National Basketball Association

Timberwolves Wrap: Wolves mount comeback in win

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Timberwolves trailed for the majority of Friday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns before using a 31-10 fourth quarter to win convincingly in the final moments.

Friday night’s tilt flipped the script for the Timberwolves.

After an opening 14 games that featured at least two-thirds of the contests finding the Wolves losing via a third or, sometimes, fourth quarter swoon, Minnesota trailed by 10 points after the opening sequence of the fourth on Friday night. But they ultimately won the game by 13 points.

The first half featured some brief Wolves leads, but largely felt similar to Wednesday night’s ugly loss to the Pelicans in New Orleans.

But at the start of the fourth quarter, a hybrid Wolves lineup including Tyus Jones, Andrew Wiggins, Nemanja Bjelica, and Cole Aldrich started a comeback that was aided eventually by Shabazz Muhammad, Gorgui Dieng, and Karl-Anthony Towns. Minnesota not only managed to tie the game and take the lead, but they completely overcame and overwhelmed the Suns.

The change-of-pace of Tyus Jones at the point required the Suns to adjust how they were defending the Wolves, as he finished the game a +22 in just 19 minutes, most of which came in the fourth quarter.

Towns was good and Wiggins finally began to get to the free throw line with consistency, converting 10-of-11 from the charity stripe despite shooting only 8-for-19 from the field on the night.

It was an encouraging performance, albeit against a now-5-12 team. But after the previous couple of disasters and a visit to Oakland on Saturday night, a win is a win is a win.

Tweet of the Night

Zach LaVine submits his DUNK OF YEAR application in Phoenix! #PowerOfThePack pic.twitter.com/fx7er1jl4d

— NBA (@NBA) November 26, 2016

Star of the Night

Karl-Anthony Towns: 22 points (8-19 FG, 2-6 3P, 4-5 FT), 10 rebounds, 4 assists, one steal, one block

It would be easy to put Jones here with his +22 on the night, but just six points and three assists in 19 minutes wasn’t quite enough for me to give him the nod.

Towns was solid throughout, and scored seven points in short order after returning to the game midway through the fourth quarter, just as the Wolves were grabbing the lead to stay. He score both inside and outside on this night, and was competitive enough in the paint to have a solid impact on the game.

Notable Timberwolves Lines

Who’s Up Next?

The Wolves head up the coast to Oakland to take on the 14-2 Golden State Warriors. The back-to-back Western Conference champs defeated the Lakers with ease in L.A. on Friday night, but could be short-handed after a couple of key players left the game early due to injury.