A game of missed 3s and uncharacteristic turnovers from the Minnesota Timberwolves combined with some unbelievable finishing from the Sacramento Kings condemned Chris Finch’s men to their first home defeat of the season.
The 124-111 loss means that the Timberwolves have lost their opportunity to win the West Group C in the NBA in-season tournament, and the best they can hope for now is snagging the Wildcard spot – with point differential likely to prove key.
Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns were the only Wolves to get any offense going, scoring 35 and 27 respectively.
In the first half the Kings were threatening to blow the Wolves away, with seemingly every field goal attempt dropping for the visitors to the point that they had opened up a 22-point lead mid-way through the second quarter.
But the Wolves defense began to click, sparking a 13-0 run led by Edwards, Towns and Gobert that reduced the deficit to single digits, with the Wolves outscoring the Kings 29-13 in the last seven minutes as the teams went in at the half with Sacramento 70-64 ahead.
There was a scare for the Wolves as Edwards left the floor clutching his elbow half-way through the third period, but he returned to the court a few minutes later after a brief spell in the locker room.
The Kings kept killing the Wolves from three points range, sinking a ridiculous 17-of-34, while the home side struggled from range, managing just 11-of-30.
While the Wolves at times were able to reduce the deficit below ten, the Kings were able to pull away with well-timed 3s, managing to keep the home side at arm’s length much to the disappointment of a packed Target Center.
The Timberwolves move to 11-4, and next face the Grizzlies in Memphis before hosting the Oklahoma City Thunder at Target Center on Tuesday, their final in-season tourney group game.
