If you would have reached out to me at halftime of Monday night’s Wolves game against the Hawks and said, “Hey, Katie; don’t worry. This one will end in a double-digit, road win for the Wolves,” I, admittedly, may have had some doubts.
The second quarter of Monday night’s game was tough. The Wolves shot just 5-for-21 from the field in their 16-point second quarter and dug themselves a 10-point hole at halftime after failing to find an answer for Atlanta’s pick-and-roll offense led by Trae Young who finished with a game-high 37 points.
But the Wolves refused to let their second-quarter setbacks decide the outcome of Monday night’s game and came back to claim a 125-113 win in Atlanta. The win bumped Minnesota up to 9-8 overall and 6-2 on the road. In addition, the Wolves have yet to lose three games in a row after their first 17 games of the season.
The Wolves’ comeback was ignited by Karl-Anthony Towns who was brilliant in the third quarter. Towns finished with a near-triple-double stat line of 28 points (15 of which came in the third quarter), 13 rebounds, eight assists and two blocks. Towns’ performance was one of those that reminded us how dominant he can be with the ball in his hands. Towns had 19 field goal attempts, which tied Andrew Wiggins’ team-high.
Wiggins finished with 25 points, six rebounds, two steals and one assist. His shot selection strayed away from the Wolves’ system a bit in the third quarter, but he came through in the fourth when needed.
While Towns and Wiggins were once again the top offensive weapons for the Wolves on Monday, the win against the Hawks may not have been as comfortable had it not been for the contributions of Gorgui Dieng and Keita Bates-Diop — two players who’ve continually made the most of the minutes they’ve received this season.
Bates-Diop continued to impress after recording his career-high 22 points in Saturday’s loss to the Suns. The Wolves forward may not have reached his career-high scoring total, but he still registered a crucial 13 points, five rebounds, two blocks and one steal in just under 24 minutes of play. Eight of Bates-Diop’s 13 points came in the fourth quarter in which he shot a perfect 3-for-3 from the field.
Dieng also shot a flawless 3-for-3 from the field in the fourth quarter to match Bates-Diop’s final frame. He finished with 13 total points and hit all three of his 3-point attempts. On the defensive end, he challenged the Hawks’ lob passes in the paint and allowed Towns to rest without the Wolves’ lead crumbling.
If the Wolves can earn double-digit scoring marks from two of their bench players to go along with Towns’ and Wiggins’ 20 points apiece, the Wolves will remain competitive. If said bench players can be solid defensive presences like Bates-Diop and Dieng were on Monday night, this team will be in for some fun.
Jarrett Culver returned to the starting lineup after the Wolves announced they’d be bringing Jeff Teague off the bench to give Wiggins a larger ball-handling role and to add some offensive production to the second unit. Culver relieved Wiggins of some of the point guard duties and finished with 14 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and zero turnovers. Culver has only turned the ball over 24 times in the first 399 minutes of his NBA career. Not bad, rook.
The Wolves can’t be completely content with how they played in Atlanta, but Monday night’s win was a game that may have been lost in the third quarter in past seasons. Towns demanded his team pull off a winnable game, and his teammates assured him they would.
The Wolves will continue their road trip in San Antonio on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT on Fox Sports North and 830 WCCO.