Not again: Timberwolves blow 10 point lead in final minutes, lose in OT to Kings

Well it s Groundhog s Day Again After the Wolves squandered an eight-point lead in the final minute in Friday s loss in Phoenix Minnesota held a -point advantage over the Kings in Sacramento on Monday after Anthony Edwards tallied an and- with three minutes to play Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards reacts during the second half of an NBA basketball challenge against the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento Calif Monday Nov AP Photo Randall Benton Surely that would be good enough to seal the deal this time around Or not Yes it happened again Sacramento went on a - run over an -second span to knot the match and force overtime where the Kings beat Minnesota - The Wolves committed four turnovers in the extra session to offset the easy offense Edwards generated with the ball in his hands offense Minnesota could ve used at the end of regulation The Timberwolves led by with nearly minutes to play in the fourth frame after Mike Conley drilled a triple From that point forward Minnesota went for from the field to close the quarter We re struggling right now to find a good rhythm offensively all around Wolves coach Chris Finch recounted reporters We ve got to get back to the way we were playing about a week ago when it comes to offense And a lot of things we were doing then are missing now And yet Minnesota still led by late until that fateful minute-plus that played out like this -Malik Monk jumper to cut the lead to eight -Anthony Edwards missed shot -Malik Monk made -pointer to cut the lead to five -Anthony Edwards missed shot -Malik Monk layup to cut the lead to three -Jaden McDaniels missed shot -DeMar DeRozan bucket plus the foul with a made free throw to tie the battle They made particular plays Wolves center Rudy Gobert advised reporters of the Kings They made various hustle plays they made specific big shots big plays down the stretch and they got back in the competition There were still seconds remaining in regulation at that point Julius Randle made free throws to put Minnesota back on top with a minute to play but DeRozan did the same on the other end to re-knot the contest Edwards and DeRozan then traded misses to send the contest to overtime Neither gang was close to clean in the extra session but DeRozan and Keegan Murray made enough shots to help the Kings - fend off Edwards and the mistake-plagued Wolves - In an ode to Friday the encounter effectively ended when Randle turned the ball over while trying to inbound the ball with Minnesota down four and seconds to play At which point four Wolves players stood and watched seemingly contest to let the Kings dribble the clock out before Mike Conley absolutely raced over to commit a foul Yeah just specific really rough plays from our squad declared Gobert who finished with points and boards but also had a costly giveaway in overtime Seems like mental lapses We didn t play super connected And then I feel like we let the frustration get to us and we can t do that if we want to be a championship club No matter what happened before we ve got to find a way to have our spirit high and the spirit of a champion to try to perpetually believe Things are not inevitably going to go our way but until the buzzer sounds we still have an opportunity Tonight it felt like we didn t have our spirit The loss is Minnesota s second straight but first this season against a crew with a losing record after opening the campaign with -straight wins against such foes Edwards finished with points seven rebounds and three steals He s scored -plus in each of the Wolves last two losses But Minnesota lost his minutes by points the same plus-minus recorded by Randle who committed five turnovers including two in overtime Minnesota tallied just assists Wolves not named Edwards combined to shoot from the floor on a night where Minnesota committed turnovers I think we got a little stagnant offensively Gobert mentioned The ball stopped moving