Jaden McDaniels helped make up for the absence of Karl-Anthony Towns with a team-high 20 points, Minnesota held the Sacramento Kings to a season-low five 3-pointers, and the Timberwolves moved into sixth place in the Western Conference standings with a 119-115 road victory on Monday night.
Even with Towns given the game off to rest on the second night of a back-to-back, all five Minnesota starters scored in double figures, propelling the Timberwolves (39-37) to a fourth consecutive win.
Coming off a 99-96 win at Golden State on Sunday, the Timberwolves moved into a tie with the Warriors for sixth in the West, with Minnesota currently owning the tiebreaker due to a better conference record. The teams split their season series 2-2.
De’Aaron Fox had a game-high 29 points, Domantas Sabonis scored 24 and Harrison Barnes added 19 for the Kings (45-30), who lost for the third time in their last five outings to fall 2 1/2 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies in their battle for the No. 2 seed in the West.
The Timberwolves led just 101-99 with 7:02 remaining before making the key push of the game, getting two hoops and an assist from Mike Conley, two baskets from McDaniels, a layup and three assists from Rudy Gobert, a 3-pointer from Anthony Edwards and two assists from Kyle Anderson in a team effort that produced a 13-5 run that opened a 10-point lead at the 3:52 mark.
The Kings got no closer than four the rest of the way.
Gobert and Anderson both finished with double-doubles for Minnesota, Gobert with 16 points and a game-high 16 rebounds, Anderson with 15 points and a game-high 11 assists.
Naz Reid and Jaylen Nowell came off the bench to add 18 and 14 points, respectively, while Edwards scored 17 and Conley added 16, helping Minnesota take the season series 3-1.
Sabonis completed a double-double for Sacramento with a team-high 10 rebounds before fouling out, while Fox collected a team-high six assists.
Kevin Huerter had 13 points and Malik Monk 12 in supporting roles for the Kings, who shot just 5-for-27 from 3-point range. Sacramento had made at least eight from beyond the arc in each of its first 74 games.
–Field Level Media
