive line of 34 points, 21 rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Jones had easily his best game since returning from an ankle injury, finishing with 16 points, eight assists and three steals, including two critical fourth-quarter takeaways that helped seal the game for the good guys. Not to be outdone, Rose dropped 20 including a pull-up jumper to ice the game.
As a team, the Wolves only allowed the Kings to shoot 38.9 percent from the field. That’s a strong effort against a team that loves to score in transition. They also crushed Sacramento on the defensive glass 42-30 and won the overall rebounding battle 49-44. It was a sloppy game, with the two teams combining for 41 turnovers. There will certainly be film to look at from this contest—both good and bad—but the important thing is the win.
The Wolves got a little uncharacteristic help in the playoff race tonight from the Nets and Grizzlies, who took down the Nets and Grizzlies, respectively. The Wolves have moved up to 10th in the conference and now sit just two games back in the loss column from the Spurs, who occupy the No. 8 seed.
Looking forward, the Wolves have what should be a good opportunity to pick up a win on Wednesday night in Atlanta before moving on to a tougher game in Indiana on Thursday. While both games are winnable, both could be trap games as well. The Wolves need to stay sharp and keep their eye on the prize. The back half of their schedule gets very hard, very fast.
But those are problems for another day—tonight the Wolves can rest easy with the knowledge of a job well done, and a race that they are far from out of.