A struggling Johnny Flynn and his Minnesota Timberwolves took their home floor Monday against the Philadelphia 76ers.  Determined to not continue the losing path his team has been on all season long, the Niagara Falls native had the best game of his brief career.

Flynn pumped in a career-high 29 points, double his season average in 43 minutes as the Wolves upended Philadelphia, 108-103.

Flynn also tied a career-best with 9 assists and added 4 rebounds to solidify his best all around game as a young pro.

Even more encouraging to Flynn was the fact he played the fourth quarter and overtime with one eye swollen shut.  A collision left Flynn’s left eye visibly bruised and puffed ,but it wouldn’t stop him on this day.

Critics have said Flynn’s hit a rookie wall.  The former Syracuse star disagrees.

“You have a couple bad games, everybody throws ‘rookie wall’ at you,” Flynn told a reporter Phil Miller after the game. “But it was just bad games. My legs feel good. My mind feels good. I’m fine.”

Flynn is currently third in the NBA among rookies in scoring at 14.2 points per game.

(Beth Hanigan is a communications and marketing student at the University of Saint Thomas and a sports writing intern for Ticket King. She is covering Jonny Flynn for Buffalo Sports Daily and also has an outstanding Timerwolves blog you can read right here.)