MINNEAPOLIS — If you had turned off Wednesday's 124-104 Timberwolves victory over the woebegone Lakers in the second quarter when they were up 25 and only looked at the final score, you might not have known there were a few happenings in between.
In the first half, Patrick Beverley was firing up the crowd during dead balls and Anthony Edwards was putting on a show with 20 second-quarter points. The celebration was getting an early start.
But the Wolves would lose focus for about 15 game minutes, and Los Angeles trimmed that lead all the way to four, but the Wolves snapped back out of their stupor just in time to make one final push to get the Lakers out the door with a loss.
Karl-Anthony Towns again navigated foul trouble but stayed out of it when the Wolves needed him to in the fourth quarter as he spearheaded the tension-relieving run. Towns followed up his 60-point performance Monday with 30 points, 16 in the fourth, while Edwards had 27. Towns was 13-for-13 from the foul line after re-adjusting his routine prior to Friday's game against Orlando. Beverley added 18. LeBron James finished with 19 for the Lakers.
Los Angeles came into Wednesday night in a state of disarray with Anthony Davis still working his way back from a foot sprain. They were 3-11 in their last 14. As a team, the Lakers were 0-for-10 from three-point range in the first quarter and just 2-for-21 in the first half.
The Wolves didn't get going right away as they committed seven first-quarter turnovers, but Patrick Beverley helped them wake up from their initial offensive slumber with nine first-quarter points. Foul trouble had plagued Towns recently and he picked up two offensive fouls in the first 4 minutes, 25 seconds. The Wolves led 31-17 after the first quarter. The only blemish they had was seven first-quarter turnovers.
Edwards was quiet initially and didn't have his first basket until 1:31 remaining in the first, when he hit a jumper over James. That was his warmup.
He erupted in the second, and the Wolves lead expanded to as much as 25. As Edwards has battled knee issues, his three-point percentage has taken a hit. Over his last 10 games, which includes games before and after he sat for four nights, Edwards was shooting just 29% from three-point range.
Edwards canned all five of his three-point attempts in the second quarter, including a stepback three in front of Westbrook late in the quarter as the Wolves led 67-46 by halftime.
The Wolves needed Edwards' production because Towns had picked up his third foul with 4:26 left.
Their lead started to dwindle in the third as Towns picked up foul No. 4 and Los Angeles finally hit some shots from outside. An 8-0 Lakers run prompted a timeout from Chris Finch as Los Angeles cut the lead to 13. The Lakers would get as close as nine multiple times in the quarter as they went 6-for-15 from three-point range in the quarter. The Wolves got careless with another four turnovers and shot just 7-for-26 for the quarter.
The nervous energy kept going in the fourth as Towns re-entered the game. Los Angeles opened by scoring eight of the first 11 points in the quarter and cutting Minnesota's lead to four, 89-85.
The Wolves finally re-focused. Taurean Prince canned a pair of threes while Jaylen Nowell got one to bounce high off the rim and through the net. Towns stayed on the floor and muscled his way inside and drained another three as Minnesota pushed its lead back to 16 and then back into the 20s. Between the second quarter and the, there was just a small bump in the road.
