National Basketball Association
Minnesota 121, Charlotte 99
When: 7:00 PM ET, Friday, October 25, 2019
Where: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, North Carolina
Officials: #41 Ken Mauer, #37 Eric Dalen, #67 Brandon Adair
Attendance: 14879

Karl-Anthony Towns poured in 37 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves posted their second road victory to begin the season by defeating the Charlotte Hornets 121-99 on Friday night.

Towns, who had a game-high 15 rebounds and eight assists, made 13 of 18 shots from the field, but he left some points out there with his 7-for-13 shooting on free throws.

Andrew Wiggins' 16 points and Josh Okogie's 14 points gave a boost to the Timberwolves, who won their first game in overtime at Brooklyn. Jake Layman and Treveon Graham each scored 12 points.

Minnesota's 45-25 third-quarter advantage blew the game open.

Towns did all his scoring prior to the two-minute mark of the third quarter.

Devonte Graham had his second big game off the bench for Charlotte, scoring 24 points. Miles Bridges posted 17 points while Terry Rozier had 11 points and 10 assists for the Hornets.

Both teams won their openers by one point two nights earlier.

Other than Towns, the rest of the Timberwolves combined to shoot 16-for-18 from the free-throw line.

The Hornets cooled off from long distance after draining 23 shots from 3-point range in the opener against the Chicago Bulls. They made their first two 3s in this game, but ended up 12-for-29.

Graham went 6-for-9 from long range.

Charlotte picked up where it left off after the sterling conclusion to its first game, racing to a 14-2 and 19-4 leads.

Minnesota was within 32-30 by the end of the first quarter. The Timberwolves led 58-56 at halftime.

The Hornets were missing starting center Cody Zeller because of personal reasons. Plus, forward Nicolas Batum suffered a fractured finger on his left hand in the opener and will be re-evaluated in a couple of weeks.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Minnesota   Charlotte
Karl-Anthony Towns 37 Scoring Devonte' Graham 24
Shabazz Napier 9 Assists Terry Rozier 10
Karl-Anthony Towns 15 Rebounds P.J. Washington Jr. 10
Karl-Anthony Towns 7 Free Throws Made Miles Bridges 4
Karl-Anthony Towns 4 Steals Cody Martin 2
Shabazz Napier 2 Blocks Caleb Martin 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Minnesota 121 47.3 12-38 23-31 30 52 6 11 17
Charlotte 99 44.0 12-29 13-26 26 42 5 6 20
Upcoming Games
  • Charlotte will play their next game on the road against L.A. Lakers. The Hornets have a W/L % of .000 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.
  • Minnesota will play their next game at home against Miami. The Timberwolves have a W/L % of 1.000 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.