D’Angelo Russell responded to criticism of his slow start in a big way as he hit 11-of-12 shots and scored 30 points to go along with 12 assists in the Timberwolves’ 129-124 win in Cleveland Sunday night.
But it wasn’t a gimme. Minnesota led by 22 points with 10 minutes to go and somehow the Cavaliers found themselves down by only two points with 30 seconds to go.
The Cavs were without starters Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen, both dealing with ankle injuries. Without them, Minnesota led by as many as 24 points and held a 22-point lead – 106-84 – with 10 minutes to play. That’s when Darius Garland went bonkers.
Garland scored 26 of his 51 points in the fourth quarter, including a floater in the lane and then one of his ten 3-pointers to cut Minnesota’s lead to 124-122 with 30 seconds to play.
A missed 3 by Anthony Edwards wound up in the hands of Taurean Prince for an offensive rebound with 14 seconds left. He was fouled and made both free throws to boost the lead to 126-122.
A pair of free throws from Garland made it 126-124 with 8.3 seconds on the clock.
Russell was then fouled with 6.5 seconds left and missed the first and made the second. But Kevin Love threw away the inbound pass and Prince was fouled again, at which point he hit both free throws to seal the deal.
Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 29 points and 13 rebounds and Rudy Gobert had 15 points and 12 rebounds, marking the first time this season both 7-footers had a double-double in the same game.
Edwards scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds. He was 5-of-13 shooting including 0-of-3 from deep. Prince had 19 points off the bench and was 10-of-10 at the free-throw line.
Russell’s best game of the season came after back-to-back duds, including Friday night’s loss to Memphis when head coach Chris Finch benched him for the final four-plus minutes after a lackadaisical effort on the defense end. There was even talk of a possible change to the starting lineup, but Finch again rolled out Russell, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert.
The victory puts Minnesota at 6-8 this season. They continue their road trip Wednesday at Orlando.
