KAT hits winner as Timberwolves rally from 14 in 4th quarter against Pelicans

Minnesota rallied from 14 down in the fourth quarter.
KAT hits winner as Timberwolves rally from 14 in 4th quarter against Pelicans
KAT hits winner as Timberwolves rally from 14 in 4th quarter against Pelicans /

It looked like the Timberwolves (9-3) were dead in the water when Matt Ryan drilled a 3-pointer to give the Pelicans a 14-point lead with 8:04 left in the game, but Karl-Anthony Towns put the team on his back and hit the winning shot with 5 seconds left to give Minnesota a 121-120 victory. 

"I saw a lot of runway, so I tried to waste a little bit of time, get to my spot," Towns said on Bally Sports North after the game. 

Towns finished with 29 points, six rebounds and nine assists. The big man hit 10-of-11 shots and was 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. Anthony Edwards added 23 points while Rudy Gobert had 17 points and 11 rebounds. 

Minnesota trailed by 15 in the first half and then briefly took the lead in the third quarterback before New Orleans opened up a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. 

Five straight points – on a steal and dunk followed by a 3-pointer – from Nickeil Alexander-Walker cut the Pelicans' lead to 108-101. And after a bucket by Edwards, Towns grabbed an offensive rebound the next trip down the court and scored an and-1 to make it 112-106 with under six minutes to play. 

A three from Edwards cut the deficit to one at 112-111 with 3:55 to play, and then he cut it to one again at 117-116 with another three with just under two minutes to play. Then with 1:26 to go Towns hit a deep three to give Minnesota the lead, 119-117. 

KAT
Nov 18, 2023; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) passes the ball against New Orleans Pelicans guard Dyson Daniels (11) and center Jonas Valanciunas (17) during the first half at the Smoothie King Center.  / Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

Brandon Ingram hit a wild shot to tie the game at 119-119 and then Gobert had two free throws with 29.6 seconds on the clock on he missed them both. Edwards then bumped Ingram for his sixth foul and Ingram hit one of two for a one point lead with exactly 10 seconds to go. That set the stage for Towns' game-winner, while Ingram missed his jumper as time expired. 

The Timberwolves are off Sunday before hosting the New York Knicks on Monday to start a three game home stand, which also features the 76ers in Minneapolis on Wednesday and hte Kings in town on Friday. 


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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.