The Minnesota Timberwolves went into Madison Square Garden and levelled up their series for the season with a big win.
Karl-Anthony Towns and the New York Knicks embarrassed his former team the Minnesota Timberwolves with a 133-107 win in their own stadium back on December 19.
Almost a month on, the Timberwolves got some revenge with a 116-99 win in New York – but the contest lacked some of the same flavor.
Towns missed the game through injury, meaning the T-Wolves proved little, while former Knicks star Donte DiVincenzo also missed out, against the team he did not want to leave.
Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves to the win with a 36-13-7 performance, that at this stage looks quite normal for him.
The big story from the bench was Naz Reid, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, an undrafted prospect in 2019, who scored 23 points and also put up 8 rebounds.
It was Reid’s third highest score of the season, his highest being 28 against the Trail Blazers, while he hit 34 vs the Cavaliers last March.
Speaking to New York’s MSG Network, former Knicks star Wally Szczerbiak praised Reid, and spoke of his belief that his development and potential was a key reason the Timberwolves felt comfortable trading Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks – who has played at a high level in New York when healthy.
Szczerbiak said: “Naz Reid is Sixth Man of the Year for a reason. He’s a stretch five. They can really shoot the basketball, but that’s not all he does. He’s a very cerebral basketball player.
“And I think the reason why they thought they could let Karl-Anthony Towns, just a superstar, go is because they had this much faith in Naz Reid and what he could do to kind of plug some of the holes that Karl-Anthony Towns, the things that he did.”
“So they made that move, thinking it’s going to open up a lot for Naz Reid. We get a guy like Julius Randle, compliments Gobert perfectly.”
It has not quite worked out like that, with Minnesota struggling to find their identity – but Szczerbiak still believes they will be a force to be reckoned with when it matters.
He said: “This team is struggling a little bit… they’re trying to figure things out, but you can see when the pieces come together, this team is a pretty formidable team, and they’re prepping to be an impactful team in the playoffs.”
The following night the Timberwolves ran into a fired up Cleveland Cavaliers, fresh off a loss to OKC, and were beaten 124-117.
Naz Reid scored 16 points from the bench, putting up another useful night, but it was not enough, despite Edwards scoring 28.
The Timberwolves played the last two games with Mike Conley back into the line-up due to DiVincenzo being out, and he contributed only nine points as a starter.
It means Chris Finch’s side are 22-20, hovering just one win above three 21-20 teams, with the third of them at 11th, outside the play-in spots.
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