Minnesota Timberwolves vs New York Knicks Match Player Stats On Feb 22, 2019

Reserve Derrick Rose scored 20 points Friday night as the Minnesota Timberwolves overcame the absence of All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns to earn a 115-104 victory over the New York Knicks, whose team-record home losing streak reached 18 games.

Towns was placed in the NBA's concussion protocol before the game and missed the first game of his four-year career. He was involved in a traffic accident in the Minneapolis area Thursday when he was headed to the airport.

Towns was examined before the Wolves traveled, and he attended the game. Interim head coach Ryan Saunders said pregame that Towns was in good spirits, but it was unknown if Towns would play Saturday at Milwaukee.

Taj Gibson started for Towns and added 19 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota, which shot 46.6 percent from the field. Andrew Wiggins contributed 17 as the Wolves won a third straight game for the second time under Saunders, who replaced Tom Thibodeau last month.

The Knicks tied the 2013-14 Philadelphia 76ers for the second-longest home skid in NBA history. New York also lost for the 19th time in its last 20 games overall.

Rookies Damyean Dotson and Allonzo Trier scored 20 points each for the Knicks, who shot 42.5 percent on field-goal attempts and committed 20 turnovers.

Dotson hit five 3-pointers and scored 18 points as the Knicks shot 52 percent to build a 33-29 lead after the first quarter.

After the slow start, Minnesota took control in the second. Anthony Tolliver's third 3-pointer gave Minnesota a 51-41 lead with 7:09 left, and the Wolves held a 66-58 lead at halftime.

Wiggins hit two 3-pointers and a jumper in the final 4:50 of the third as Minnesota took a 94-83 lead into the fourth.

The Wolves extended the lead to 105-88 on a basket by Luol Deng but missed six of their next seven shots and New York went on a 13-2 run to get within 109-101 on a layup by Emmanuel Mudiay with four minutes left. Minnesota finally secured the win when Gibson hit a layup with 3:14 left to make it 113-101.

--Field Level Media