National Basketball Association

Timberwolves Wrap: Wolves win opener in comeback fashion

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

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The Timberwolves opened preseason play with a big third quarter comeback en route to a 109-100 victory over the Miami Heat in Kansas City.

Preseason basketball finally began for the Timberwolves, although if you weren’t on Twitter you would have had no way of knowing what’s going on in the game as it was happening.

Indeed, the opener was not televised anywhere, and audio feeds weren’t readily available for most, either. That left us to find tweets from fans who were there, plus the Timberwolves Public Relations team and other team employees.

The Wolves started the same lineup that largely closed out last season: Ricky Rubio, Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins, Gorgui Dieng, and Karl-Anthony Towns. Rookie Kris Dunn and second-year forward Nemanja Bjelica were the first players off the bench, followed closely by Brandon Rush, Cole Aldrich, and Shabazz Muhammad.

After a first quarter that was played to a 23-23 tie, the Miami Heat dominated the second frame by a 39-24 margin, taking a 15-point lead at halftime.

The Timberwolves came out of the break on fire, however, and took control of the game in the third quarter. Towns recovered from a slow first half during which he shot just 2-for-10 from the floor, and by the end of the third, Wiggins had already attempted 16 free throws on the night.

26-7 run for Minnesota dating back to that 68-49 score at the 10:26 mark of the third quarter. #Twolves shooting 10/15 this quarter.

— Timberwolves PR (@Twolves_PR) October 9, 2016

When the dust had settled and the fourth quarter was beginning, the Wolves had scored 41 points over the past 12 minutes and led by three.

The fourth quarter began positively, too…

The Wolves more or less cruised to victory in the fourth quarter, ultimately winning by a margin of 109-100. Only 10 players saw the floor, as it appears as though Tom Thibodeau will use a rotating method to keep his entire roster fresh through the onslaught of mostly meaningless preseason games.

Star of the Night

Karl-Anthony Towns: 20 points (7-18 FG, 2-4 3P, 4-6 FT), 10 rebounds, two blocks, one assist

As mentioned, Towns struggled in the first half but dominated the third quarter. The three-pointers were flying — Towns only attempted four or more three-pointers in a game three times all of last season — and he turned in a 20-10 performance in just 27 minutes of playing time.

Tweet of the Night

Notable Lines

Who’s Got Next?

The Timberwolves will head east to take on the Charlotte Hornets on Monday evening. The game will tip-off at 6:00 p.m. Central Time, and we’re not sure as of this writing if the contest will be available on television.