Minnesota Timberwolves guard Tyus Jones, left, shoots as New Orleans Pelicans forward Darius Miller, right,defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Dec. 31, 2018, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) (Butch Dill — AP/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

NEW ORLEANS – One residual effect of not having Jeff Teague and Derrick Rose in the lineup has been Tyus Jones getting major minutes with the starters.

Jones looked the part of a starting guard Monday despite the Wolves falling to the Pelicans 123-114. In 38 minutes, Jones scored 15 points on 6 of 11 shooting and dished out 13 assists. That followed a game in Miami in which he scored 12 points and added five assists.

"I felt great," Jones said. "Continue to just try to make the right reads, the right plays and just play my game. Just continue to do so whether that's shooting, playing off of other guys, getting certain guys going, no matter what it is, make sure we're in the best position to try to win the game."

Thibodeau said both Teague and Rose were doing better but didn't have a timetable for their return. The Wolves play again Wednesday in Boston. Backing up Jones was Jerryd Bayless, who went scoreless for the second consecutive game in second-string point guard duty.
Letting up?
Human nature might have crept in on the Wolves Monday when they learned Pelicans center Anthony Davis was going to be out because of an illness, but the Wolves insisted Davis' absence didn't affect how they approached the Pelicans.

"Everybody is in the NBA for a reason," forward Taj Gibson said. "The game changes the way the scouting report comes out because you never know who's going to have a big night."

That player was Julius Randle, who scored a game high 33 points while Darius Miller added 21 off the bench.

"We knew it wasn't going to be an easy game regardless even though he wasn't playing," Jones said. "But we still came out and got ourselves into to big of a hole and made it much more tougher on us to get back in the game, even though we did so. We made it tougher on ourselves."
Towns meets Jabbar again
Karl-Anthony Towns finished with a stat line of 28 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and five block shots. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Towns is the second player to record consecutive games of more than 25 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and five blocks since Kareem Abdul Jabbar did it four times in 1973-74. This comes after Towns had a line in Sunday's win over Miami (34 points, 18 rebounds, seven assists and six blocked shots) that only Jabbar equaled in a game.