The Timberwolves played 10 minutes of the most hideous basketball you’ll witness to open the fourth quarter on Friday in Sacramento.
And yet they won anyway.
After he struggled mightily for much of the final frame — particularly defensively — Anthony Edwards put on his cape at an opportune time to save the Wolves from themselves over the game’s final 90 seconds of regulation and into overtime.
Edwards delivered a pair of and-1s driving to the bucket to help force overtime, and then Edwards and Julius Randle traded high-difficulty made buckets in the extra session before Edwards finally hit the true dagger, a fallaway jumper to put Minnesota up four with 13 seconds to play and effectively put the game on ice as Minnesota won 130-126 in overtime.
Edwards scored 36 points, including 13 over the game’s final 14 minutes. He and Randle scored Minnesota’s final 12 points of overtime. It was all necessary to survive an offensive onslaught from Kings guard De’Aaron Fox, who set a Sacramento franchise record with 60 points.
It certainly didn’t look as though such heroics would be necessary.
The Timberwolves led by 16 after three quarters and appeared to be coasting to a much-needed win in Sacramento. Then the wheels fell off entirely.
The Kings opened the final frame on an 18-0 run to take the lead, and Minnesota was staggering. The Wolves couldn’t hit the shots needed to stem the tidal wave. They committed a number of mind-numbing turnovers it what could only be considered a colossal collapse.
But Edwards righted the ship in the nick of time.
The Wolves hit 20 3-pointers. Minnesota (7-6) had seven players score in double figures, including 26 from Randle.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Wolves, who improve to 1-1 in NBA Cup group play.
“Super important, man,” Edwards said in his postgame, on-court television interview. “I don’t remember the last time we lost three in a row. Everybody was feeling some type of way. ... I’m glad we was able to come out with the win.”.