Minnesota Timberwolves: Bench comes up big in win over Hawks

The Minnesota Timberwolves have swept the season series with the Atlanta Hawks.

Just like we all predicted.

Minnesota’s 99-95 win over Atlanta is even more impressive when you consider the fact that Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns played far below their usual standards tonight, shooting a combined 8 of 23 from the field for 21 points.

When looking at the box score, a few key stats jump out. The Timberwolves shot 9 of 21 (!) from three-point range to Atlanta’s 8 of 32. Those numbers are very uncharacteristic for both teams. Also, the Wolves’ bench outscored the Hawks’ bench 58-18. Each of these numbers basically tell the story of the game.

Zach LaVine led the scoring for the Timberwolves, tallying 18 points on 7 of 13 shooting off the bench. LaVine played very well down the stretch, filling in for Ricky Rubio as he rested an aggravated ankle injury. While he struggled at times throughout the game defending Jeff Teague (more on Teague in a minute), he held up in crunch time and made numerous plays on the offensive end.

Wiggins was able to manage 15 points on just 5 of 17 shooting, struggling to get in a groove tonight. However, he came up quite possibly the two most important points of the night, and he did so in dramatic fashion.

Other Timberwolves who played key roles off the bench for the Wolves include Damjan Rudez (13 points, 4/5 FG, 3/4 3pt FG), who made some big-time three-point shots down the stretch. Additionally, Adreian Payne had a solid outing before succumbing to foul trouble, scoring 8 points and grabbing 4 rebounds in 16 minutes.

Last, and definitely not least, Gorgui Dieng had a phenomenal second half after a very subpar first half. His second half was so good, in fact, that head coach Sam Mitchell left him in the game during the entirety of crunch time instead of replacing him with Karl-Anthony Towns (more on Towns in a bit as well). Overall, Dieng finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds for the evening, and much of that was in the second half.

For Atlanta, Jeff Teague and Paul Millsap led the way, contributing 22 points while Al Horford added 12 points. Teague had his way when LaVine was defending him in the first half, but found more difficulty in the second half.

With the win, the Timberwolves increase their record to 7-8 on the season and move into the eight spot (!!!!!) in the Western Conference, which puts them in the playoffs if the season ended this second. And yes, I am getting ahead of myself, thanks for asking.

Notes/Observations

— I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep saying it because it’s true. Andrew Wiggins is an assassin. He wants to win, and he wants to make the big play that makes that win happen. Despite a pretty rough performance from him on the offensive end, Wiggins was attacking as usual in crunch time, and he made the big basket to help lift the Wolves to victory.

— Karl-Anthony Towns struggled when he was on the floor tonight, recorded just 6 points and 6 rebounds in 22 minutes. With Dieng playing well, Mitchell decided to keep Towns on the bench for most of the fourth quarter. While I disagree with this philosophy, I can’t really fault Mitchell for anything tonight. I just hope it doesn’t came back to haunt him in a game down the road.

— What is a Damjan Rudez? Wolves fans got their first look of Rudez playing some real game minutes tonight, and he made an excellent first impression. He made three three-pointers, all of which were in critical points in the game.

Onward

The Minnesota Timberwolves will get the Thanksgiving holiday off, but they’ll spend the holiday traveling to Sacramento as they will battle the Kings on Friday night. As always, continue to check in with Sporting Sota for news and analysis on the Timberwolves and the rest of the Minnesota sports teams.

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