The NBA must have expected this to be a lively game. For the New York Knicks’ (20*-9) visit to the Minnesota Timberwolves (20-10), the league enlisted an officiating crew of Josh Tiven, Sean Corbin, and Michael Smith. By my count, that’s 76 years of NBA officiating experience, and the league was right. With the Knicks missing five rotational players—Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, Miles McBride, Guerschon Yabusele, and Landry Shamet—this game turned out to be wayyy more entertaining than we expected it to be.
Karl-Anthony Towns set the tone against his former team with 14 quick points, and Tyler Kolek cracked off six points and two steals, but the Knicks lost the first quarter 31-28. A Bones Hyland shooting burst pushed Minnesota’s lead to 16, but Towns, Josh Hart, and Jordan Clarkson sparked a Knicks rally that cut Minnesota’s advantage to 58–52. In the third, the visitors erased another double-digit deficit and briefly took the lead behind Towns and Hart, but a flagrant foul and timely Minnesota threes swung momentum back to the Wolves, up 85–79 heading to the fourth. The Furballs steadily pulled away behind Julius Randle, waking up to scoring 15 straight points and giving them a 115-104 win.
Towns finished the night with a 40-13 double-double on 14-of-24 shooting, including 3-of-6 from deep. He fouled out late in the game, and his foul trouble allowed Minnesota to feast in the paint in the fourth. Not helping a whole lot: Mitchell Robinson with seven rebounds, two blocks, and two points in his 26 minutes. Mitch logged a team-worst -15 plus-minus. The Knicks won the rebounding battle, 55-42, and the paint points, 54-42, but it never felt like their frontcourt was dominating. The team’s atrocious amount of turnovers—19!—certainly didn’t help.
In his first NBA start, Tyler Kolek continued the blossoming he showed in the Cup tourney. He recorded career-highs of 20 points and 11 rebounds, plus eight assists, three steals, and just two turnovers. The sophomore shot 9-of-22 from the field and 2-of-6 from deep in his 31 minutes. He even flashed Brunson-esque footwork (see below). This game might have been a loss, but to see this from the young playmaker takes a lot of the sting out.
Rounding out the starters, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart both had double-doubles. Bridges’ was a 20-point, 11-rebound affair on 7-of-16 shooting, 1-of-6 from deep in 38 minutes. Hart played 42 minutes, scoring 12 points, grabbing 15 boards, and dishing out eight dimes.
For the home team, Anthony Edwards shot 15-of-27 for 38 points, plus four steals. But it was Randle’s night. He sleepwalked through the first three quarters, then Towns was in foul trouble, Julius ate him up. He scored 17 points in the fourth, including 15 in a row. Clearly, the trade that swapped him and Donte DiVincenzo for Towns last year still stirs up emotions for Julius. We get some feels seeing him, too.
First Half
KAT was the star of the first quarter. Determined to show off for his old team and make up for Sunday’s two-point performance, he scored 14 points on nine shots in 10 minutes.
Kolek showed some first-time jitters. On one breakaway, with defenders ahead of him, the sophomore playmaker slowed his step at the last minute to put the Wolves on skates and make the easy bunny. Totally a Jalen Brunson move, and it showed great poise. He’d close the quarter with six points, two steals, and a pair of assists.
For the villains, Gobert had a career-high-tying two steals in the quarter, and Edwards dropped 13 points on seven shots.
Dealing with a short-handed crew, Coach Mike Brown mixed and matched through the period. Around the four-minute mark, Mohamed Diawara checked in, and Jordan Clarkson and Ariel Hukporti both got some burn.
The Knicks leaned on interior scoring and ball pressure, scoring 20 points in the paint, grabbing three offensive rebounds, and forcing five steals, but they struggled from deep (1-for-7). Minnesota shot more efficiently overall and from three, dished out nine assists, and led for 71% of the quarter. At the break, after eight lead changes, Minny held a 31-28 point advantage.
All hands on deck! To start the second, Mike Brown inserted sophomore Kevin McCullar, Jr., playing the seventh game of his career. His four minutes will not be recognized in Springfield. Meanwhile, Kolek’s shots were falling a little short, indicating that his legs were faltering. Around the eight-minute mark, Pacome Dadiet replaced him on the floor, playing just his 11th game of the season (he’s averaging 2.5 MPG).
Bones Hyland’s mini-flurry of threes flipped the quarter from a manageable deficit to teetering on getting ugly early. The Wolves went ahead by 16, their largest lead so far. KAT, Hart, and Clarkson stepped into the void, linking up like Voltron to score 10 unanswered points and trim their deficit to five.
Edwards cooked Clarkson for a 19-foot jumper; Bridges responded with a trey. Edwards missed, and a Dadiet rebound became a Hart-assisted three-pointer by Clarkson. New York was knocking on the door, down one point, but a triple from Donte and a Gobert tip-in goosed the score to 58-52 at halftime.
The teams played an evenly matched first half in terms of field goal shooting and rebounding, but Minnesota controlled the flow. New York held a points-in-the-paint edge (30–22) but struggled from three (4-of-14). Minnesota made their bones beyond the arc, knocking down nine threes, and moving the ball well with 15 assists. Edwards led the home team with 18 points; for the visitors, Towns had 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting.
Besides Towns in the frontcourt, Robinson was underperforming, with two points, rebounds, and a team-worst -13 in his 14 minutes. If the Knicks pull this win out of their hat, they’ll need better play from him in the second. We can’t overlook this nifty jam, though.
Second Half
Minnesota started strong, but KAT, Kolek, Hart, and Bridges were nowhere near quitting. After falling behind by double-digits again, they clawed their way back. When KAT hit Hukporti at the rim, they’d come back to tie the game. When Hart hit a driving Bridges, they had their first lead since late in the first quarter.
After that, Edwards scored seven straight, Randle added two free throws, and took a seven-point lead in a flash.
New York kept swinging. They cut the lead to four again, thanks to another Clarkson trey and a timely jumper by Kolek.
Late in the third, though, Hart and Gorbert mixed it up. Josh beat the Frenchman to the rebound and received a shove to the floor that went uncalled. Taking exception, Josh grabbed Rudy’s leg and was whistled for a flagrant
The flagrant cost the Knicks two points. Recovering some ground, Diawara hit the fourth three-pointer of his NBA career, but Jaylen Clark hit an equally unlikely triple for the Wolves that gave them an 85-79 lead at the break.
Naz Reid started the Q4 scoring with a corner three, and the hole was nine. KAT and Bridges gave good efforts, but three straight buckets by Randle and a steal built the differential back up to 12. Turnovers (16 and counting with six minutes left) helped our heroes none at all.
While the former Knick was basking in his glory, a new Knick was chomping at the bit to prove himself. He came out of a timeout with a floater, then followed that with an ice-cold triple and his tenth rebound of the game. Randle didn’t like that and, egged on by his teammates, he hit two more buckets, both and-ones. Edwards picked Hart’s pocket for a pick-six, and that brought the difference to 16 with four minutes and change left.
Watch Randle stare down the Knicks bench after stealing a pass to KAT and running it back.
Refusing to quit, Hart hit a three-pointer to bring the score within nine. Randle answered with yet another bucket in the paint in KAT’s grill. With a little under two minutes left, Bridges missed an open-look three that would have cut the lead to eight. Edwards missed two freebies, Hart answered with a tip-in, but it was too little, too late.
Up Next
Our heroes head back to NYC so they can face the Cavs in the Christmas Day matinee. Safe travels, Knickerbockers.
* Should be one more, but the Cup final doesn’t count.
