Timberwolves capitalize with fourth-quarter comeback as Atlanta sits starters late in Towns’ return
Atlanta did Minnesota a solid Friday at Target Center.
After Atlanta rallied from a double-digit second-half deficit to hold a lead early in the fourth frame, the Hawks — who are locked into the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference play-in — sat their starters.
Meaning Minnesota just had to out-edge Atlanta’s reserves to pull of a victory.
The Wolves made it far closer than they would’ve preferred, but did manage to squeak out a 109-106 victory over the Hawks.
The Hawks won Trae Young’s 27 minutes by 16 points.
The win came on a night where Denver fell 121-120 to the Spurs, meaning the Thunder, Wolves and Nuggets are all in a three-way tie atop the Western Conference. That means Oklahoma City is currently, the No. 1 seed, but that could change via a variety of outcomes Sunday. Minnesota plays Phoenix in its regular season finale.
It wasn’t always pretty down the stretch for Minnesota, who was a little clunky all game offensively in Karl-Anthony Towns’ return from a month-long absence from a torn meniscus. Towns finished with 11 points, eight assists and five rebounds in 28 minutes.
Still, for a team that’s struggled so mightily down the stretch of close games this season — the Wolves entered the night second-to-last in clutch-time net rating since Christmas — it was nice for the Wolves to experience success with the game on the line. Anthony Edwards carried the load offensively, consistently finding his own offense over the final two minutes.
On the other end, after Vít Krejčí put a scare into Minnesota with a couple key plays midway through the frame to put Atlanta up a couple on multiple possessions, the Wolves tightened the screws defensively to take the lead.
Still, it was just a one-point game with 20 seconds to play before Edwards hit a pair of free-throws to extend the lead to three. Eight of Edwards’ 14 points came in the final frame.
Then, on the other end, Minnesota mustered a stop and Rudy Gobert hit a pair of free-throws on the other end to essentially put the game away. Gobert had 25 points on a perfect 10 for 10 shooting from the field to go with 19 rebounds.
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