BONES HYLAND scored 23 points and Jaden McDaniels finished with 19 to lead the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves to a 102-92 victory over the Boston Celtics on Sunday night.
Rudy Gobert added nine points and 14 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who won in Boston for the first time since 2005. Minnesota also received 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists from Ayo Dosunmu.
Minnesota outscored Boston, 26-15, in the final quarter, even though the Celtics scored the game’s final six points.
Jaylen Brown led Boston with 29 points and seven rebounds. Jayson Tatum added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Celtics, who shot 35.8% from the field (34 of 95). The loss ended Boston’s four-game winning streak.
Minnesota’s Naz Reid returned to the court after missing the last two games with a right ankle sprain and had 11 points and seven rebounds.
A 9-0 run gave Boston an early 11-2 lead. Despite going one of nine from 3-point territory in the opening quarter, the Celtics led 23-14 after 12 minutes.
The Timberwolves trailed by 15 in the second quarter, but Dosunmu capped a 14-4 run with a 3-pointer that cut Boston’s lead to 33-28 with 6:59 left in the first half. Another Dosunmu 3-pointer tied the game, and a Dosunmu layup gave Minnesota its first lead at 35-33.
The Timberwolves outscored the Celtics, 33-21, in the second quarter and led 47-44 at halftime thanks to a Hyland 3-pointer in the final second of the half.
Boston scored the first 11 points in the third quarter to take a 55-47 lead. Tatum scored seven of the 11 points in the run after going scoreless in the first half. The Celtics were up 77-76 after three quarters.
KNICKS BEAT WIZARDS
Karl-Anthony Towns posted a 26-point, 16-rebound double-double and seven Knicks scored in double figures as New York rolled to its sixth straight win with a 145-113 rout of the sputtering Washington Wizards on Sunday.
The Knicks (47-25) rebounded from an anemic offensive effort their last time out in a 93-92 win on Friday over Brooklyn, pouncing on the Wizards early en route to 68 first-half points and their second-highest scoring game of the season.
Washington (16-55) was already short-handed due to a spat of injuries, and was also down starting forward Justin Champagnie on Sunday for his involvement in an altercation in the Wizards’ loss to Oklahoma City.
Still, the visitors briefly forced a tie early in the second quarter when Sharife Cooper — playing on a two-way contract — connected on a 3-pointer. The 38-38 stalemate was short-lived, with New York going on a 16-2 run.
New York spread its scoring evenly among a corps of Towns, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges.
The Knicks’ trio of Villanova products — Brunson, Hart and Bridges — finished with 23, 16 and 14 points. Hart added six rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals. — Reuters
