Timberwolves blow by Jazz without Anthony Edwards
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No Anthony Edwards? No problem for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who got huge performances from Karl-Anthony Towns and Nickeil Alexander-Walker to beat the Lauri Markkanen-less Utah Jazz 101-90 Thursday night in Minneapolis.
Towns scored all 29 of his 32 points in the first three quarters and Alexander-Walker stuffed the stat sheet with 20 points, five rebounds, seven assists, five steals and two blocks.
Minnesota scored 20 points in the first quarter and trailed by 12 in the first half only to turn on the jets in the third quarter, outscoring the Jazz 35-19 to take an 84-66 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Wolves were trailing 54-51 with about 9 1/2 minutes left in the third when Nickeil Alexander-Walker hit a 3-pointer to spark a 14-0 run over the next three minutes. A free throw by the Jazz ended the streak of consecutive points but didn't stop the bleeding as Minnesota continuing to push, going on a 28-5 run to turn the three-point deficit into a 20-point lead at 79-59.
Without Edwards, who missed the game after suffering a right hip pointer in Tuesday night's win over Oklahoma City, the Wolves rolled out a starting five of Mike Conley, Alexander-Walker, Troy Brown Jr., Towns and Rudy Gobert.
And without Edwards' 20 shot attempts per game, there were plenty of shots to be had and Alexander-Walker took most of them, finishing with a season-high 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-7 from deep.
Final key stats
- Karl-Anthony Towns: 32 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker: 20 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks
- Troy Brown Jr.: 8 points on 3-of-6 shooting
- Rudy Gobert: 15 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks
- Mike Conley: 8 points, 7 assists, 2 steals
- Naz Reid: 6 points on 3-of-9 shooting in 22 minutes
- Shake Milton: 5 points, 3 assists, 2 steals
- Kyle Anderson: 6 points, 4 assists
Nov 30, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Karl-Anthony Towns (32) shoots against Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler (24) in the first quarter at Target Center.
Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports
The Timberwolves have been a beast in the West, boasting a league best 14-4 record, including 12 wins in their last 14 games after starting the season 1-2 with losses at Toronto and Atlanta.
Up next: Timberwolves at Charlotte, Saturday at 4 p.m. CT.
