Timberwolves get stars back take down Thunder

Anthony Edwards scored a team-high 22 points on 8-for-17 shooting, and the Minnesota Timberwolves held on for a 98-90 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night in Minneapolis.

Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns scored 17 points and pulled down 16 rebounds in his return from a six-game absence in the league’s COVID-19 protocol. D’Angelo Russell returned from a five-game absence in the protocol and finished with six points on 3-for-12 shooting.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 19 points. Rookie Josh Giddey posted a double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds, and Aaron Wiggins finished with 11 points.

The Thunder pulled within 85-83 with 4:58 remaining in the fourth quarter. Kenrich Williams made a layup off of an assist from Giddey to close the gap to two points.

The Timberwolves answered with a 7-0 run to make it 92-83 with 2:26 to play. Patrick Beverley made one free throw, Jaylen Nowell made two more, and then Beverley and Nowell traded back-to-back baskets.

A 3-pointer by Edwards boosted Minnesota’s lead to 97-89 with 1:02 to go, and the Timberwolves did not look back from there.

Minnesota led 69-63 at the end of the third quarter. The Timberwolves built a 19-point lead with 4:11 left in the period, but Oklahoma City closed the quarter on a 17-4 run.

Gilgeous-Alexander had two 3-pointers, a pull-up jumper and a pair of free throws during the run.

Minnesota raced to a 30-10 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Timberwolves went on a 14-0 run early in the quarter to transform a 4-4 tie into an 18-4 advantage.

Nowell put the Timberwolves on top by 20 points when he drained a 3-pointer with 1:26 left in the quarter.

Oklahoma City had a 26-19 advantage in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 13. After falling behind 31-10, the Thunder went on a 21-8 run to pull within 39-31 with 4:14 left in the half.

Beverley capped the first-half scoring on a 3-pointer for the Timberwolves with 41.1 seconds to go before the break as the Timberwolves led 49-36 at the half.

–Field Level Media