The Knicks got 40 points from Karl-Anthony Towns, but playing without two starters, New York fell 115-104 at the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night.
With Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby getting the night off amid the Knicks’ tight run of fixtures after their NBA Cup run, Tyler Kolek and Mitchell Robinson were bumped into the starting lineup. That put New York (20-9) in a tough spot against Minnesota (20-10, winners of five of six).
Towns looked to carry the load on offense, scoring 14 first-quarter points on 5-for-9 shooting. That was quite the turnaround for KAT after scoring just two points on 1-for-5 shooting over 29 minutes in Sunday’s win. Kolek looked to force the issue and contributed six points (3-for-7 from the floor), including some tough lay-ups to go along with two rebounds, two assists, and two steals in the opening quarter.
For Minnesota, Anthony Edwards tallied a quick 13 points and Donte DiVincenzo dished out four assists for a 31-28 Minnesota lead.
At the start of the second quarter, the Knicks' five of Kolek, Robinson, Josh Hart, Mohamed Diawara, and Kevin McCullar Jr. got blitzed for a 10-2 run. Minnesota’s run hit 17-2 for a 16-point lead before Towns put in back-to-back buckets and two at the line to give him 20 in the game. That started a 16-5 run, capped by a Jordan Clarkson three (the first points from the bench), forced a timeout with the deficit at five and 3:25 left in the second. New York cut it to one on a second Clarkson three, before the hosts took a 58-52 lead into the break.
The big issue at the interveal: outside of Towns, the Knicks were shooting 12-for-35 (34.3 percent) from the floor.
The third quarter started poorly: Two Wolves threes sandwiching offensive fouls by Robinson and Towns (his fourth foul, fifth turnover), and the deficit was back to 12. But after missing their first four shots, the Knicks used a 10-2 spurt, including five from Kolek, to force a Minnesota timeout. A further 7-1 spurt gave the Knicks a lead midway into the quarter at 69-67.
But as Mike Brown turned more to the bench, Edwards led the Wolves on a 9-0 run, giving him 32 in the game, to push it back to a seven-point Wolves lead. The Wolves’ star had 16 in the quarter on 7-for-10 shooting while his teammates went 2-for-12 in the quarter for an 85-79 advantage.
Julius Randle, held to eight points through three quarters, took over in the fourth with eight-straight Wolves points to force a timeout as their lead hit 97-85 with 6:51 to play. Randle kept it going, scoring the next seven for Minnesota before an Edwards dunk made it a 16-point lead with under five to play. The Knicks again had one more counterpunch as KAT and Hart combined for a 10-3 move to make it a nine-point game with 3:10 to play. But that was New York’s last gasp.
The Knicks were sunk in part by 19 turnovers, leading to 22 Timberwolves points and shooting 41-for-99 from the floor (41.4 percent). They did out-rebound their hosts, 55-42.
Here are the takeaways...
- KAT, soon after he sparked the Knicks’ big second-quarter surge, picked up his second offensive foul of the quarter (third foul overall) and was forced to the bench with 2:58 to play in the half. Sittig with 24 points (9-for-13 shooting), four rebounds, four turnovers, and was a plus-5 in 15 minutes. But after the hot start, Towns connected on just three of his next nine from the floor and picked up his fifth foul with five left in the game before he scored a quick five to give him 40 on the night.
Towns would foul out in the final minute. He finished with 40 points (14-for-24, 3-for-6 from deep, 9-for-11 from the line) with 12 rebounds (four offensive), one assist, one steal, five turnovers and was a plus-7 in 35 minutes.
- Kolek looked to do more on offense, but other than a few good drives, struggled from the floor in the opening half: 3-for-10 from the floor (0-for-3 from deep) for six points. He did have four rebounds and three assists, but was a minus-12 in his first 12 minutes. After going 3-for-7 from the floor in the third, he put in a quick five points on two possessions when he checked in midway through the fourth.
He finished with 20 points (9-for-22 shooting, 2-for-6 from three) with 11 rebounds, eight assists, three steals, and two turnovers, but was a minus-7 in 31 minutes. For Kolek, those are career highs in points (just his second game in double figures, with both coming in the last three games), rebounds, and minutes.
- Bridges grabbed the Knicks’ first opening field goals, and without Brunson, was going to have to pick up some slack on offense while taking on the challenge of guarding Edwards. But Bridges, who made 3 of 6 in the first quarter for six points, attempted just two field goals in the second to give him nine points in the first half.
After a 2-for-5 third quarter, Bridges didn’t find the touch in the fourth, finishing with 15 points on 7-for-16 shooting (1-for-6 from three) with three rebounds and was a plus-3 in 38 minutes.
- Hart continued to pop up in the right spots, hauling down seven rebounds, dishing out six assists, and grabbing two steals with five points in 22 first-half minutes. Late in the third, he tangled with Rudy Gobert on the defensive glass, but it was the Knicks man who was assessed a foul that was reviewed and upgraded to a flagrant foul as Hart, who was seated, was judged to have attempted to trip the Wolves’ 7-footer. He finished with 12 points (5-for-14 shooting) with 15 rebounds, eight assists, two steals, six turnovers, and was a minus-5 in 42 minutes.
- Robinson, who grabbed an offensive rebound on the first miss of the game. The Knicks tried to get the big man on a few lobs in the first quarter, but couldn’t find the connection. He struggled to assert himself and was being dragged to the perimeter on defense. Robinson was a team-worst minus-13 in 15 first-half minutes with just two points and two rebounds.
It wasn’t his night as he finished with two points (1-for-4) with seven rebounds (six offensive), two blocks, and a team-worst minus-15 in 26 minutes.
- Off the bench, Clarkson, Diawara, and Ariel Hukporti all saw time in the first. McCullar and Pacôme Dadiet got action in the second, but other than a pair of threes from Clarkson (2-for-6 from the floor), the bench wasn’t offering much as the other four were scoreless with Diawara missing his lone attempt and Dadiet missing twice from deep.
The McCullar cameo (minus-11 in just four minutes) was especially rough, as was Diawara’s time (minus-12 in seven minutes) in the first half.
Clarkson accounted for 10 of the Knicks’ 15 bench points on 3-for-11 shooting, and he was a minus-9 in 30 minutes.
- GuerschonYabusele was unavailable for the night due to illness.
- DiVincenzo finished with 11 points and eight assists in 32 minutes. Gobert added 11 points and 16 rebounds (six offensive) to go with three blocks, two steals, and two assists in 38 minutes.
Game MVP: Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle
The Wolves guard finished with 38 points on 15-for-27 shooting (4-for-10 from three) with four steals, two assists, one rebound, one block, just one turnover in 37 minutes. While Edwards owned the first three quarters, Randle pipped in here because of his 17-point fourth quarter, as he finished with 25 points (10-for-20 shooting) with six rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes.
What's next
The Knicks return to Madison Square Garden to play the early game (12 p.m. tip) on Christmas Day against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
