Towns-led Wolves devour Warriors; Raptors slay struggling Nets

MANILA, Philippines – Karl-Anthony Towns dropped 39 points to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 129-114 rout of the Golden State Warriors at the Target Center in Minneapolis on Tuesday (Wednesday, Manila time).

With Towns leading the pack, the Wolves drubbed the Warriors as they led comfortably for most of the 48 minutes.

Offense was humming for Minnesota as three different players finished with at least 20 points.

Playing supporting role to Towns was D'Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley with 22 and 20 points, respectively, to help send the Warriors to their sixth loss in their last eight games.

Stephen Curry finished with 34 points for the Warriors but struggled from rainbow country as he went 5-for-16 from the area.

The Wolves thus improved to 34-29 while the Warriors slipped to 43-19.

Elsewhere, the Toronto Raptors welcomed fans back to the Scotiabank Arena with a cardiac 109-108 win over the Brooklyn Nets.

Scottie Barnes finished with a double-double of 18 points and 10 boards to help the Raptors snatch their second win over the Nets in just as many days.

Without their star players, it was James Johnson and Seth Curry who paced the Nets in the loss with 19 and 18 points, respectively.

The Nets absorbed their fourth loss in five games as they continue to free fall in the Eastern Conference standings.

In other games, the Los Angeles Clippers took their fourth win in a row at the expense of the Houston Rockets, 113-100.

Ivica Zubac was the top performer for the Clippers with 22 points and 12 rebounds.

For their part, the Boston Celtics leaned on Jayson Tatum's 33 points to win over the Atlanta Hawks at home, 107-98.

The Washington Wizards, meanwhile, edged the Detroit Pistons, 116-113.

Kyle Kuzma finished with an all-around game with 21 points, nine boards and six dimes.

In the last game of the day, the Los Angeles Lakers suffered a tough loss at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks, 109-104.

After battling back from 21 points down, the Lakers lost steam at the tail-end of the final salvo as they gave up an 11-0 run to the Mavs that turned a six-point deficit into a five-point lead, 105-100.

Dallas, led by Luka Doncic's 25 points, thus sent the Lakers reeling to their third straight defeat.