Andrew Wiggins scored a career-high 47 points to help the Minnesota Timberwolves rout the Los Angeles Lakers 125-99. Wiggins' previous career-high was 36 points. He is only the 13th player in Timberwolves history to eclipse the 40-point mark.
It was a battle of two up and coming teams who have a very young roster. The Wolves featured Wiggins, Karl Anthony-Towns, Ricky Rubio and Kris Dunn. The Lakers had Jordan Clarkson, D'Angelo Russel, Julius Randle, Larry Nance Jr., and Brandon Ingram.
The Wolves got schooled by the Los Angeles Clippers the last time out so they had to make a comeback win. However, they had to do it without Shabazz Napier, Brandon Rush and Zach Lavine who are out with injuries. "Shabazz was out, Rush was out, Zach was out," said Wiggins. "Coach told me to be more aggressive and I just went for it."
Andrew Wiggins was aggressive from the get-go. He scored 25 of his 47 in the first half and got to the line often. He has always been an abled scorer. This season, he has shown significant improvement on his ballhandling and shooting. He used his ball handling, strength and athleticism against the Lakers and the referees often blew their whistles.
The Lakers got called for 31 fouls and couldn't get into a rhythm. The Wolves shot 42 free throw attempts, 22 of which came from Wiggins. Timofey Mozgov fouled out of the game in just under 15 minutes.
Other players also stepped up for the Wolves in the Win. Nemanja Bjelica was inserted into the starting lineup with LaVine out. He was able to notch 24 points and grab eight boards. Karl Anthony-Towns had a rough night offensively but still managed to tally a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds. And Ricky Rubio managed to score 10 points and dish out 10 assists.
The Lakers played their third road game in four nights. Lakers head coach hinted that fatigue may have been a factor in their loss. "There aren't many teams that go three (games) in four nights on the road and can bring it on the last night," said Walton.
