Sizzling Timberwolves beat Spurs without needing a single offensive rebound

After Jaylen Nowell finished his postgame on-court interview, he took his headset off and turned to head for the locker room.

Anthony Edwards wouldn't let him leave, at least not before Edwards enveloped Nowell in a large embrace. Shortly thereafter, the two leading scorers for the Wolves on Wednesday headed back to the Target Center locker room all smiles.

Edwards was the man who ignited the Timberwolves' 134-122 victory over the Spurs by catching fire from three-point range early on his way to 34 points and nine assists. Nowell was the one who helped close it by scoring 15 of his 23 points in the second half, eight in a fourth-quarter burst that got some in the crowd chanting "Jay-len, Jay-len."

That was a far cry from the boos that cascaded down Monday.

"Right after the game they had me put the headphones on [for an interview] and I was like he's the best scorer on the team by far," Edwards said of Nowell. "He's incredible to watch, man. It's must-see TV with him for sure."

Unlike Monday, the Wolves gave their fans a reason to keep their TVs turned on. They found a cure to the woeful transition defense that plagued them in Monday's debacle — hit a lot of shots.

Two nights after the Spurs ran them off the floor, the Wolves were effective in one important way at limiting a team's transition chances. They hit 65% from the floor and 59% (20-for-34) from three-point range. The Wolves hit so many shots — and were so focused on getting back in transition — they didn't record a single offensive rebound. The Spurs had just six fast-break points.

"It shows us what we're capable of doing when we keep giving ourselves to the system, keep giving ourselves to the offense," coach Chris Finch said.

Edwards started hot with five first-quarter three-pointers. Then Nowell provided a sterling late barrage of bucket-getting that included a thunderous dunk over San Antonio center Jakob Poeltl, a dunk that got the crowd chanting his name.

"I didn't think I was going to finish over him," Nowell said. "So I had to move it to the side a little bit, and you know, I got there. It was dope."

Nowell has taken and run with the expanded role Malik Beasley left behind after the team traded him to Utah. Nowell is averaging 16.2 points through five games. He hasn't averaged more than nine per game in his previous three seasons.

"This whole offseason I've been just working, working, working knowing that my opportunity was gonna come, and here we are," Nowell said.

In between Edwards and Nowell, there was Jaden McDaniels, who scored 20 points on 8-for-9 shooting. Karl-Anthony Towns added 21 after not scoring in the first quarter.

Wednesday was a time for the Wolves to turn the page after a distressing Monday and an awkward 48 hours in which social media latched on to a clip of Towns criticizing some of Edwards' off-court dietary choices.

Towns further addressed the situation by complimenting Edwards at length after the game.

"He's upgraded his professionalism to another level, multiple levels over," Towns said. "And he's one of the best teammates you could ask for, especially when he's that talented."

Edwards said he wasn't bothered by Towns' initial remarks.

"I ain't even pay it no attention. I ain't even worried about it," Edwards said.

Instead, Edwards was smiling after ward and joking about giving McDaniels a late turnover as the clock was running out by passing him the ball.

The Wolves won, that's what mattered most.

"I think we got to take a couple punches in the face to realize that we need to come out like that all the time," Edwards said. "That punch that we took vs. San Antonio the first game kind of woke us up."