Wild buzzer-beaters and a windmill dunk that will make the end-of-season NBA highlight reels fueled the energy inside Target Center Sunday night as the Minnesota Timberwolves hammered the Chicago Bulls 150-126.
The 150 points is a franchise record in a regulation game.
Anthony Edwards was electric, finishing with 37 points, 11 assists and 7 rebounds. D’Angelo Russell, in his first game back after a knee injury knocked out of two games, had 28 points and 8 assists – and was 7-of-10 from 3.
“Murder, murder, kill, kill. That’s it,” Edwards said on Bally Sports North when asked about his mindset entering the game.
Minnesota torched the nets all night. They shot 65% overall and 53.5% from 3, connecting on a season-high 23 triples.
There were three marquee highlights worth mentioning.
1. D’Angelo Russell’s 3 from the logo
Not too many players in the league playing as well within themselves as D'Angelo Russell is right now.
Professional scorer on an absolute heater so far to start this one: 17 points thanks to 5/6 shooting from 3, and has 3 AST to 0 TOs.
Masterclasspic.twitter.com/L1UD3EE5nH
— Canis Hoopus (@canishoopus) December 19, 2022
2. Anthony Edwards’ 3rd quarter buzzer-beater
ANTHONY EDWARDS ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?! #RaisedByWolves | #NBA pic.twitter.com/CuoUBHfvBA
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) December 19, 2022
3. Anthony Edwards’ windmill dunk
Windmill slam on the break from Anthony Edwards 😳 pic.twitter.com/oBmFgyDwVY
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) December 19, 2022
Minnesota played without Rudy Robert (ankle) for a second straight game and Karl-Anthony Towns remains out until sometime in January due to a right calf strain. The Wolves were also once again missing Taurean Prince (shoulder) and Jordan McLaughlin (calf).
And then they lost Naz Reid in the first half due to trapezius tightness. Reid scored Minnesota’s first 10 points of the game and was 4-of-4 shooting when he went out.
That put pressure on Nate Knight, who ran with the opportunity to the tune of 16 points in 26 minutes off the bench.
The win gets the Wolves back to .500 at 15-15 ahead of two games Monday and Wednesday against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.
