BOSTON – After playing in Orlando on Tuesday night, the Timberwolves landed in Boston a little before 1 p. m. local time, and shortly after landing, the team announced that point guard Mike Conley (rest) would miss Wednesday night’s game against the NBA-leading Celtics.
Before the game, Wolves coach Chris Finch said center Rudy Gobert would also be out because of hip soreness, which could not have been helped by sitting on a plane for about three hours after inclement weather delayed the Wolves’ flight until Wednesday morning. Down two starters and fighting jet lag, there was every excuse for the Wolves to roll over facing a Boston team that was undefeated at home. They didn’t, but what could have been one of their most improbable victories of the season turned into one of their most excruciating defeats, 127-120 in overtime.
The Wolves relinquished a seven-point lead in the final minutes of the fourth quarter Wednesday before Boston stormed back in the fourth and overtime behind 45 points from Jayson Tatum. In the overtime, two Tatum free throws tied the score 120-120 with 1 minute, 33 seconds to play. After a missed three-point attempt from Karl-Anthony Towns, Tatum drove for a bucket and a Celtics lead.
Anthony Edwards turned the ball over on Minnesota’s next possession before Tatum all but iced the night with a three. The Wolves had to execute late-game offense without their floor general in Conley, and they had some tough results late in the fourth that led to their second fourth-quarter collapse in two games. The Wolves led 109-102 with 2:46 left before a Nickeil Alexander-Walker offensive foul and a few bad misses allowed Tatum to bring Boston back with six straight points.
When Tatum missed the second of two free throws with 25. 9 seconds to play — the only free throw Boston missed in 31 attempts all night — Derrick White streaked in for the rebound. The ball swung to Jrue Holiday, who buried a right-corner three with 25.
3 seconds to play for a 111-109 Boston lead. Edwards drove to the basket on the Wolves’ next possession and made contact with White with 7. 5 seconds to play.
He sank both free throws, and Tatum missed a field-goal try on the other end to send the game to overtime. But the Wolves couldn’t summon the defensive energy to get enough stops despite threes from Towns and Alexander-Walker in the extra session that gave them small leads. Whether they were out of gas or out of answers, the Wolves came up short despite gutsy efforts up and down the roster.
Kyle Anderson had his best offensive night of the season with 17 points, while Edwards rebounded from a six-point effort against the Magic with 29. Towns had 25 points and 13 rebounds, and Naz Reid scored 19 points off the bench. Alexander-Walker hit a number of clutch shots late to keep the Wolves’ hopes alive, and he finished with 15 points.
Jaylen Brown was on fire early for the Celtics and had 15 of his 35 points in the first quarter. The Wolves trailed throughout the first half before leading by nine in the fourth. .
From: startribune
URL: https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-timberwolves-put-up-fight-but-fall-127-120-to-boston-celtics-overtime/600333999/