Karl-Anthony Towns sat on the opposing bench on Thursday when his new team’s starting lineup was announced. After the first four starters took the field, a 90-second tribute video featuring some highlights from Towns’ career played on the Target Center scoreboard.

Towns soaked it all in and then received a huge ovation from the crowd as his Knicks teammates smiled and cheered him on as well. So began Towns’ return to Minnesota after nine seasons and ended with the Knicks winning 133-107 against the Wolves.

It’s hard to take one game as an indication of where a team is at, but the fact that Towns thrived on Thursday night while his old team struggled after his departure amplified fans’ fears on social media the move that sent him to New York for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. Towns finished the game with 32 points and 20 rebounds.

The wolves seemed uninterested; They lacked defensive responsibilities and didn’t move the ball on offense. The Knicks had more than 100 points at the end of the third quarter against a team that had done a good job of keeping teams under 100 in recent weeks. What was most surprising was how poor the offense looked again. Even though the Wolves won, their offense fell behind in the efficiency rating. It didn’t look much worse than Thursday. At the end of the third quarter, many fans made their way to the exits.

Finch went to his bench at the start of the fourth quarter.

Randle led the Wolves with 24 points but had five turnovers. Anthony Edwards had 17 on 7-for-16 shooting, while Rudy Gobert had three points, four rebounds and one shot attempt and was a minus-37.

Towns wasn’t the only player competing against his former team. Randle came out and scored 15 points in the first quarter, but his isolated offense didn’t facilitate early ball movement. The Wolves’ revamped defense didn’t show up early, as the Knicks started 12 of 22 from the field. Towns had just one basket in the first quarter, a three-pointer, and the crowd cheered. Towns also recorded four turnovers in the first quarter. But from then on he felt much better.

Naz Reid’s foul trouble (three early ones) meant the Wolves couldn’t play with their usual strong second bench unit and it was a disaster. The combination of Rob Dillingham, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jaden McDaniels, Gobert and DiVincenzo quickly lost ground. The Knicks opened the second quarter with a 16-2 run in the first 3 minutes and 18 seconds.