MINNEAPOLIS — Rudy Gobert spent the second half of Saturday's game on the bench, out of action with right groin soreness. Jaden McDaniels was limited by foul trouble much of the night. The Timberwolves were playing Cleveland, one of the Eastern Conference's best teams, on the second half of a back-to-back.
None of that mattered.
Getting 26 points from Anthony Edwards, 17 from Naz Reid and 16 from Jaylen Nowell, holding Cavs star Donovan Mitchell in check, the Wolves dug deep into their rotation, winning, 110-102, at Target Center.
The win — their second straight and sixth in seven games — evened Minnesota's record at 22-22. The Cavs, playing the final game of their five-game road trip, went home 27-17.
In one of their most impressive stretches of the season, the Wolves went from down 14 with 8:23 left in the third quarter to up 11 on Reid's dunk with 5:13 left in the game. That's a 48-23 run over 15 1/2 minutes, completely taking control of the game. The lead eventually grew to 13.
Edwards hit 6 of 8 shots and had 14 points in the first quarter, which ended with the Wolves up two. The game was tied at 34 early in the second when the teams alternated runs. A 12-3 Cleveland run put the Cavs up nine on Garland's basket. The Wolves then scored the next 10 points to take a 47-46 lead on Reid's hook shot with 2:14 left in the half.
But the Cavs finished the half 8-2 to go up five.
That 8-2 run became a 19-6 run when the Cavs opened the second half on an 11-4 run to take a 67-53 lead 4-plus minutes into the third quarter.
That's when everything changed.
The Wolves scored 28 points off 18 Cleveland turnovers. A collection of Wolves defenders helped keep Mitchell to 14 points on 5-for-16 shooting.
Wolves reserves scored 56 points.
Cleveland was led by Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, who scored 19 points each.
