Timberwolves flop against Knicks, hear boos from a crowd reuniting with Karl-Anthony Towns

Chris Hine, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Dec 20, 2024

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MINNEAPOLIS — Karl-Anthony Towns sat on the opposing bench Thursday as his new team’s starting lineup was announced. After the first four starters came to the floor, the Target Center scoreboard played a 90-second tribute video of some of Towns’ career highlights.

Towns soaked it all in, then soaked up a large ovation from the crowd as his New York Knicks teammates smiled and hyped him up as well. This was how Towns’ return to Minnesota after nine seasons began, and it ended with a 133-107 Knicks thumping of the Wolves.

It’s hard to make one game an indication of where a team is, but the fact that Towns thrived Thursday night as his old team struggled in the wake of his departure added to the angst of how fans on social media felt about the trade that sent him to New York for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. Towns finished with 32 points and 20 rebounds.

The Wolves looked disinterested; they were missing defensive assignments and not moving the ball on offense. The Knicks had more than 100 points by the end of the third quarter against a team that had done a good job holding teams under 100 the past few weeks. What was most surprising was how poor the offense looked again. Even as the Wolves have won, their offense has slid down the efficiency rankings. It hasn’t looked much worse than it did Thursday. A lot of fans headed for the exits by the end of the third quarter.

Coach Chris Finch went to his bench early in the fourth quarter.

Randle led the Wolves with 24 points but had five turnovers. Anthony Edwards had 17 on 7-for-16 shooting while Rudy Gobert had three points, four rebounds and one shot attempt and was a minus-37.

Towns wasn’t the only player facing his former team. Randle came out in the first quarter and scored 15 points, but his isolation-heavy offense didn’t facilitate early ball movement. The Wolves’ recharged defense didn’t show up early, as the Knicks started 12-for-22 from the field. Towns had only one bucket in the first quarter, a three-pointer, and the crowd cheered. Towns also had four turnovers in the first quarter. But he got much better from there.

Naz Reid’s foul trouble (three early ones) meant the Wolves couldn’t play their usual second strong bench unit, and it was a disaster. The combination of Rob Dillingham, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jaden McDaniels, Gobert and DiVincenzo quickly lost ground. The Knicks opened the second quarter on a 16-2 run in the first 3 minutes, 18 seconds.

Things didn’t get better when Finch cycled in most of his starters. Gobert missed a pair of free throws and fumbled a rebound, sending groans through the crowd.

Then Towns got going, scoring 17 points in the quarter. The Knicks continued pouring it on as the Wolves continued clanging, and they won the second quarter 41-18. They were up 30 by the end of the third as the crowd grew restless.

After the Wolves fell behind 81-57 on a Mikal Bridges layup, boos reappeared in Target Center for the first time since the Wolves lost to Sacramento before Thanksgiving.

During a timeout in the second quarter two fans appeared to storm the court, but security caught both and took them out of the arena. These were the first attempts to rush the court since protestors tried to storm the floor multiple times in the 2022 playoffs.