When LeBron James attempted to drive on Karl-Anthony Towns during the first quarter on Monday, Towns blocked the shot as if it was a troll on Twitter.

He then flexed and shouted for the crowd, swollen veins everywhere.

Moments later, after Towns stole the ball away from James' pass, Jeff Teague knocked him off for a dunk in transition. The veins in his neck and arms swelled to the point of coming out of his skin during this subsequent flex for the crowd.

The Wolves who played in Monday's game against LeBron James and the Lakers were not the same passionate as those who let the Bucks run on them on Friday, or the same disengaged cities.

After the loss, coach Tom Thibodeau spoke of the need to avoid the human tendency to let the drama around Jimmy Butler's request crumble to the ground. For the night, it seemed like the wolves played without distraction – and the distraction was the catalyst. The Wolves beat the Lakers 124-120 behind a superb fourth quarter by Butler, who had five three-point points, including the proverbial dagger to give the Wolves five points with 18.8 seconds to go. Butler finished with 32 points on an effective shot of 12 against 20, while Towns had perhaps his best game of the season with 25 points, 16 rebounds and six assists.

The Wolves had a 119-109 lead in the fourth quarter, but saw their lead drop to 119-117 with a time remaining at 1: 18 before Butler's last 3-pointer night scorer helped the Wolves to avoid a return, while James led the Lakers with 29 points.

If you like fast and fast basketball, Monday was for you. The Wolves and Lakers registered as two of the fastest teams in the league and they seemed to play sometimes at an extreme speed. Each marked at will – and quickly – the end of opening.

The Wolves replayed without Andrew Wiggins, who missed his third consecutive game due to a contusion on the right quad, but with rookie Josh Okogie taking another start, they did not lose a leg on the Lakers.

The Towns dunk gave the Wolves a 16-9 lead and rallied the Target Center crowd, sell-outs with James in town, whipped as soon as possible.

But the Lakers would not have to get out of the gym, especially because they can run. It was not James who put them early in the game, but rather young Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram, who combined 33 points in the first period on 13 out of 22 shots. James, meanwhile, seemed to be waiting for his time and save energy, as he usually does as he gets older. His defensive mission was to keep Okogie, the weakest Wolves offensive player in the starting group, and struggled to get up early, only 3-for-9 for 10 points in the first 24 minutes. But James added six assists to give the Lakers a lead of 66-64 at the half.

After struggling against the ground offensive in his minutes of play for Wiggins, Okogie was not a handicap for that end of the area. He shot 5 of 9 in the first period for 13 points. He finished 6 of 13, scoring 17 points, while adding his enthusiasm and defense to Wolves training. That happened after Okogie shot just 6 goals in 24 in his last two games.

At one point in the second half, he blocked a shot from Ingram, then ran to the ground to receive a Towns exit pass for an easy dunk.

The cities looked like his old self, looking for rebounds and getting points inside and out.

Okogie and Towns both kept the Wolves in the third, while James increased his game with nine points in the quarter.

After Towns got his last bounce of the night and headed for the free throw line, he and Butler traded a fast high-high as the crowd surrounded them. There was not much emotion in this exchange, but they created a lot of good feelings on Monday.