Todd Barin
Web Editorial Associate
Minnesota pulled out their second consecutive home victory on Wednesday night beating the Atlanta Hawks 99-95.
The Wolves move to 7-8 on the season with two of those victories being against the 10-7 Hawks.
In a competitive matchup throughout, the Wolves’ bench ended up being the deciding factor, which was led by Zach LaVine and Damjan Rudez. The reigning Slam Dunk Champion had a great game overall finishing with 18 points on 7-for-13 from the field, five rebounds and six assists.
“I’ve been feeling that the whole year. My shot’s been feeling good the whole year,” LaVine said. “I don’t care if I miss 12 in a row - I think my shot feels good always. I’ve got the confidence to take them, so I’m glad they were going in.”
Rudez, who hasn’t seen much court time at all this season, hit some clutch three’s and took advantage of his 17 minutes on the court and contributed 13 points on 4-for-5 shooting.
Unfortunately for Atlanta’s head coach Mike Budenholzer, he ended up being correct in his pregame interview when he said:
"I think sometimes we feel like we’ve played some of these teams that maybe it isn’t (in their game plan to shoot three’s), and when they have one of those nights and make three’s then you’re like they’ve kind of got everything. So I think we will not underestimate that even though they may not shoot a lot. But as far as what we do, kind of play our game and if it’s there we’re going to take it and we have a lot guys who can spread the court and shoot.”
Minnesota shot an uncharacteristic amount of threes and may continue to do so after tonight’s impressive performance making 9-of-21 attempts.
Andrew Wiggins didn’t shoot the ball great going 5-for-17 from the field but did end the night with 15 points and some vital buckets in crunch time.
“He’s our go to guy, we know that with the game on the line we’re going to give him the ball,” Towns said pregame. “We trust him tremendously and he always earns our trust every single day. There’s a reason why he was drafted where he was drafted. He’s very talented and one of the best players.”
Although Atlanta dominated the boards all-night, their bench play, or lack there of, ended up being their demise at the end of the game.
“I thought Minnesota played well,” Budenholzer said. “I thought they had the bench come in and play really well which has been kind of a trademark of this team for Minnesota, so we didn’t make enough plays down the stretch, they made a lot of plays. Give them credit, we’ll get to work tomorrow or Friday.”
Each starter played more than 30 minutes and Jeff Teague had a nice game putting in 22 points and five assists.
Even with Millsap and Al Horford notching double-doubles, it wasn’t enough as Minnesota locked-down defensively in the fourth quarter only allowing 21 points.
The lineup of LaVine, Wiggins, Tayshaun Prince, Rudez and Gorgui Dieng did a great job closing out the game for the Wolves.
“It was a big win for us, especially beating them twice,” Wiggins said. “It’s going to give us a lot of confidence going on the road. That’s a good team. They beat a lot of good teams this year, too. They’re winning. If we beat them, we can beat anybody. The way we played tonight, the way we shared the ball. We played aggressive the whole night. Everybody came in and gave their all. Rudez came in the game and played some big minutes for us, hit some big shots and helped extend the lead.”
Leader of the Pack: Zach LaVine
Playing nearly 27 minutes, and with Rubio on the sideline for the entire fourth quarter nursing an injured calf, the 20-year-old stepped up and played well on both ends of the court down the stretch.
Highlight of the Night:
Like he has done so many times this season, Andrew Wiggins turned it on in the fourth quarter and was an instrumental part in tonight’s victory. Late in the fourth quarter Wiggins drove to the hoop and converted a nice And-One over Paul Millsap.
Numbers Game:
40- The amount of points the Wolves’ bench outscored the Hawks’ bench. One of the biggest, if not the biggest, storylines from tonight’s game after Towns only played 22 minutes and Rubio sat out the fourth quarter.
“It just shows the depth,” Towns said. “Like I said, this is not a 5-man team. It’s a 13-man team or more. Everyone contributes. Everyone’s night is tonight. Some nights you’ve just got to tip your cap.”
15- The number of offensive rebounds hauled in by Atlanta. Although the Wolves did walk away with a ‘W,’ their lack of physicality down low was exposed after getting roughhoused in the paint all night.
42.9- The 3-point percentage put up by the Timberwolves. Going 9-for-21, Minnesota actually made more threes than the Hawks who had 32 attempts. The bench accounted for 8-of-the-9 made.
Looking Ahead:
The Wolves will travel out West and will take on the Sacramento Kings late Friday night at 9:00 p.m. Put your pajamas on, cozy up and turn on Fox Sports North or twist the dial to 830 WCCO radio.
In One Sentence: Zach Lavine on Rudez’s performance…
“He was incredible, making timely shots, timely threes. He’s shooting like he does in practice, wet ball. He was very clutch.”