Wolves Beat Pelicans 88-77

In a game filled with injuries, including a game-time decision to sit Anthony Davis,  tonight's game between the Timberwolves and Pelicans felt a bit slower than usual.

"It's one of those games that just seemed like there was no energy in the game, anywhere," Rick Adelman said following the game. "They were short-handed but they did a nice job of controlling it, they made sure we didn't get out on any runs."

It was lethargic at both ends, but the Wolves got it done, beating the Pelicans 88-77. The win puts the Wolves at 23-22 on the year, marking their first winning record since Nov. 25.

The first half was highlighted by Kevin Love's patent-pending first half double double, finishing the half with 18 points and 10 boards. After Love, only Kevin Martin was able to get any sort of offense going, with the rest of the team shooting 5-19 from the field in the game's first 24 minutes. The two Kevin's combined for 31 of the team's first 47 points, getting no helpo from the supporting cast early on.

Even with the struggles early on, the Hornets were still without 60 percent of their starting lineup, and it showed. They trailed 47-35 at halftime.

The second half was, well,um, pretty ugly. A Wolf Among Wolves' Steve McPherson put it pretty well.

I don't know what's happening here anymore, but I don't think it's basketball.

— Steve McPherson (@steventurous) January 30, 2014

It wasn't too fun of a watch.

The Pelicans got Minnesota's lead down to 5 after the 3rd, but an 8-0 run to open the final quarter gave the Wolves enough of an advantage to put the game away. The bench played better in the second half, with Barea and Cunningham both coming away with decent showings, scoring a combined 17 points on 8-12 shooting from the field.

Overall, not a pretty game, but it got them over .500 for the first time in over 2 months. They've won 4 of 5 to get there, but their next matchup is on an even more impressive run.

"Yeah, the second half of the season will get better," Kevin Love said. "Talk is cheap, so if you go out there and prove it every single night, we have another home game here Friday, tough back to back but we just have to keep taking it day by day. If we can do that we are going to continue to get better. It took us three Wednesday's in a row but we finally did it."

To stay above .500, they'll have to face the recharged Memhpis Grizzlies. Since Marc Gasol's return to the lineup, they've gone 8-1, and have some impressive wins in that stretch (Portland, OKC, Phoenix, 2 vs Houston). It will be broadcast on FS North at 7 p.m.

Here is tonight's box score.