MINNEAPOLIS -- Anthony Edwards played a bad 48 minutes of basketball Wednesday at Target Center. Luckily for the Minnesota Timberwolves, there were five more after that.
Edwards redeemed himself with a pair of tough overtime takes to help down Golden State 119-114 in a scintillating comeback victory.
Steph Curry went off in the first half, scoring 21 points on a number of dazzling triples that only he can finish. Minnesota did a better job containing Curry in the second half, forcing the star guard to take a number of tough mid-range jumpers.
The Warriors went just 28 for 56 from 2-point range, with Curry himself going 3 for 9 in that department.
Minnesota trailed 98-85 early in the fourth quarter and couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn from outside. That’s when D’Angelo Russell went nuclear. He scored 14 points in the final six minutes of the quarter, serving as the major conductor of an 18-4 Timberwolves’ rally.
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The surge was reminiscent of Minnesota’s January victory over Toronto, in which Russell turned what looked like a sure loss for the first three quarters into a victory. The point guard hit seven triples on the night en route to his 29-point showing.
Minnesota took its first lead of the half when Naz Reid forced Curry into a miss on one end, then finished a transition layup on the other.
Both teams had looks to win the game at the end of regulation, with Curry missing a long, wide-open 2-pointer with five seconds to play, and Russell missing a forced throw after Minnesota’s final play clearly went awry.
Russell fouled out less than one minute into the extra session. That’s when Edwards took the reins and took off.
But the play of the night belonged to Reid. With Minnesota up three with 15 seconds to play in overtime, Reid missed a corner three. He then grabbed the offensive rebound and drove in for an emphatic dunk.
Starting in place of the injured Rudy Gobert, Reid finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds.
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