The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, 120-105, at Staples Center on Thursday.

It was a slow start for the visiting Timberwolves (24-24) on Thursday, as they went into the locker room at half time trailing a Lakers (25-24) team that was without both LeBron James (groin) and Lonzo Ball (ankle). However, after taking a narrow league into the final period, Minnesota poured it on the home team over the final 12 minutes, winning the fourth quarter, 36-23, and leaving no doubt.

Karl-Anthony Towns led the way for Minnesota with yet another double-double of 27 points and 12 rebounds in 31 minutes, while Andrew Wiggins was close behind with 23 points of his own on top of eight rebounds in 37 minutes. Additionally, with Jeff Teague (foot) out of the lineup, Jared Bayless saw 30 minutes at point guard off the bench and put together an impressive performance, as he finished with 16 points and eight rebounds in 30 minutes as a reserve.

As for the Lakers, the loss was their third in a row as they continue to slid out of the playoff picture without James. All five starters scored in double figures, with Brandon Ingram's 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting leading the way, but the team as a whole couldn't buy a shot from behind the arc (shooting 28.6 percent) or take care of the basketball (19 turnovers). Kyle Kuzma, who was been a reliable offensive option as of late, really struggled to get anything going on that end of the floor, as he shot 0-of-4 from three and 4-of-12 overall en route to scoring just 10 points in 28 minutes.

With this win, Minnesota took a 2-1 lead in the season series between these two teams.