NBA: Karl-Anthony Towns leads Wild past struggling Jazz

Karl-Anthony Towns posted a triple-double with 31 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, and the Minnesota Timberwolves pulled away for a 126-106 win over the Utah Jazz on Sunday night in Minneapolis.

Jaden McDaniels added 22 points on a perfect 9-for-9 shooting performance for Minnesota, which snapped a two-game skid. Anthony Edwards scored 15 points and Jordan McLaughlin had 12.

Bojan Bogdanovic scored 23 points on 7-for-11 shooting to lead Utah, which has lost a season-worst five games in a row. Mike Conley scored 22, and Jordan Clarkson had 17 off the bench.

Utah played without Donovan Mitchell (concussion) and Rudy Gobert (left calf strain). The Timberwolves did not have D'Angelo Russell (shin).

Minnesota posted a 40-27 advantage in the third quarter to build a 92-75 lead entering the final 12 minutes.

Conley made a driving layup to trim the Minnesota lead to 54-53 with 9:39 left in the third quarter. From there, the Timberwolves took charge with a 22-7 run over the next 5:22 to pull ahead 76-60 with 4:17 remaining.

Minnesota increased its lead to 19 in the final minute of the third quarter before Clarkson made two free throws to cut it back to 17.

The Jazz never threatened in the fourth quarter, as Minnesota went ahead by 20 points with 9:12 remaining on a 3-pointer by Taurean Prince.

Minnesota led 52-48 at the half.

The Timberwolves opened an eight-point lead late in the first quarter. Jaylen Nowell made a pull-up jump shot to increase the advantage to 26-18 with 52.6 seconds remaining.

In the second quarter, the Jazz went on a 9-0 run to grab the lead. Bogdanovic buried a pair of 3-pointers during the run, and Rudy Gay also drained a shot from beyond the arc.

Utah increased its lead to 48-41 later in the quarter on another 3-pointer by Bogdanovic, this time with 2:23 to go in the first half.

Minnesota closed the half on an 11-0 run to take the lead into intermission. McDaniels and Towns each made a 3-pointer, Edwards and Nowell added baskets and Jarred Vanderbilt contributed a free throw.

-reuters

NBA: Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns placed in COVID-19 protocol

The Minnesota Timberwolves placed star center Karl-Anthony Towns in COVID-19 protocols prior to Thursday night's game against the Utah Jazz.

Towns, 26, is the seventh Minnesota player in the protocol. Star sharpshooter Anthony Edwards is one of the others.

Towns missed 13 games last season due to a battle with the coronavirus. In addition, his mother, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, died at age 59 from COVID-19 in April 2020.

The latest development hit Towns hard, and he took to Twitter to say, "Can't catch a (expletive) break!"

Towns, a two-time All-Star, is averaging 24.5 points and 9.1 rebounds in 30 games this season. He has career averages of 23.0 points and 11.4 rebounds in 438 games over seven NBA seasons.

Towns was highly public about his experience with the coronavirus last season.

"COVID did not treat me well whatsoever," he said upon returning to action last February. "A lot of scary nights."

The other Timberwolves in protocols are Patrick Beverley, Josh Okogie, Taurean Prince, Jarred Vanderbilt and McKinley Wright IV.

-reuters

NBA: James shines as Cavs withstand big night from Wiggins

MINNEAPOLIS, United States — LeBron James and Kyrie Irving each scored 25 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers withstood a huge night from Andrew Wiggins to record a 116-108 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Canada’s Wiggins finished with a game-high 41 points for the Timberwolves which equaled his second-highest point total this NBA season.

James also had 14 assists for Cleveland who sealed their 38th win of the season with 1:39 remaining when ex-Timberwolves player Derrick Williams finished off a fast break layup. The layup came just moments after James nailed a step back three pointer.

Wiggins had help from Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored 26 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Gorgui Dieng added 12 points, but no other Timberwolves player reached double figures in scoring.

Wiggins got the Timberwolves back in the game Tuesday, sparking a rally after Irving hit a three pointer halfway through the third quarter to give Cleveland a 14-point lead.

Wiggins tallied 19 points in the third quarter.

Cleveland had to make due without forward Kevin Love, who had surgery on his left knee on Tuesday and will be sidelined for six weeks. Love was averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds per game.

Channing Frye helped fill the void by chipping in with 21 points. Tristan Thompson also contributed to the offence by adding 14 points and 11 rebounds.

This is the Cavaliers’ second win over Minnesota in a two-week span. The Cavaliers beat the Timberwolves 125-97 on February 1. CBB

source: sports.inquirer.net

Warriors eventually find flow without Green, beat Wolves

OAKLAND, Calif. — Do-everything Draymond Green is fiery, vocal and brings energy on both ends of the court.

On a night the Golden State Warriors were without their emotional leader, it took them a while to find a flow.

Stephen Curry had 34 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and Golden State overcame Green’s absence to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 115-102 on Saturday night for their 11th straight victory.

“It wasn’t as loud, obviously,” Klay Thompson said of missing Green. “Collectively we had to raise our voices to make up for it.”

Curry shot 13 for 19 with four 3-pointers, while Kevin Durant added 28 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and a career-high six blocked shots — the Warriors’ first time ever having someone finish with at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five blocks. Thompson scored 23 points with four 3s.

Durant figured he had to do more.

“Especially tonight. We missed Draymond,” Durant said. “We were a little stagnant early.”

Green sat out a day after bruising his left ankle at Los Angeles in a collision with teammate Ian Clark, who also missed the game after being hit in the throat on the play.

“Without Ian and Draymond our bench was thinned out,” coach Steve Kerr said.

Zach LaVine scored 31 points with five 3s, while Karl-Anthony Towns had 12 of his 18 points in the first quarter on 6-for-10 shooting. He then quieted down and missed five of his next six attempts before a three-point play with 4:03 remaining to make it a 10-point game.

Without Green, Golden State lacked offensive flow and an interior defensive presence against Towns until finding some rhythm late in the first half and early in the second.

The Warriors went off for a franchise-record 47 assists in their previous home game three nights earlier against the Lakers, but managed only 25 Saturday.

Golden State didn’t get its first field goal of the second quarter until 7:41 remaining on Durant’s three-point play.

“It’s good to see that we can step up in a guy like Draymond’s absence and still have contributions from other guys on the floor,” Curry said.

Kevon Looney made his first career start in place of Green and had six points, three rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes.

Curry’s 17 third-quarter points were his second-most in a quarter this season.

Minnesota handed Golden State one of only two home defeats last regular season, 124-117 in overtime on April 5 — just the Timberwolves’ second win in the last 17 meetings, including Saturday.

The Warriors won their sixth straight home game since a 129-100 season-opening loss to San Antonio, and ninth in 11 meetings with Minnesota dating to 2013.

TIP-INS

Timberwolves: Former Warriors G Brandon Rush was welcomed back on the video board during a first-quarter timeout, and he smiled and waved. … A night after getting 15 steals — five by Ricky Rubio — and forcing 26 turnovers, Minnesota managed only nine steals among the 18 turnovers by Golden State. … The Wolves will host the Warriors on Dec. 11, and Golden State has a nine-game winning streak at Minnesota.

Warriors: Curry had his sixth 30-point performance of the season, while he, Durant and Thompson each went over 20 points in the same game for the seventh time. … Golden State’s streak of 10 straight games with 30 or more assists was snapped. … The Warriors are 36-7 in the second game playing on consecutive nights dating to 2014-15, including 3-1 this season. … They shot above 50 percent for the third straight game. … Golden State wore its slate alternate jerseys for the first time at home, improving to 24-2 all-time in that uniform.

THIBODEAU’S INFLUENCE

First-year Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau paid the Warriors a couple of visits last season in his year out of NBA coaching, a chance to observe Kerr’s practices and catch up with old pal Ron Adams, Golden State’s assistant and defensive guru.

“It was fun to pick his brain and share knowledge and insight,” Kerr said.

Thibodeau called the Warriors “something we aspire to be.”

“Golden State was a good model for us,” he said of focusing on improvement. “They went step by step.”

UP NEXT

Timberwolves: Host the Utah Jazz on Monday for a quick two-game visit home.

Warriors: Host Atlanta on Monday in the second game of a five-game homestand and look to beat the Hawks at home for the fifth time in a row.

source: sports.inquirer.net