NBA 2018-19: 3 Talking points as the Minnesota Timberwolves walk over the Sacramento Kings 132-105

In a Western Conference match, the Minnesota Timberwolves hosted the Sacramento Kings in what was a fairly one-sided game from the opening quarter.

The Wolves got a much-needed victory as they were coming off of a 4-game losing streak one of which came at the hands of the Sacramento Kings themselves. So, it was sweet revenge for them.

On the other hand, the Kings have been pretty good as of late and they have been defying the odds with a chance to qualify for the playoffs which was not expected of them at the start of the season.

The match had a lot of young stars to showcase in the form of De’Aaron Fox, Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins to name a few.

Fox didn’t come back after the first quarter as the Kings wanted him to rest and didn’t put too much pressure on him.

With all that in mind, let’s look at top three takeaways.

---

#3 Complete team performance from the Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves

The team from Minnesota has been pretty much forgettable as of late. But just when things started to look dark and gloomy for them, the whole team came up to the rescue.

It was a total team effort in the annihilation of their western conference rivals Sacramento Kings. All their starters scored in double figures and 4 bench players also came up with double-digit scoring numbers of their own.

They needed this kind of a boost and they got it at the right time, especially after losing Jimmy Butler.

The total assault on Sacramento was led by their veteran Derrick Rose who had 13 points and 11 assists. This year has been a year of change for Rose as he is showing signs of the MVP Derrick Rose and hopefully he keeps building up momentum from performances like these.

#2 The parity in rebounding

Karl-Anthony Towns was very dominant on the boards

The Timberwolves outrebounded the Sacramento Kings 38-59 in what was a total effort from their side, or a lack of it from the Kings.

The charge on the boards was led by their best player and one of the most promising young talents Karl-Anthony Towns.

They got a lot of second-chance points as well, thanks to the 12 offensive rebounds they collected in the King’s territory.

When it comes to rebounding efforts of both the teams throughout the season both of them are tied at 18 out of the whole 30 teams.

This is nothing to be proud of. Both the teams should pump themselves up on the boards. And hopefully, this is a sign of positive things to come on the front of the Timberwolves. As for the Kings are concerned, they need to be more focused and put in more effort. They can’t let the opposition dominate in their own half. That’s completely unacceptable.

#1 Unselfish effort from the Timberwolves as they rack up 37 assists

Derrick Rose

In what was probably the best team performance from the Minnesota Timberwolves throughout the season, they racked up season-high 37 assists.

This is no minor feat from a team who had forgotten to play in the past 4 games and looked lost and out. They showed a lot of amazing plays and came up with a much needed victory.

Derrick Rose led the charge for them with 11 assists in just 24 minutes. Tyus Jones also came off the bench and got 10 dimes of his own. This team play made sure that Minnesota took high quality, easy shots and had a direct impact on their field goal percentage. They shot 50% from the field and 37% from the 3-point line, which is very respectable and shows why they got such an easy victory today.

In their next match-up, the Timberwolves will host the Detroit Pistons while the Sacramento Kings will host the Oklahoma City Thunder in an effort to get back to winning ways.