Mitchell HansenWeb Editorial AssociateTwitter
Karl-Anthony Towns had a career night for Minnesota, but it wasn't enough on Wednesday night against the Knicks. The second-year big man finished with 47 points, including 22 in the opening quarter, and 18 rebounds in 41-plus minutes on the floor.
“It was a monster game,” Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau said in reference to Towns’ performance. “It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t pull out the win.”
With 7:42 remaining in the fourth quarter, Mindaugas Kuzminskas nailed a three-pointer to put the New York Knicks up 17 points, looking to be on their way to cruising by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
But the Wolves fought back, going on a 20-3 run to tie the game at 102-102 with 49.8 second left.
In a back-and-forth final minute, it all came down to the final shot with 2.3 seconds on the clock.
Carmelo Anthony, who for the most part struggled shooting the ball throughout the game, made an 18-foot well-contested jumpshot over Andrew Wiggins to help the Knicks top the Wolves 106-104 on Wednesday night at the Target Center.
“Melo made a good play. There were three options on that play, one for Karl, one for Wiggins and one for Zach. He made a good play on (Wiggins),” Thibodeau said. “Melo is a tough cover. There’s times when you can defend him well and he can make (shots). I thought Andrew defended him well on the last shot that he made. You want him to take a long contested two and he’s a big shot-maker.”
Along with Towns, Wiggins had 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Zach LaVine had 17 points and Gorgui Dieng and Ricky Rubio each added eight points for the Wolves.
Kristaps Porzingis led New York with 29 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Anthony finished with 14 points and four rebounds, Kuzminskas had 14 points and Brandon Jennings added 12 points and seven assists off the bench.
It was a tale of two halves in the game. The first half, New York outscored Minnesota 58-49 to take a nine-point halftime lead. The second half, the Wolves outscored the Knicks 55-48.
“The urgency was there, but the urgency needs to be there from the beginning of the game, throughout the game,” Thibodeau said. “You can’t ease into the game. We gave them a lot of confidence early and it’s hard to shut them off. When the intensity got the level that it should have been at, it was the fourth quarter when we were down big.”
The Wolves drop to 5-13 on the season, while the Knicks improve to 9-9 overall.
“We should have won this game. . . Our fourth quarter was better, it was just a tough game for us,” Dieng said. “We are going to see (the Knicks) in a couple of days. They get (a win) here, now we have to go out there and get one.”
Highlight of the Game
With 1:40 left in the second quarter, LaVine found a driving Towns in the lane on a fastbreak that resulted in a two-handed slam that cut the Knicks lead to 54-49.
The Numbers Game
- New York’s bench outscored Minnesota’s 43-5 in the game.
- The Wolves shot 34-for-77 (44.2 percent) from the field and 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) from behind the arc. The Knick finished 41-for-91 (45.1 percent) from the field and 13-for-32 (40.6 percent) from three.
- Minnesota shot 32-of-39 (82.1 percent) from the free throw line, while New York finished 11-for-15 (73.3 percent) from the line.
Player of the Game
Wednesday night’s Wolves Player of the Game is none other than Karl-Anthony Towns.
Along with his career-high 47 points and 18 rebounds, the 21-year-old center shot 15-for-22 from the field and made 17-of-20 shots from the free throw line.
Towns’ night was highlighted by his first quarter performance. He concluded the opening quarter with 22 points on 8-of-8 shooting and hauled in seven rebounds.
Up Next
The Wolves will travel to New York to take on the Knicks again at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Madison Square Garden in the first game of a back-to-back. The game will be aired on Fox Sports North 830 WCCO.