Though the New Orleans Pelicans suffered a heartbreaking 121-120 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Aussie young gun Dyson Daniels continues to shine in a bigger role.
Daniels registered 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting with one triple, five rebounds, six assists and one steal in a season-high 37 minutes as the Pelicans’ starting point guard.
Currently seeing extra minutes due to CJ McCollum’s lung injury, the 20-year old got even more opportunities with Zion Williamson managed in Sunday’s game (all times AEDT).
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It allowed Daniels a few more touches on the offensive end as he again showed improvement at that end of the floor with his ball handling and a range of crafty floaters inside the paint.
It also marked five-straight games with double-figure scoring for Daniels, who’s averaged 13.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and five assists in those five starts.
A contest that went down the wire, Daniels was tasked with manning Karl Anthony-Towns inside the last 10 seconds of the game while the Pelicans were up 120-119. The much taller Towns took it inside and scored with five seconds on the clock, and you could see how personally Daniels took it despite defending as well as he could’ve.
New Orleans had one last chance at the other end of the floor to win the game, with Brandon Ingram dribbling inside but missing the mid-range shot as the buzzer sounded.
It snapped a two-game losing streak for the Pelicans, who were on the second end of a back-to-back after defeating defending champion Denver on Saturday in New Orleans.
Ingram (30 points) and Jonas Valanciunas (26 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks) led the way for Willie Green’s side, which fell to 6-7 overall on the side.
The much-improved Timberwolves meanwhile won their eighth game from their last nine to improve to 9-3 on the season and move into equal-first in the Western Conference standings.
Towns was busy with 29 points, six rebounds and nine assists, Rudy Gobert chipped in a double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds) with two blocks and Anthony Edwards added 23 points.
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