Timberwolves find their shooting touch in 129-117 victory over Houston

There have been few nights in the Timberwolves' first 10 games that have been free of angst.

Even in most of their wins, the Wolves have had awkward moments, especially on the offensive end, as they try to incorporate Rudy Gobert into all they do.

Saturday was one of the rare stress-free nights, as the Wolves did what they were supposed to do against the rebuilding Rockets with a 129-117 victory despite Gobert's absence due to COVID health and safety protocols.

Without Gobert, the Wolves (5-5) had one of their smoothest nights on offense, shooting 61%. It would be tempting to say that because Gobert was not on the floor, the Wolves were able to play a looser and freer brand of basketball than they have for most of this season, but they were also playing the Rockets, who are 1-9.

Coach Chris Finch also threw water on the idea that Gobert's absence correlated to the better offense. To him, the Wolves were already trending in a positive direction after Friday's loss to Milwaukee.

"Rudy's absence had zero to do with our performance here in any way shape or form," Finch said. "Offensively we were starting to move the ball really well [Friday]. We just have to do it multitude of times and then I think Rudy will be the beneficiary of that ball movement, too."

Karl-Anthony Towns played center most of the night and had 25 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Seven players scored in double figures for the Wolves, with Anthony Edwards adding 19 and Kyle Anderson, who started for Gobert, scoring 16.

Jordan McLaughlin again paced the Wolves off the bench with six points and 11 assists.

The night led to a happy Wolves locker room, and especially a happy Edwards given that he usually struggles on the tail end of back to backs.

As McLaughlin was addressing the media, Edwards crept up behind McLaughlin's right ear to whisper, "I beat you, J-Mac. Plus-20 in the plus-minus." McLaughlin leads the Wolves in plus-minus for the season.

The Wolves blew open the game late in the second and pushed their lead to 19 by the half with a small lineup that featured McLaughlin, Jaden McDaniels, Taurean Prince, Anderson and Edwards. McLaughlin had seven assists during the half. They led by as much as 24 in the second half before coasting to the finish line.

"It's obviously great we won. But obviously we're missing big fella," Towns said. "There's a lot of things we got to work out as a team. We need him to work those little things out. But it's good that we're building that confidence and we know what Rudy is going to provide for us offensively."

Saturday also represented a step in the right direction for D'Angelo Russell, who went 5-for-9 and scored 13 points.

Despite shooting over 50%, Russell said he still felt like he was in his shooting slump.

"I'm still trying to get out of it," he said.

Finch said after Tuesday's game he sensed Russell's confidence might be slumping. Russell said he learned in his rookie season from Lakers legend Kobe Bryant not to lose faith in his shot.

When Bryant was going through some struggles in Russell's rookie season with Los Angeles, Russell encouraged him to keep shooting.

"He looked at me and laughed, like, 'It's my last year. You don't think I'm going to keep shooting?' So, I learned that from him," Russell said. "Just keep going, it will make its way, keep playing right."

That's the mantra the Wolves have adopted early in the season, despite the outside noise that the Gobert experiment with Towns might not work.

"It takes time. If anyone knows it takes time to win, it's been me. I've been in Minnesota eight years now. I've seen it take a lot of time to see some wins happen," Towns said. "Things just don't happen overnight."