CLEVELAND — Robert Covington scored 24 points, Karl-Anthony Towns added 21 and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 102-95 on Monday night.

Minnesota is 6-2 since trading disgruntled star Jimmy Butler to Philadelphia two weeks ago and 10-11 overall. The latest win was its second in 10 road games this season.

Derrick Rose came off the bench to score 10 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter. Towns hit two baskets in the final two minutes, including a fadeaway jumper on the baseline, after Cleveland cut the lead to 91-86.

Cleveland beat Philadelphia and Houston last week for its first back-to-back wins of the season, but couldn’t make it three straight.

Kyle Korver scored 22 points, including six 3-pointers for Cleveland. Rodney Hood added 20 points and Tristan Thompson had 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Covington bounced back from a horrendous game Saturday against Chicago when he scored four points, was 1 of 18 from the field and 0 of 10 on 3-pointers. He was 8 of 12 from the field and hit 4 of 7 3-pointers Monday.

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Towns turned in a highlight-worthy play in the second quarter. The 7-footer picked up an errant pass from Larry Nance Jr. near midcourt, drove around two defenders in the lane and scored on a thunderous dunk.

Andrew Wiggins scored 11 points after going 0 for 12 from the field and being held scoreless Saturday. Wiggins was 4 of 11 from the field.

The Timberwolves led 75-71 heading into the final quarter after the Cavaliers cut into a 12-point deficit. Rose hit three baskets and assisted on Covington’s 3-pointer, pushing the lead to 86-74 and prompting Cleveland Coach Larry Drew to call a timeout with 8:26 to play.

Cleveland rallied again and cut the lead to 88-84 with five minutes to play, but Rose scored in the lane and Towns hit his two big baskets.

HORNETS 110, BUCKS 107: Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb each had 21 points, and Charlotte held on to beat visiting Milwaukee after nearly squandering a 25-point, third-quarter lead.

Marvin Williams added 16 points and eight rebounds, and Tony Parker had 15 points off the bench for the Hornets, who bounced back from a loss at Atlanta on Sunday night and ended a two-game skid.

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The Bucks nearly came all the way back, cutting the lead to one with 17 seconds left on a layup by Giannis Antetokounmpo.

But Walker made two free throws with 7.1 seconds left and the Bucks failed to get off a good shot after a side inbounds, with Eric Bledsoe forced to launch an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer that hit off the glass and the rim and bounced away as time expired.

Antetokounmpo had 20 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. Bledsoe scored 17 points.

 

SPURS 108, BULLS 107: LaMarcus Aldridge scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, and San Antonio win in Chicago.

DeMar DeRozan had 21 points and Patty Mills finished with 17 as San Antonio improved to 2-1 on a four-game trip. Bryn Forbes made three of the Spurs’ 10 3-pointers on his way to 13 points.

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Chicago had two chances to go in front in the final seconds and came up empty each time. Zach LaVine was short on a 3-point try from the top of the key, and Ryan Arcidiacono missed a jumper as time expired.

WIZARDS 135, ROCKETS 131: John Wall scored a season-high 36 points, including six in overtime, and host Washington overcame James Harden’s season-best 54 points to outlast Houston.

Wall had two baskets in the extra period and finished with 11 assists. Bradley Beal equaled his season high with 32 points for the Wizards.

Otto Porter hit a runner with 4:37 to play for the first basket in overtime and the Wizards remained ahead from there. Wall followed with a jumper to make it 129-125 and later made another jumper that pushed the lead to five. Beal’s jumper extended it to 133-126 with 1:50 to play.

Harden had 44 points through three quarters but missed five of his seven shots in the fourth. In overtime, Harden whose career high is 60, was 1 of 2 from the field and had two free throws. He had 11 turnovers, three in overtime.

NOTES

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BULLS: Forward Lauri Markkanen is moving closer to his season debut after spraining his right elbow in September.

Markkanen has been cleared to “fully participate in practice” on Tuesday, Coach Fred Hoiberg said. If that goes well, a timeline for Markkanen’s return could come into focus.

“He’s passed every hurdle that he’s had, as far as being medically cleared and going out and doing the individual workouts, having a controlled contact two-on-two session and then yesterday coming and going full-court two-on-two with some of our players,” Hoiberg said before Monday night’s game.

“He felt good this morning and then went through shootaround and tomorrow will be the next test to see if he’s ready.”

The 7-foot Markkanen is perhaps the centerpiece of Chicago’s rebuilding plan, so the Bulls are looking forward to getting him back on the court. He was selected by Minnesota with the No. 7 pick in last year’s draft and then traded to Chicago in the Jimmy Butler deal. He averaged 15.2 points and 7.5 rebounds in 68 games as a rookie.

“It’s going to be a day-by-day situation,” Hoiberg said. “If he has soreness, obviously we’ll scale it back. But hopefully he feels great and keeps making progress and we can get him out on the floor soon.”

Hoiberg said the plan is to have Markkanen travel with the team on its upcoming four-game trip.

The Bulls have been riddled by injuries this year. Denzel Valentine, Kris Dunn and Bobby Portis also have missed significant time.


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