Timberwolves go berserk from 3 in fourth quarter, cruise to win in OKC
Minnesota busted out the flame-throwers in the fourth quarter and turned what was a close game with the Oklahoma City Thunder into an easy win. Final score: 116, 106.
Minnesota was 4-of-22 from 3 before they went unconscious in the fourth quarter, led by six triples from Taurean Prince, Jaylen Nowell, Naz Reid and Anthony Edwards in a span of just over four minutes.
Here's how Wolves possessions went the first six minutes of the fourth, specifically the nine straight makes in a stretch of 4 minutes, 14 seconds.
- Taurean Prince missed 3
- Jaylen Nowell missed 3
- Naz Reid missed 3
- Taurean Prince made 3
- Anthony Edwards made step back (23-footer)
- Taurean Prince made 3
- Jaylen Nowell made layup
- Jaylen Nowell made 3
- Naz Reid made 3
- Naz Reid made 3
- Anthony Edwards made 3
- Anthony Edwards made jump shot
- Anthony Edwards missed 3
That turned Minnesota's 82-76 lead into a 106-84 margin. The same lineup that kept Minnesota alive in Friday's overtime loss to the Jazz did the damage: Jordan McLaughlin, Jaylen Nowell, Anthony Edwards, Taurean Prince and Naz Reid.
The dominating quarter allowed head coach Chris Finch to rest Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels and D'Angelo Russell for the entire fourth quarter.
Gobert still finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds in only 25 minutes. Towns had 15 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists in 30 minutes, while Russell scored 6 points to go with 6 assists. He only attempted five shots.
Edwards finished with 30 points for a second straight game and he added 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the year.
"The last two games I've just been playing with an enormous amount of joy," Edwards said on the Bally Sports North postgame show, explaining that his college coach Tom Crean texted him after the first game of the season saying he didn't look as happy on the court as he usually does.
Reid and Nowell both finished with 14 points.
"We got a deep team," Edwards added.
OKC played without star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (hip contusion) and Josh Giddey didn't play in the fourth quarter after suffering a sprained ankle.
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.