MINNEAPOLIS -- Coming off one of Andrew Wiggins' least efficient games of the season, Minnesota Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau implored his ultra-talented third-year swingman to stay aggressive.

Wiggins shot 24 times in Minnesota's loss on Saturday to the Los Angeles Clippers and made just eight baskets. But Thibodeau wants Wiggins to be assertive. Playing without third-leading scorer Zach LaVine and bench scorer Shabazz Muhammad on Sunday, Wiggins was needed even more.

Wiggins scored a career-high 47 points to lead the Timberwolves to a 125-99 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night.

"Not just there, I think defensively too, but a lot" Thibodeau said of urging Wiggins to be aggressive. "He's smart. He's driven. I think sometimes mistakenly people take him as laid back. He's competitive. I think he's just scratching the surface. I think he can do a lot more."

Karl-Anthony Towns added 22 points and 12 rebounds for Minnesota (3-6), which has won two of three. Ricky Rubio had season highs with 10 points and 10 assists, while Nemanja Bjelica scored a career-high 24 with five 3-pointers in a rare start for the Timberwolves.

Lou Williams had 17 points off the bench to lead the Lakers, who were coming off an impressive win a night earlier at New Orleans. It's the eighth time in 11 games a reserve led the team in scoring.

Julius Randle had 14 points and a team-high six rebounds for Los Angeles (6-5).

"They played more aggressive than we did," Lakers coach Luke Walton said. "That was obviously where we wanted to be, but there's not many teams in the NBA that go three and four nights on the road and can bring it on that last night. We'll continue to get better. At that point, it becomes more mental than anything else and we didn't have that tonight."

The league's top scoring team in the first quarter, the Timberwolves were stronger early as both teams were playing the second game of a back-to-back situation. Minnesota had lost to the Los Angeles Clippers at home a night earlier, while the Lakers had to travel after their Saturday win.

With Wiggins scoring 13, the Timberwolves led 26-13 after the first quarter and were shooting 54.2 percent with just one turnover. Wiggins drained a banked 3-pointer at the end of the first half to give Minnesota a 69-46 lead at halftime.

"I don't want to put a lid on it," Thibodeau said of Wiggins' ceiling. "It's what he wants it to be. If he continues to work the way he's working, and preparing and studying, and practicing the way he's practicing, he'll continue to improve."

Wiggins is averaging a career-high 26.3 points per game. He's scored 36 points or more in two of the past four games. Sunday, he shot made 14 of his 21 shots, hit two 3s and went to the line 22 times, knocking down 17 free throws.

"I'm finding myself; finding the things I'm good at, the things I need to work at," Wiggins said. "The game's just kind of slowed down for me a little bit. I'm able to read a lot of different defenses and how people are playing me, the defensive set."

Slowly, Los Angeles began to chip away at the lead with the production coming from its usual spot: the bench.

The Lakers began the night averaging 51.2 points per game from their bench, the highest total in the NBA. A night earlier, Los Angeles' bench contributed 73 points in the win.

Williams started the night with the league's second-highest scoring average as a reserve. He hit a 3 with about 10 minutes remaining to close the margin to eight points.

"The energy wasn't there," Randle said. "Playing a back to back is not an excuse. Energy just wasn't there. We weren't playing free, moving the ball and they were getting whatever they wanted. We weren't putting any pressure on them."

Wiggins and Bjelica regained momentum for the Timberwolves, who pulled away late. Bjelica earned the start and gave Minnesota a bigger look with 6-foot-10 Bjelica playing the small forward and Wiggins, at 6 foot 8, playing shooting guard.

"The only thing, here everything is possible and you have to be ready every night," Bjelica said. "I think I needed this game, especially for myself, because I had, last summer, many issues. First my injury, then I miss the Olympic games, then I put lots of work. That's it. I just played the best game so far that I'm here."

NOTES: Timberwolves starting G Zach Lavine and reserve F Shabazz Muhammad missed Sunday's game. The team said both players are dealing with a sore right knee and coach Tom Thibodeau didn't have an update after the game. Brandon Rush missed his second straight game with a sprained right big toe. ... Lakers rookie F Brandon Ingram was available after rolling his ankle and leaving Saturday's game in New Orleans early. ... Los Angeles won its sixth game of the season in New Orleans. It took the Lakers until their 33rd game last season to win six games. ... Minnesota entered Sunday with the league's top 3-point accuracy at 40.8 percent. Andrew Wiggins is first individually in the league at 57.7 percent (15 of 26).