Timberwolves let late lead disappear in loss to Spurs
The Timberwolves were keeping the San Antonio Spurs at an arm’s distance.
Until they weren’t.
Minnesota’s lead was hovering around double digits for most of Saturday night’s game in San Antonio — until the fourth quarter came around.
Trailing by 10 entering the frame, the Spurs opened the fourth on a 13-2 run to take a 93-92 lead with just over nine minutes remaining.
The two teams traded leads the rest of the way after that, and Karl-Anthony Towns missed a game-winning 3-point attempt in what ended up being a broken play just before the final buzzer as the Spurs pulled out a narrow 113-112 victory.
Victor Wembanyama hit a 3-pointer with just under two minutes left that put the Spurs up 112-107, but Anthony Edwards answered two possessions later with a 3 of his own to make it a 112-110 game.
After being fouled on a drive to the hoop by Rudy Gobert on the next possession, Wembanyama missed both free throws, and Edwards drove to the hoop for a game-tying layup with 32.2 seconds left in the contest.
After getting a stop on defense on the next possession, Jaden McDaniels fouled Keldon Johnson, who had grabbed the offensive rebound, and Johnson hit 1 of 2 free-throw attempts to give the Spurs the lead with 7.1 seconds remaining.
The Wolves called a timeout and were left with a chance to win. But the Spurs locked up Edwards, who received the inbounds pass on the other side of half court, and he was forced to give up the ball to Towns, who got off the game-winning attempt just in time before the final buzzer. His shot just didn't fall.
The Spurs were on fire in the fourth, making seemingly every shot they took. On the night, they shot 55% from the field and 43% from 3-point range. The Timberwolves, meanwhile, were also hitting at a high clip — 57% from the field and 54% from 3.
Until the fourth quarter, the Spurs (10-36) kept themselves within striking distance but weren’t ever able to make much headway into the Timberwolves’ lead.
Minnesota (32-14) built a 13-point lead after one quarter of play, and while San Antonio was able shave that down to six points midway through the second frame, a couple quick baskets from the Wolves, including a bucket from Edwards just before half, pushed their lead back to 12 points at halftime.
It was a similar story in the third quarter. When the Spurs would cut it to single digits, the likes of Edwards or McDaniels would answer with a 3-pointer or Gobert would get a bucket under the hoop as they pushed the lead back to double digits.
San Antonio was only able to shave two points of its deficit in the quarter.
Edwards finished with 32 points and Towns and Gobert had 19 apiece. Devin Vassell and Wembanyama paced the Spurs with 25 and 23 points, respectively.
Final key stats
- Anthony Edwards: 32 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds
- Rudy Gobert: 19 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block
- Karl-Anthony Towns: 19 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
- Naz Reid: 13 points, 3 blocks, 2 rebounds
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker: 11 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal
- Devin Vassell: 25 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals
- Victor Wembanyama: 23 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks
