Knicks Falter on the Road Again, Losing to the Timberwolves

MINNEAPOLIS — Karl-Anthony Towns found Timberwolves teammate Nemanja Bjelica cutting for a layup on one trip down the floor in the fourth quarter, and later hit an open Bjelica for a 3-pointer and a double-digit lead.

Towns on the floor with four reserves to start the fourth was the right mix against the Knicks on Friday night, as Minnesota continued its impressive homestand.

Towns fell one assist shy of his second career triple-double, scoring 23 points and grabbing 15 rebounds in the Timberwolves’ 118-108 victory.

“I think we just have a good chemistry right now,” Towns said. “We know where people are going to be. We’re doing a great job of putting ourselves in spots that we know the person dribbling or facilitating the ball is comfortable getting into them.”

The Timberwolves shot 56.7 percent (38 of 67) over the final three quarters to come from behind and win their fourth game in a row and 11th of 14 overall.

Minnesota had eight players score in double figures to win its fourth straight game by at least 10 points, the second-longest streak in team history behind a six-game stretch in 2001.

Kristaps Porzingis scored 17 points for the Knicks, going 3 of 5 from 3-point territory but 3 of 14 from inside the arc. Enes Kanter had his 18th double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but the Knicks (19-23) lost for the ninth time in 11 games.

“We got to be better in these bad moments like we had in today’s game,” Porzingis said. “We got to fix those.” He added: “We’re not too far off. We’re in a bad moment right now, but we’re going to get ourselves out of it.”

The Knicks, 4-15 on the road this season, entered the night with the league’s fewest 3-point attempts, but went 12 of 24.

Tim Hardaway Jr. returned for the Knicks after missing 20 games with a stress injury in his lower left leg. He scored 16 points in 25 minutes off the bench. Coach Jeff Hornacek said Hardaway would play limited minutes in a reserve role as he tries to build up stamina.

“He looked out of sync,” Hornacek said. “You could tell he doesn’t have the speed that he had earlier on. That’s going to take a little while.”

In his first year back with the Knicks after a signing a four-year, $71 million contract in the off-season, Hardaway entered the night averaging 17.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 21 games.