NEW ORLEANS – You knew the Timberwolves' 120-102 victory at New Orleans was due to change Wednesday when combustible DeMarcus Cousins unsuccessfully tried to calm mild-mannered teammate Anthony Davis.
Now in his sixth NBA season, Davis was ejected from a game for the first time, tossed with 4:11 left in the first half after he received two technical fouls within 15 seconds of each other for protesting the officiating.
The Wolves led 45-43 when Davis fouled fellow former Kentucky star Karl-Anthony Towns, or so the game officials said. Before the hometown crowd stopped booing Davis' departure, the Wolves scored the next 12 points to take a 14-point lead with 2:21 remaining before halftime and the Pelicans never pulled closer than nine points again.
"Basketball is an emotional, passionate game," Timberwolves young star Andrew Wiggins said, "so anything can happen."
And almost everything did Wednesday, when the Wolves recovered from Tuesday's fourth-quarter failing in a home loss to Washington and won at New Orleans for the second time in 29 days.
They did so by moving and sharing the ball among seven players, led by Wiggins' 28-point night, scoring in double digits even though Towns didn't play many more minutes than Davis did because of persistent foul trouble.
They did so with resiliency and purpose on the second night of back-to-back games, after their five starters had played anywhere from 37½ minutes to nearly 41 minutes against the Wizards.
And they did so by exploiting Davis' absence, using that ensuing 12-0 to outscore New Orleans 34-20.