MINNEAPOLIS -- The veteran Los Angeles Clippers played their physical style and tried to muscle the young Minnesota Timberwolves.

Minnesota responded with its own edge, turning the tables on Los Angeles with a strong defensive performance and by showing its continued growth.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 29 points and 14 rebounds for the Timberwolves, and Ricky Rubio added 15 points and 12 assists as Minnesota beat the Clippers 107-91 on Wednesday night.

Andrew Wiggins scored 20 points for the Timberwolves, who won for the third time in four games and beat Los Angeles for the second time this season. Minnesota's Shabazz Muhammad added 17 points in a spot start.

"You know, those guys tried to bully us, and we stood up," Muhammad said. "It got kind of chippy, but we stayed composed, and that was a big thing for us."

DeAndre Jordan had 20 points and 13 rebounds for Los Angeles. Blake Griffin added 16 points, but Chris Paul scored just seven points on 3-of-9 shooting as the Clippers shot 42.2 percent as a team. Paul had 10 assists.

"I thought we got wide-open shot after wide-open shot at the beginning of the game; they didn't go in and then we lost our spirit," Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers said. "I just thought we cannot allow our offense to dictate how we're going to play, and today you could see it all over the floor. Guys were missing layups, wide-open threes, wide-open shots, and you let it take your spirit away. That's what young teams do, not veteran teams."

With Towns leading the way, the Timberwolves controlled the game down low, despite the presence of Jordan and Griffin. Minnesota outscored the Clippers 62-40 in the paint and held a 50-36 rebounding advantage.

"You want to have competitive guys," Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau said. "Competition is a good thing. We should embrace that. It's great. They come at us, we got to go at them. We got to get them reacting to us."

As Minnesota tries to get into playoff position for the first time since 2004, it returned home this week for a homestand that was due to include games against the Trail Blazers, the Clippers and the Golden State Warriors. Monday's game against Portland was postponed after the court became slippery due to condensation from the ice sheet underneath the court because of unexpectedly warm temperatures.

The Wolves raced out to a 21-6 lead as the Clippers missed nine of their first 12 shots. Los Angeles climbed back in the game and got within one point early in the third quarter, yet Minnesota regained momentum each time. The Clippers' only lead of the game was 2-0.

"Offensively, when we're not scoring, we let that trickle over into our defense," Griffin said. "Early on in the season, we were kind of hanging our hat on the defense. Even if we weren't scoring, we would still get stops. We need to get back to that."

The feisty game featured plenty of back-and-forth between the teams. At one point, Griffin and Minnesota's Gorgui Dieng had to be pulled away from each other. Towns was visibly frustrated in getting called for three fouls in the first half to take him out of the game.

However, Rubio controlled the pace, Muhammad provided a spark in the third quarter with 11 points and four rebounds in the period, and the Wolves pulled away.

"We did a great job tonight of just staying disciplined," Towns said. "We had a lead and instead of giving up the lead, we held it strong. It just shows the maturity and discipline that we need to be a playoff team."

NOTES: Minnesota G Brandon Rush missed the game with an illness. Shabazz Muhammad took Rush's spot in the starting lineup. ... The Timberwolves signed G Lance Stephenson to a second-day contract earlier in the day. Stephenson was signed after recovering from an ankle injury at the end of his first 10-day contract. ... Minnesota C Karl-Anthony Towns had the 100th double-double of his career, becoming the second-youngest player in NBA history to reach the 100 mark at 21 years old and 113 days. Dwight Howard was the fastest, reaching the mark at 20 years old, 351 days. Towns had a double-double in the first half, the sixth time he did so since the All-Star break. ... Los Angeles F Marreese Speights scored 12 points off the bench, his first double-digit point performance since scoring 15 at Toronto on Feb. 6. Speights was 2 of 4 from 3-point range.