Andrew Wiggins dispels Hawks' stunning comeback against T-Wolves
There are nights when monsters refuse to go back under the bed.
Andrew Wiggins wasn't going anywhere.
The Hawks-Timberwolves storyline swung violently on multiple occasions Monday night at Philips Arena — from a clinic by the league's foremost youth movement to a near-historic comeback by the Eastern Conference powers to, in the final four minutes, an early glimpse of what a Wiggins' NBA takeover could look like one day. It's all in the cards for Minnesota, a 4-2 team composed of young standouts and well-traveled veterans, and the second-year wing's career night exemplified a future with an indefinite ceiling.
The final score was mundane. The Timberwolves capped a 117-107 road win over a one-loss Hawks team, much like the Detroit Pistons did with its young corps in Atlanta's season opener. (Some top-down perspective for the Hawks: It's taken dominant performances from up-and-coming stars Andre Drummons and Andrew Wiggins to knock Atlanta down thus far.)
The final score, however, was a lie. It wasn't a lie in the sense that the Hawks deserved to win — they buried themselves in too deep of a first-half hole and Timberwolves generally outclassed them for the better part of the game, particularly down the stretch as Atlanta ran out of gas — but it was a misleading 10-point margin for a game that quickly transformed into a up-and-down thriller.
The Hawks looked listless in the opening half. The Timberwolves didn't help matters by clicking on all cylinders. Wiggins put on a show with his post-up game, rookie Karl Anthony Towns, the No. 1 overall draft pick, was stepping out for jumpers and changing shots on the defensive end. Zach LaVine and Kevin Martin were knocking down outside shots. Even Kevin Garnett and Tayshaun Prince turned back the clock for a couple moments. Minnesota led 30-19 after the first quarter. The lead ballooned to 30 points by halftime.
If that's the Minnesota offense the NBA has to look forward to in a couple years (a group that already entered the game holding opponents to the lowest effective field-goal percentage in the league), things are going to get ugly.
Andrew Wiggins throws down the highlight � SLAM! #NBAvine https://t.co/BCm3immkVL
— NBA (@NBA) November 10, 2015
But a young team did what young teams do. To Timberwolves coach Sam Mitchell's credit, he let the chips fall, trusting that the experience will outweigh the outcome.
It's difficult to forget a 34-point comeback, after all.
Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer was less than thrilled with his team's first-half performance, but his mood was tempered by his team's showcase in the final 24 minutes. The third quarter in particular was pace-and-space basketball at warp speed. Whatever plagued Atlanta defensively was corrected — it allowed just 21 points in the third quarter — as a litany of turnovers sparked a 42-point explosion in the period.
The Hawks would eventually erase the deficit late in the fourth quarter, knotting the score at 105. They briefly held onto a one-point lead, too. Point guard Jeff Teague had been in constant attack mode (24 points) and Paul Millsap continued his do-everything start to the campaign (20 points, six assists, five rebounds) as nearly every Hawks player got in on the comeback. Eighteen minutes, 34-point deficit erased.
Mitchell played his young stars through most of the comeback. It was ugly at times, underscored by 15 second-half turnovers. Efficiency was suboptimal, at best. The Timberwolves, playing on the road in a raucous environment against an experienced team, could have rolled over right then and there. Taken their lesson the hard way. Looked back in a couple months and labeled it a quality loss.
Insert Andrew Wiggins.
With under four minutes to play, the Timberwolves turned to their emerging 6-foot-8 wing star. A night after pouring in 31 points against the Chicago Bulls, the Kansas product played with confidence throughout the night — but, more importantly, he played with aggression in crunch time.
“It started in Chicago," Mitchell said after the game. "Playing against a guy like Jimmy Butler, who made the All-Star team and plays tough, it gave Andrew some confidence, because not only did he score but he defended. Tonight it was just a carryover. He got off to such a great start shooting the ball, driving the ball. And then in that fourth quarter when we got down and it was possession-for-possession for each team, we just kept giving it to him."
The Hawks couldn't check him one-on-one, at least not on this night. Wiggins acted out accordingly. Here's a brief offensive play-by-play of Minnesota building its lead back up to 113-107 as time ran down:
— Wiggins draws a foul on Kent Bazemore, knocking one of two free throws to reclaim the lead.
— Wiggins attacks the basket with a purpose, drawing contact from Hawks center Al Horford and finishing at the rim to regain the lead, 108-107. He knocks down the subsequent free throw to make it a two-point game.
— A minute later, Wiggins hits a pull-up jumper to make it a two-possession game.
— On the very next possession, Wiggins all but ices the game with a miraculous and-one above the free-throw line, pump-faking, drawing the foul from Bazemore yet again and somehow managing to hit the midrange shot, capping his night with a career-high 33 points.
In the end, it's a result the Timberwolves should be thrilled with and the Hawks can live with. Sometimes monsters refuse to be contained.
