Karl-Anthony Towns was an unstoppable force on both ends of the floor Sunday night as the Wolves topped the Heat in Miami, 113-104.
Towns finished with 34 points, 18 rebounds, seven assists, six blocks and three steals before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. The big man hit 12-of-24 shots, including a trio of 3-points, and 10 of his 18 rebounds were offensive.
“It was a monster game in every aspect,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said of Towns.
According to the Associated Press, the only other player in NBA history with as many points, rebounds, assists and blocks in a game is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who put up 35 points, 19 rebounds, nine assists and eight rebounds for the Lakers against Phoenix on Nov. 14, 1975.
Karl-Anthony Towns joins @MarneyGellner after his monster game.@Holla_At_Rob33 was there to cool him off 😂 pic.twitter.com/TWviUn9u0c
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) December 31, 2018
Minnesota played without Jeff Teague and Derrick Rose, both battling ankle injuries, so Tyus Jones stepped into the starting lineup and produced 12 points, four rebounds, five assists and five steals in 36 minutes.
Robert Covington added 16 points, Taj Gibson scored 14 and Andrew Wiggins and Dario Saric each scored 13.
Wiggins, who called out fans in Minnesota’s home loss to the Hawks on Friday, had another rough night shooting the ball, hitting on just 5-of-16 attempts. He’s shooting a career-low 40.1 percent from the field this season.
The victory gets the Wolves to 17-19 on the season, good for 12th in the Western Conference. But they’re only 2 1/2 games out of eighth place and seven games behind the Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets (23-11).
Minnesota has a flight to New Orleans Sunday night before taking on Anthony Davis and the Pelicans on New Year’s Eve. The game starts at 5:10 p.m.
